The Hours
Delicate and hypnotic,The Hoursinterweaves three stories with remarkable skill: in the 1920s Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) grapples  with her inner demons and slowly works on her novelMrs. Dalloway;  in 1949 housewife Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) feels her own destructive impulses; and in 1999 book editor Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl  Streep)--much like the title character of Woolf's novel--prepares to throw a party, in honor of her dearest friend, a seriously ill  poet (Ed Harris). Small details reverberate from story to story  as a powerhouse cast (including Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Claire  Danes, Jeff Daniels, John C. Reilly, Stephen Dillane, and Miranda Richardson) gives subtle  and beautifully modulated performances. In the hands of director Stephen  Daldry (Billy Elliot),The Hoursis almost more a piece of  music than a story, and like music, it may move you in unexpected ways.--Bret Fetzer