"We are left to weight the balance of irony and forgiveness."

The always reliable David Thomson on A History of Violence, still my favorite movie of the year. Favorite excerpt:

Quite deliberately, I am not telling you the story of A History of Violence. That's because it employs a formula you've seen before, but gives it a radically new rhythm, one in which the atmosphere of the title is not just the energy that renews the country and which makes it safe and dangerous again. This film is a preparation for the uncertainty of the last few shots.