Cinema: The Wisdom of Crocodiles

Who was the sexiest presence in a movie last year? If you said Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley, you get to go to the next round. This time, Law is a vampirish Londoner feasting on the blood of the women he beds and kills. Now he wants to be human, although he realizes that falling in love means an end to his predatory life. From its first shot, of a mangled car high up in the branches of a tree, this cool, handsome thriller proceeds with an elliptical elegance. Leong is the compassionate surgeon operating on a disease called longing. And Law is the scalpel that loves what it cuts open.

--R.C.