At bottom a murder trial of a Japanese-American in the volatile aftermath of World War II. The Australian director Scott Hicks, possibly overanxious to prove that Shine was no fluke, makes sure his hand is busily in evidence: the balusters in the railing of the courtroom balcony, through which one character observes another, are matched to the slats in a fence through which the same character had observed the other in childhood. That sort of thing. But the allusive, free-associative, nonsequential narrative style snuffs out any momentum in the court case, and snuffs out most of the interest along with it. (Truth be told, there's not much to the court case once the digressions are cleared away.) The fussy lighting effects -- half-light, backlight, highlights -- and the dollops of mood-drenched nature photography are not designed to give impetus, either. Based on the novel by David Guterson; with Ethan Hawke, Youki Kudoh, Rick Yune, Sam Shepard, James Cromwell, and Max von Sydow. (1999) — Duncan Shepherd
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