Four former prostitutes set themselves up in the restaurant business in Italian director Antonio Petrangeli's vintage 1961 prize-winner, which stars Simone Signoret and Marcello Mastroianni. The tone wavers between bittersweet comedy and stark social commentary, with sumptuous monochrome shots of handsome Roman vistas, plus two ravishingly beautiful stars looking furrowed and soulful as middle age looms. With its downbeat note of gritty realism, Adua And Company is classy and compelling Euro-drama.
A film of two halves and dual tones, director Ang Lee extrapolates from Stan Lee's original Marvel comic book Hulk both the dark angst of scientist Bruce Banner and the fluorescent fury of the eponymous monster. So, depending on your taste, you'll either prefer the hi-tech CGI set-pieces, or the low-rent monochrome drama of Nick Nolte and Eric Bana hamming/Hamlet-ing it up as the id-unleashing father and son.
