Weekend Movie Forecast: The Cove or Funny People

Lorna's Silence, the latest from Belgian art house auteurs Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, concerns a young Albanian woman in Belgium who goes through hell just to open a snack bar with her boyfriend. The Village Voice's Nick Pinkerton writes, "The convoluted criminal plot is barely credible—likewise the onset of divine madness; a fairy-tale cabin (or is it a manger?) is an unsatisfying end... In a sense, the Dardennes make economic horror movies, starring the dregs of the working class—their visceral approach is more Texas Chainsaw than standby-comparison Bresson.

"Claims for something higher don't read; the Dardennes challenge their beleaguered subjects, not themselves and not their audience. When Lorna and her ilk confront the moral conundrums of bare-subsistence life, no alternative answer seems viable. This leaves the viewer (impatient, in this case) to wait for the constipated soul to arrive at inevitable relief."