The moving Yossi & Jagger, at 65 minutes in length, has the focused impact and emotional clarity of a fine short story. A multiple award winner (among other prizes, Yossi & Jagger took a Best Actor honor for Ohad Knoller at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival), this unusual love tale, set on a snowy Israeli-Lebanese border facing possible Hezbollah incursions, has an unexpected sweetness and buoyancy. Knoller plays square-jawed, no-nonsense Yossi, company commander of an Israeli Defense Forces unit exhausted from sleepless nights anticipating an ambush. The handsome, fun-loving Jagger (Yehuda Levi), nicknamed for his rock-star appeal, is platoon leader and, unknown to all, Yossi's secret lover. The two arrange trysts by going off together on missions, and while Jagger begs Yossi to leave the army when the former's service is up, Yossi reminds him that real life is not a romantic movie. Meanwhile, the platoon's other characters and a trio of visitors-a colonel (Sharon Reginiano) and his two female soldier-companions (Hani Furstenberg, Aya Koren)-prove to be a lot of fun sorting out everything from menus to love lives before their next, possibly lethal mission. Director Eytan Fox's naturalistic touch, and ability to highlight the expansiveness of mature love even in the most tragic and ironic of circumstances, is something to marvel at. -Tom Keogh.

Bruno Gunther is a feisty, 14-year-old immigrant, growing up in a small farming community in South Australia during the 1930s. While his stern German father preaches hard work, Bruno is constantly tempted by the chance to do mischief. Whether it is startling a prim teacher as he flees from a runaway bull clad only in his underwear or organizing a "race" between two feuding neighbours, Bruno's world is an idyllic one. His high spirits will sustain him as his close-knit family experiences some dark times - and the memories of this gentle world will remain with him forever. Parents and children alike will love this unforgettable tale that captures a special time when a boy hovers on the verge of manhood.

1 copy each of: The 400 Blows, The Last Metro, Confidentially Yours, Love on the Run, Shoot the Piano Player, Two English Girls

Chen Kaige, the director of Farewell My Concubine, returns with another sumptuous, if hard to follow, film about old China. Set in the decadent 1920s, Temptress Moon tells the very complicated story of a wealthy family living on the outskirts of Shanghai. Their youngest daughter, Ruyi, is brought up as a servant to her opium-addicted father and brother. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law Zhongliang has a successful, if illegal, career seducing and blackmailing married women in the city. When he comes to Ruyi's home the two fall in love, and trouble ensues. Mostly, though, Temptress Moon is about beautiful images. The densely populated plot is basically an excuse for showing golden bells and bowls, pagoda roofs set against the moon, and richly woven carpets. More of a meditation than a movie, Temptress Moon is probably not as accessible or enjoyable as its critically acclaimed predecessor Farewell My Concubine, which may be a better place to start in the appreciation of contemporary Chinese cinema. -James DiGiovanna.

Triumph of the Will is one of the most important films ever made. Not because it documents evil-more watchable examples are being made today. And not as a historical example of blind propaganda-those (much shorter) movies are merely laughable now. No, Riefenstahl's masterpiece-and it is a masterpiece, politics aside-combines the strengths of documentary and propaganda into a single, overwhelmingly powerful visual force. Riefenstahl was hired by the Reich to create an eternal record of the 1934 rally at Nuremberg, and that's exactly what she does. You might not become a Nazi after watching her film, but you will understand too clearly how Germany fell under Hitler's spell. The early crowd scenes remind one of nothing so much as Beatles concert footage (if only their fans were so well behaved!). Like the fascists it monumentalizes, Triumph of the Will overlooks its own weaknesses-at nearly two hours, the speeches tend to drone on, and the repeated visual motifs are a little over-hypnotic, especially for modern viewers. But the occasional iconic vista (banners lining the streets of Nuremberg, Hitler parting a sea of 200,000 party members standing at attention) will electrify anyone into wakefulness. -Grant Balfour.