story of love won and lost. 42. LEnfant (2005)Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardennes social-realist thrillers are so stylistically distinctivewith their handheld close-ups, long follow-shots, and nerve-jangling plotsthat Dardennes-like became an acceptable term of art among cineastes in the 00s. LEnfant may be their most Dardennes-like movie: a harrowing slice-of-life that tracks the moment-to-moment existence of petty crook Jeremie Renier, his girlfriend Deborah Francois, and their newborn baby. Flush with the spoils of a recent robbery, Renier treats his makeshift family to a spree, but when the money runs out, Renier brokers a business deal that is, at minimum, unconscionable. By the end of the movie, hes alone, zipping through Belgian streets on a scooter, trying to elude the police and the people hes ripped off. The title of LEnfant could refer to Reniers baby, Renier himself, or even the gang of schoolboy robbers he recruits. But beyond the films metaphorical leanings, what lingers are the details grounded in everyday life, like the emphasis on what everything costs, and exactly how much money Renier has (or doesn't have) to pay for it all.41. The Dark Knight (2008)Christopher Nolan redefined how deep a comic-book movie could cut with this sequel to his own Batman Begins in which good and evil battle for the soul of a city. Except that good takes the form of a vigilante with often-questionable methods (Christian Bales Batman), and evil, in the form of the late Heath Ledgers stuff-of-nightmares Joker, has a nagging way of not being wrong beneath his madness. Nolans action scenes match the stunningly grand scale of the themes he raises by depicting a political landscape thats become corrupt and self-serving.40. City Of God (2002)Fans of The Wire (you might have heard of that TV series via the writers at this site once or twice...) would do well to seek out the Brazilian/French co-production City Of God, if they havent alreadyit doesnt entirely have the same top-to-bottom exploration of the drug trade, but in its focus on kids going in different directions in a Rio de Janeiro slum, it takes a similarly detail-oriented, uncompromisingly deep-focused angle, and its even rawer and more visceral. As two slum kids try to find their way in the world via their natural talentsone as a photographer, one as an uncompromisingly murderous drug dealerdirectors Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund use their personal story to explore larger issues of the causes and effects of violence and the drug trade, from incidental collateral damage to the lives that go wrong early in the shadow of a society of corruption and ferocity.39. The Prestige (2006)Christopher and Jonathan Nolans adaptation of Christopher Priests novel The Prestige is a movie about magic that features a piece of misdirection so sly that many viewers miss it. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play rival magicians in Victorian London. Bales the solemn perfectionist, Jackman the ambitious, curious type always looking for shortcuts. One mans secret becomes so obvious so early that some may feel disappointed (or smug) about predicting the twist, but while the Nolans hold the promise of superficial revelations