Ralph Fiennes & David Hare's excellent bio-pic of Rudolf Nureyev, THE WHITE CROW, opens

What a fine and fascinating entertainment, as well as one of the better bio-pics of recent times, is THE WHITE CROW -- the very welcome collaboration between director/co-star Ralph Fiennes, screenwriter David Hare, and the very impressive newcomer actor/dancer taking the title role, Oleg Ivenko, who plays the young adult Rudolf Nureyev.

What these three have given us is a portrait of Nureyev that seems nuanced, detailed and believable factually, psychologically and especially emotionally.

Fiennes (shown at right) and Hare go back and forth in time near constantly, and this works surprisingly well, TrustMovies thinks, because the pair concentrates less on connecting the specific what-happened-and-why dots than on the emotions these events raise in both the child and the young adult Nureyev. Thus we are consistently placed within both the heart and mind of the character, and this helps us understand the talented, gorgeous and highly self-centered man at the core of this film.

Mr. Ivenko, below, handles both the dance and the acting with aplomb. Perhaps Fiennes understood how to capture and make best use

of this young man's talents -- which in so many ways mirror those of Nureyev -- without asking him to do too much. In fact, Ivenko's is a paired-down performance -- he is most often shown simply "thinking" -- relying in good part of his handsome face, terrific body and dance skill to bring to life the international ballet idol of the 1960s and 70s. It works.

Aside from the childhood flashbacks, The White Crow concentrates on Nureyev's ballet training, particularly that under the tutelage of his chosen teacher, Pushkin (played with great restraint and a fine undercurrent by Fiennes, above, right), mixed consistently with his traveling in the Russian troupe to Paris, where he first became rightly famous.

There he meets and bonds with the young woman, Clara Saint (Adèle Exarchopoulos, above, right) and the French dancer/choreographer Pierre Lacotte (Raphaël Personnaz, below, right), both of whom prove instrumental in the Parisian life of our dancer, as well as in the choice he must finally make.

Thanks to the ever-invasive Russian officials assigned to chaperone/guard the dance troupe, our narcissistic hero champs harder at his bit until the exceedingly suspenseful climax of this first-rate film, which -- if the details of the finale are maybe not completely as-they-were -- can be forgiven because of the filmmakers' skillful handling of this scene.

Those of us old enough to remember and appreciate Nureyev's talent and beauty -- his famous bisexuality is clearly shown here, too -- will probably revel in how closely Ivenko achieves all this, while younger audiences will at least be given a good taste of what this dancer/icon was all about.

The movie's dance scenes (as above and below), though not so very many, are plenty good enough to convince us of why this then-unknown dancer rose so quickly and permanently to fame. Mr. Hare's screenplay, by the way, is so appropriate and smart that you are mostly unaware of it as the film rolls along.

From Sony Pictures Classics and running a rich and not-a-moment-too-long 127 minutes, The White Crow opened on the coasts last month and is now expanding nationwide. Here in South Florida, it begins its run this Friday, May 10, and will play the Miami area at the AMC Aventura 24, Regal's South Beach 18, and the Coral Gables Art Cinema; in Fort Lauderdale at the Classic Gateway 4; in Davie at the Cinemark Paradise 24; in Boynton Beach at the Cinemark 14; in Boca Raton at the Regal Shadowood and the Cinemark Palace; and at the Movies of Delray and the Movies of Lake Worth. Wherever you live across the country, click here and then click on GET TICKETS (badly designed but to be found hidden in Ivenko's forehead) to view the theaters nearest you.

Mick Jackson and David Hare's DENIAL proves a crackerjack courtroom thriller, British style

Courtroom drama -- from Witness for the Prosecution and Twelve Angry Men onward (and probably backward, too) -- so often deal with murder and retribution that when one such as DENIAL turns out to be all about a libel suit, the excitement level may appear to be rather low. Of course, if you count the approximately six million murdered during the Holocaust -- an event which the movie's antagonist (played with relish-y perfection by Timothy Spall, shown at left on poster, right, and two photos below) insists never happened, then that level gets a good goosing upwards.

When that movie also happens to have been written extremely well by David Hare and directed most efficiently by Mick Jackson (shown at left), the results are riveting. Mr Hare, one of Britain's finer living screenwriters and playwrights, has based his screenplay on an actual case tried in the British courts and brought by would-be historian David Irving against American historian, author and teacher Deborah Lipstadt, who in one of her books called Irving (among other things) a "Holocaust denier." He is all that and more (much less, actually).

Because Mr. Irving brought his suit against Ms Lipstadt and her British publisher in London, it must be tried according to British law, so for relatively sophisticated American audiences, at least, this will give the movie added interest and surprise. What is and is not allowed, and what this means to the defense and prosecution, make the film consistently interesting, and Mr. Hare has provided just enough of the personal and the detailed to keep us caring about all the protagonists without ever descending into the crass or melodramatic.

Playing Ms Lipstadt is that fine actress Rachel Weisz (above), who brings out her character's strength, sass and intelligence supremely well. Weisz makes us understand and appreciate Lipstadt's refusal to ever engage in debate with any Holocaust denier. Really: Would we also waste time debating with someone who insisted the earth is flat? She will however call these people out on their poorly perceived "facts."

Her two British attorney's -- one who does the behind-the-scenes work, played with stern but amused rigor by the increasingly versatile Andrew Scott (below and to the left of Ms Weisz); the other, who appears in court to do the fancy footwork necessary but also does his homework regarding background, played with great depth by the grand and capacious actor Tom Wilkinson (above) -- work hard to keep Lipstadt in check.

She wants to testify, and she wants Holocaust victims to testify, too (as do they themselves). As do we, initially, but one of the movie's strengths is how well it finally convinces us that this would not only be unnecessary but damaging to this particular case.

If you followed Lipstadt's career (that's she, below, with Ms Weisz) and/or the somewhat famous trial, you'll know the outcome here. Even so, the film succeeds, scene by scene, in keeping us glued. It also calls attention to the ever increasing times that our world is confronted with Holocaust deniers. In the words of a certain famous bread commercial, "You don't have to be Jewish..." to find this denial offensive, stupid and utterly reprehensible. As the Holocaust recedes in history and memory, we'll need consistent reminding to keep much of the world -- from Islamic states to the Neo-Nazis -- from either deliberately "forgetting" or twisting history to its own ends. Movies like this one provide that reminder, and they do it damned well.

From Bleecker Street and running 110 minutes, Denial -- after opening earlier in New York and Los Angeles, hits theaters in South Florida tomorrow, Friday, October 14. Here in Boca Raton, it plays the Regal Shadowood 16 and the Cinemark Palace 20.  Next Friday, the film expands to many more cities across the country. Click here then scroll down to find the theater and playdate nearest you.