An acquired taste, this dense Jabberwocky-ish word salad is a political allegory about a populace that's been pharmaceutically duped into believing its wretched world is wonderful.

NOTHING SHOULD BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED IN 'EVERYONE ELSE,' WHICH IS AT ONCE LAID-BACK AND RIGOROUSAbout the world we create when we fall in love, and how we navigate the space between us and that separating us from everyone else.

The weave of the personal and the political finally proves as irresistible as it is moving, partly because it has been drawn from extraordinary life.

In scene after scene, meaning sneaks in and sometimes roars.

The movie industry is failing women. And until the industry starts making serious changes, nothing is going to change.

In truth, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” isn't about Sept. 11. It's about the impulse to drain that day of its specificity and turn it into yet another wellspring of generic emotions: sadness, loneliness, happiness. This is how kitsch works. It exploits familiar images, be they puppies or babies - or, as in the case of this movie, the twin towers - and tries to make us feel good, even virtuous, simply about feeling. And, yes, you may cry, but when tears are milked as they are here, the truer response should be rage.

Mr. Lapid, making an electrifying feature directing debut, traces the line between the group and the individual in a story that can be read as a commentary on the world as much as on Israel.