A Perfect World (1993): review: 9/10

Two prisoners escape in Texas, one is much nastier than the other. They kidnap a fatherless boy.

This is a melancholy film notable for combination of two plot elements: the first is the close and sometimes charming realationship that develops between escaped convict and a kidnapped boy which describes tenderly the importance of fathers for boys (especially those, it would appear, forced to suffer the restrictions of a Joehovah's Witness mother).

The second plot element traces the attitudes of macho policemen: these attitudes are set in relief by the presence of Laura Dern as an official seconded to join the all male team by the mayor's office: she is treated unpleasantly by her surly male peers, whose instincts for violent solutions lead to the unnecessary death of their quarry.

Costner is very good: the boy is supurb, as is Dern; Eastwood more formulaic.

Calendar (1993): review- 2.5/10

An essay on lost love and Armenian churches by Canadian director Atom Egoyan, who plays a photographer who has visited Armenia to photograph its churches and had a fling with his translator.

Definately arthouse: it probably has something to do with memory, loss, video tape, and the elusiveness of truth.

A film for those who like to sit and ask themselves, "I wonder what this fim is about?": others will find it extremely pretentious.