AFF's Doublethink

Danny Boyle has become famous for setting misery to an upbeat tempo. In his latest, Slumdog Millionaire, he sets torture, murder and a corrupt game show to a soundtrack that mixes Bollywood beats and Western pop music.

An ambitious, talky play-turned-movie, Doubt is a fine film that will leave you with plenty of hesitations and uncertainties of your own.

Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky suggests that the content of experience—the house you live in, the money you make, the misfortunes that happen to befall you—is far less relevant to happiness than the lens through which experience is viewed. It’s a moral as appealing as it is tough to prove on film.

It’s really no big deal to be a spy, adulterer or murderer when you live in Washington, D.C.

Amal is an unusually kind and gentle movie about the possibilities—and limits—of money and love.