CINEMA: CRITICS CHOICE

Amateur An ex-nun and virgin nymphomaniac becomes involved with a handsome amnesiac who used violently to abuse his former mistress, a porn star, who in turn sets a brace of high-powered corporate assassins on her lover's tail. Writer-director Hal Hartley is an acquired taste, but the film has warmth, humour and humanity.

Lumiere WC2, Renoir WC1, Independents

Eat Drink Man Woman Ang Lee's follow-up to The Wedding Banquet sees a retired master-chef, driven by widowhood deep into his shell, unable to express love for his three grown-up daughters. Instead he cooks them preposterously lavish and complex banquets at which the women, equally withdrawn in their own worlds, pick disconsolately. This is a film of food and sex, the basic human drives.

Curzon West End W1, Renoir WC1, Locals

Vanya on 42nd Street This adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya is by David Mamet, but you wouldn't know it. It is far more the product of the triumvirate who collaborated on My Dinner With Andre: director Louis Malle and actors Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn. Unmissable.

Curzon Phoenix W1, Locals