DREAMING LHASA (India/United Kingdom)

A female Tibetan filmmaker travels to the Dalai Lama’s exile headquarters in northern India to interview political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. There she meets a former monk who has come to India to fulfill his dying mother’s last wish, to deliver a secret box to a long-missing resistance fighter. This leads her on a journey into Tibet’s tragic past and her own self-discovery. “Intriguing, gorgeous, and moving,” says one critic, and I wholly agree. Fascinating, from First Run Features.

THE ITALIAN (Russia)

A six-year-old boy in post-Communist Russia becomes a pawn in a cross-national adoption struggle. Kolya Spiridonov will win your heart as the feisty child living in poverty even Charles Dickens might not be able to imagine. Torn apart by would-be foster parents, the boy embarks on a journey to find his birth mother, not even knowing if she is alive. An experience as well as a strong drama, from Lenfilm Studios, released by Sony.

CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (China)

On the eve of a 10th Century festival in China, golden flowers fill the Imperial Palace. The Emperor (Chow Yun Fat) returns unexpectedly to celebrate the holiday with his family, but relations between him and the ailing but still beautiful Empress (Gong Li), complicate matters. The problem is, for many years, the Empress and Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), her stepson, have had an illicit liaison. Feeling trapped, Prince Wan dreams of escaping the palace with his secret love Chan (Li Man), the Imperial Doctor's daughter. Meanwhile, Prince Jai, the faithful son, grows worried over the Empress's health and her obsession with golden chrysanthemums. Could she be headed down an ominous path?
Zhang Yimou’s new drama sounds like complicated Chinese soap opera, but it’s more than suds, especially when thousands of golden armed warriors charge the palace. Who are the winners in the conflicts between love and desire? I’ll never tell. From Sony Pictures Classics.

WATER (India)

The British rule India in 1938, when spiritual leader Gandhi arrives from Africa to begin his struggle with the British for Indian independence, as well as battle the traditions that bind the Hindus. Not yet in her teens, a beauty named Chuyia is married to a much older and sickly male, who shortly after the marriage, passes away. Chuyia is returned unceremoniously to her parents' house, and from there she is taken to the holy city of Banaras and left in the care of a wide assortment of widows who live at "the widows' house," shunned by the rest of the community. Chuyia doesn’t know that, according to Hindu tradition, she is destined to live there for the rest of her life. There’s even much more in this fascinating drama from Deepa Mehta that was made despite death threats from extremist groups, and has won many awards. Critics call it “An exquisite film,” “A triumph,” and “A film of extraordinary richness and complexity.” From Fox Searchlight Pictures.

THE PROMISE (China)

An orphaned girl driven by poverty makes a promise with an enchantress. In return for beauty and the admiration of every man, she will never be with the man she loves. This spell cannot be broken unless the impossible happens: snow falling in spring and the dead coming back to life. When she grows up and becomes a beautiful princess, she falls in love and is tormented by their inevitable parting. Is there a happy ending to this tragic love story? From Warner Independent Films.

RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES (Japan)

Directed by Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers), this award-winning drama stars the great Japanese actor Ken Takakura. He plays a 75-year-old man who travels to Tokyo from his small village to visit his estranged son who is dying from cancer and still angry that his father deserted the family. The story takes a fascinating turn when the father undertakes a journey to China to fulfill his son’s fondest wish, which is to film a Chinese folk opera singer famous for the classic story-song which is the title of the movie. A lot going on in this unusual drama from Sony Pictures Classics.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MARPLE, SERIES 3

The always intriguing Miss Marple mysteries continue with this boxed set of four DVDs containing four new full-length dramas starring Geraldine McEwan as the mild-mannered spinster sleuth. It’s again a delight to follow Miss Marple, this time into her golden years as she observes the oddities of human nature that lead to evil including murder. Guest stars include Dame Eileen Atkins, Jane Seymour, Julian Sands, Francesca Annis, and Peter Davison. Excellent new mysteries in a great series from Acorn Media Group.

THE HISTORY OF MR. POLLY

H.G. Wells’ charming Victorian story comes to life as Lee Evans plays a man who finds himself desperately unhappy with his life which includes a failing business and a nagging wife. He decides to end it all -- not to take his own life, but to drastically change it to become an adventurous hero.
This is an unexpected delight, from BFS Entertainment.

THE WAR BRIDE

In 1943 war-torn London, a vivacious British girl (Anna Friel) falls in love with a Canadian soldier and they marry. She becomes pregnant, he returns to the killing grounds, and she takes their infant daughter to what her young husband had described as a family “ranch.” It turns out to be a worn-out farmhouse miles from anywhere. Enter her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to make life even harder for the war bride. Maybe not the experience of every war bride, but it makes for good drama. From Porchlight Entertainment and Questar.

IN THE WINTER DARK

In this British psychological thriller “about love, fear, and other demons,” four neighbors in an isolated valley are drawn together by their mutual belief that a sinister dark creature haunts the area. If you’ve had enough dancing sugar plum fairies over the holiday, try this drama for some goose-pimples. From BFS Entertainment.

DOING TIME FOR PATSY CLINE

No, not a docudrama about the country singer, this witty comedy follows the adventures of a young man who dreams of becoming a country singer. On his way to Nashville he accepts a ride from a young couple who seem charming but are actually being chased by cops for many unlawful reasons. It’s a wild ride for our hero in a movie the Hollywood Reporter says is “a winsome, witty comedy with oodles of dusty charm.”    From BFS Entertainment.

LUCIANO PAVAROTTI

The beloved tenor who died recently is showcased in five DVDs this month from Kulture International Films. They include concerts from Munich, Germany, and the Municipal Opera in China at which he sang many of his most beloved arias and songs. There are also three complete operas: Aida and two performances of La Boheme, one from the San Francisco Opera and the other from Genoa, Italy. Wonderful final tributes to the legendary tenor.

CITIZEN TANOUYE

Ted Tanouye was among many young Japanese-Americans who served in the U.S. Army during World War II while their families were forced to relocate to an internment camp. Recently, eight high school students from Torrence, California, researched the war years of Tanouye, a former graduate of their school, to tell his dramatic story. An award-winning documentary from WGBH Boston Video.

PERSONAL JOURNEYS OF WORLD WAR II

Glenn Ford, actor and World War II Navy veteran, hosts this 50th anniversary program featuring the faces, voices, and memories of those who served both overseas and on the home front. Archival, newsreel, and combat films enhance their remembrances of the war. The package includes a 3-hour DVD, an audio CD, and commemorative booklet. Bonuses include a documentary about four army chaplains of different faiths who also served in the war, and a music CD with 15 favorite songs of the war years. A very special package from Questar Entertainment.

GREAT HUNTERS

Being a dog, I like to get to know other animals, such as cats. I get along quite well with the feline species you see every day, but am not so sure how I’d fare with the bigger varieties such as lions and leopards. I learned more about them and other wild animals from this new boxed set of six DVDs about those two species as well as jaguars and other big cats and also sharks, crocodiles, alligators, and eagles and other birds of prey. They were all featured documentaries on the award-winning PBS TV series, Nature, narrated by F. Murray Abraham, Peter Coyote and Live Schreiber. This is wildlife documentary at its best, from Questar Entertainment.

DEFENDERS OF THE WILD

Some people who care about animals in extraordinary ways are featured in this six DVD boxed set. Julia Roberts takes us along as she visits those who care for the world’s only known white gorilla. Joanne Woodward follows the adventures of the first red-tailed hawk to make Manhattan his territory. Other DVDs in the set tell of a giraffe sanctuary in Kenya, wild stallions of Montana, sanctuaries for chimpanzees in America, and a husband and wife team of underwater photographers who take us into the watery realm of sharks. Outstanding nature documentaries from Questar Entertainment.

QI GONG: THE FLOW CONTINUES

Lose those holiday calories and tone your muscles with the ancient Chinese exercise Qi Gong. Lee Holden, a licensed doctor of Chinese medicine and acupuncturist, hosts this DVD of “moving meditation” for beginners. They’re all easy standing exercises (no yoga pretzel positions) that Holden says “clears stress, develops strength and flexibility, and boosts the immune system.” Okay, Lee, sure is worth a try, so I’ll tell my couch potato master about it. From Exercise to Heal.

My nominees for movie Scrooges of the year are Harrison Ford and Nicholas Cage. They make mega-millions per movie, yet for several years now, both in their movies and even out of them, they constantly sneer. Even their smiles have a sneer. What do they have to sneer about? Are they fighting in Iraq? Have they lost their home to the Bush economy? I don't think so.

I also find it interesting that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris, two of the screen’s leading “action” stars whom I dislike because I consider them to be largely responsible for inflicting extreme violence on the movies, which is everywhere now and can and does influence children to be violent, are Republicans. Some family values!