The chemistry among these four characters is great. Mara is stuck living in the past and sees her jaded friends Norberto and Martin as tormentors for wanting her to confront the reality that the good days are long gone. They constantly take small jabs at each other but are much more overtly hostile towards the realtors trying to manipulate Mara. While Mara is clearly delusional and self-centered, you do feel sympathy for her to some degree.

Set in China in 1975 and told through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy, 11 Flowers is many things at once: a coming-of-age story; a thriller; a slice of life from a remote village in the Guizhou province; and a glimpse of the social tension caused by China’s Cultural Revolution. Thoughtful and quietly poignant, the film manages all these elements beautifully, without allowing its young central character to be eclipsed by the events surrounding him.

During movie awards season, “The Impossible” received most of its accolades thanks to the remarkable lead performance of actress Naomi Watts. As good as she is, focusing on such a singular component of the film is unfair because it is great in so many respects.  The feature, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, was inspired by the real-life survival story of a family caught in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.