Loss: Part 3

CHILD'S POSE (B+) - A man drives recklessly on a rural highway outside Bucharest and strikes and kills a 14-year-old boy who was carelessly trying to cross traffic. Most films would focus on the kid's working-class family, milking it for every maudlin angle. Here, writer/director Calin Peter Netzer focuses instead on the upper-class family of the driver and the lengths they go to make any potential criminal charges go away.

At the center is Luminita Gheorghiu, a veteran of some of the most notable Romanian films in recent years -- "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," "12:08 East of Bucharest," "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," and the more recent "Beyond the Hills."  She uncorks a nearly two-hour slow burn as Cornelia, a middle-aged elitist seizing on the tragedy to try to reassert a role in her adult son's personal life. She's prepared to throw her money and influence around and press the main witness to alter his original statement to police.

Gheorghiu's characterization plays like a cross between Edie Falco's Carmela Soprano and Doris Roberts' Marie Barone from "Everybody Loves Raymond." She has the temerity to place her own situation -- seeing her adult son go off to jail for three to ten years -- on a par with that of a mother grieving over the violent death of a teenage son. (At least, Cornelia figures, the other mother has a younger son to keep her company.)

And maybe she has a little Tony Soprano in her, too. She has pounded her husband into a shell of a man. She breaks into her son's apartment and packs his suitcase so that he can come stay in his parents' house. Her would-be daughter-in-law is marginalized because she won't give Cornelia a grandchild, and Cornelia's heart-to-heart with that competitor for her son's affections is riveting, anchoring the second half that builds to a showdown between Cornelia and the dead boy's family. 

Netzer juggles this all expertly, subtly exposing Cornelia's weaknesses and riding the roller-coaster emotions of her stunned son, who deep down wants to express his condolences to the boy's family. It's layered storytelling that holds its own with the best of Romania's impressive output over the past decade.

BIRTH (2004) (B) - Nicole Kidman is compelling in this creepy drama as Anna, a long-grieving widow who is convinced that a 10-year-old boy is the reincarnation of her husband, Sean. Unsettlingly, she's not afraid to welcome her boy-husband back with gestures of intimacy -- to the chagrin of her fiance and others.

This is the sophomore effort from Jonathan Glazer, who wowed with his debut, "Sexy Beast," and disappointed this year with "Under the Skin." Here, he conjures up a tension and spookiness reminiscent of "Rosemary's Baby" (with Kidman's pixie cut an obvious nod).

Glazer's camera is in love with Kidman, and it's difficult to take your eyes off of her. In a memorable extended take, Glazer trains the camera on Anna for a full two minutes as she sits in the audience of a Wagner concert. Kidman can barely contain the waves of emotions flowing within her; few actresses could rivet the viewer like that. In another scene, Anna is babbling to her former brother- and sister-in-law (Peter Stormare and Anne Heche), slowly unraveling not unlike Mia Farrow's Rosemary.

Cameron Bright is strong as the new version of Sean. His adult-like brashness is convincing. He wins Anna over by ticking off intimate details of her marriage to Sean. The controversial scene in which he strips and steps into the bathtub with a naked Anna is tastefully rendered.

Glazer, however, is not fully in command. He fumbles a key twist, in which the sister-in-law knows a secret about dead Sean that would devastate Anna. Danny Huston, as Anna's fiance, is a cipher. The first 20 minutes drag, and the ending comes on a bit rushed.

Still, the script -- attributed to Glazer, Milo Addica and noted French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere -- is smart, the story unique, and the star at the top of her game. 

BONUS TRACK
Cornelia's ringtone in "Child's Pose":