Once
Rental and retail: A subtle, very offhand look at how music is made, how friendship can start and how the two may be intimately connected
The Edge of Heaven
Philip French: The use of coincidence need not cheapen drama, as this extraordinary, moving tale of two doomed affairs triumphantly proves
Italian cinema’s sweet success
Federico Fellini's groundbreaking 1960 satire La Dolce Vita put Italian cinema firmly on the world stage with its tale of hedonistic excess. It thrilled critics but was condemned by the Vatican. Here Philip French explains why it is a European classic - and next week you can judge it yourself when The Observer gives the film away to readers
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly review – Julian Schnabel’s part magic lantern, part hallucinatory fuzz
Schnabel’s very moving and deeply satisfying movie is about a fashion magazine editor paralysed by a stroke
Asterix at the Olympic Games
Philip French: Spasmodically funny, though rarely when Gérard Depardieu is in view
The Italian
Peter Bradshaw: Russian heart-tweaker about an orphan's search for his mother
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
Philip French: A troubling tale of life under the Ceausecu regime
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days – review
Peter Bradshaw: Fierce, horrifying and brutal - this story of an illegal abortion in communist Romania is a masterpiece
El Violin
Philip French: The feature debut of documentarist Francisco Vargas includes a majestic performance by 84-year-old musician Don Angel Tavira
Alice in the Cities
Philip French: Wenders' 1974 road movie confirmed his place as one of the leaders of the New German Cinema
Alice in the Cities review – Wim Wenders’ tale of cerebral, confident strangeness
Wenders’ intriguing black-and-white road movie from 1974 features a man forced to accompany a child from America to Europe
El Violin
Peter Bradshaw: Francisco Vargas's tense tale of a one-handed street musician who gets caught up in Mexican guerrilla warfare
Half Moon
Peter Bradshaw: An ageing Iranian Kurdish musician becomes a celebrity in this bittersweet tale
Lust, Caution review – Ang Lee deserves a standing ovation for verve and ambition
Lee plays to his many strengths with this stylish, passionate espionage drama set in Japanese-occupied China