The Scandinavian film Reprise may have been pushed back, but I still have plenty to examine with the likes of Asian actioner Flash Point, Marianne Faithful starrer Irina Palm, release schedule nomad Flawless, and Italian '70s drama My Brother is an Only Child. I have had a disastrous weekend on a personal level, so excuse me in advance if my writing and/or analysis skills seem discombobulated.

Let's start by catching up with a film scheduled to open this weekend, Flash Point (March 14). As small as the U.S. release may be (New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco apparently), this one is a big Hong Kong action movie, promising lots of chases, gunfights and especially martial arts. It only takes the names involved to know that those who will see Flash Point will be one fun ride: director Wilson Yip and actor and action choreographer Donnie Yen reunite after SPL, a favorite of H.K. action lovers. Yen shares the screen with two other stars, Collin Chou and Louis Koo, in a classic tale of Police vs. Triads (Donnie Yen plays the cop). As much as I love watching H.K. actioners, betting on Flash Point in Fantasy Moguls doesn't seem like the best idea there is.

This kind of limited release is much more successful when the foreign movie is a more stereotypical arthouse film, and not a big butt-kicking action extravaganza. At the very least, you need to have a respected name behind the camera, like Johnny To (most film buffs don't know Wilson Yip). The fact that the distributor is small company (Third Trail Releasing) doesn't improve the odds at all. Expect the box-office results to be counted in thousands of dollars only, with little chance of bringing home any PTA points. The only good thing Flash Point has for you is its User Rating, already standing at 6.9 with about 1,000 votes. Even for only $5 in Ultimate Movie Moguls leagues, it's probably not worth opening your Fantasy Moguls wallet. (In Box Office Moguls, in a word: useless.)

Coming up next weekend we have Irina Palm (March 21). This one's a film that might be worth squeezing into your slate. A second feature by German-born director Sam Garbarski (maybe some of you saw the first, French-language film The Rashevski Tango?), Irina Palm offers a rare Marianne Faithfull performance on the big screen, a couple of years after her turn as mother of the (royal) bride in Sofia Coppola's disappointing and overhyped Marie Antoinette. After the fake flamboyance of 18th century France, the singer is this time immersed in contemporary England, playing a 60-year-old widow who commits to an unusual job ... in some sort of sex shop ... in order to collect enough money to pay for critical medical treatment for her very ill grandson.

Sounds a little ... creepy, right? In fact Irina Palm is a good film, and not THAT creepy. It sure ain't a feel-good movie, but it has its (slight) share of lightness and hope, at least more than I expected. It's a disarming portrait of a woman, and Faithfull is wonderful in the title role. As for why you need to consider putting this movie on your slate: A prize winner at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival, Irina Palm is going to get solid reviews and should have excellent word of mouth among arthouse lovers (the current User Rating says it all: 7.4 with more than 1,300 votes). And when such a film is getting a small release only in New York City (at the Quad Cinema), you start thinking it might grab a couple of PTA points. The downside is the price tag: $8 in Ultimate leagues. Which is not THAT cheap for such a small film. So ... proceed with caution.

On the other hand, $8 for Irina Palm is probably still a better investment than $7 for Flawless (March 28). The Michael Caine/Demi Moore heist movie has been all over the release schedule for months, and one has to seriously wonder whether it will really ever come out. Personally, I have my doubts. The film used to be available in Fantasy Moguls leagues for only $2 or $3, which made it interesting. At $7, it's suddenly less desirable. Directed by Michael Radford, best known for the sweet Il Postino (no, The Postman is a movie by Kevin Costner), Flawless (not to be confused with the trannie comedy starring Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman) is set in 1960s London in the high-finance world of diamond selling. Caine plays a soon-to-retire janitor at a diamond company who plans a heist of his soon-to-be-former employer with the help of a frustrated female executive of the company, played by Moore.

As I mentioned in an earlier column a few months back, Moore and Caine, although she is not the movie star she used to be ... and although Sleuth, in which he starred, was one of last fall's biggest bombs at the arthouse ticket counter (unfairly so, as the film was quite fascinating) ... well, they are both draws. Moore was in one of 2007's nice surprises (Mr. Brooks) and Caine is Caine. Being the most famous movie Alfred (no, not that Hitchcock guy — Batman's butler) to many a geek is the very least of his cinematic accomplishments. Moreover, the film benefits from quite a good word of mouth (7.0 User Rating with more than 1,000 votes) and honorable reviews, praising the efficiency of its classic heist scenario. Still, it won't help the film be essential for Fantasy Moguls players, as Magnolia Pictures has pushed it back too long and has even, apparently, made it available on pay-per-view prior to theatrical release. Flawless should be released in more than 20 theaters. Don't rush into it.

Finally, let's take a look at one of Italia's best films of 2007, My Brother Is an Only Child (March 28). A drama full of history, suspense, romance and family relationships, Mio Fratello è Figlio Unico was one of the great success of the Italian box office last spring, when it was released around the time it was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of two brothers who grew up in small town Italy in the 1960s and who, in the '70s, as they reach adulthood, each adopt an opposite political view: the older one, good-looking and charismatic, defends the left-wing ideas of socialism, while the younger one, with a strong character, embraces fascism.

The film, directed by Daniele Luchetti, is enticing, especially in its human drama, and the conflict between the brothers who, despite all their frontal struggles, remain family. The strong performances from the two leads, Riccardo Scamarcio and Elio Germano, play a big part in the film's quality. Both actors already acted alongside each other in Romanzo Criminale, in supporting roles. In Italy, not only was My Brother Is an Only Child a critical and box-office success, it also went on to win four David Di Donatello Awards, the local equivalent of the Oscars (among them, the film won Best Screenplay and Elio Germano won Best Actor).

Foreign success doesn't necessarily translate to filmic fortune in the United States, but this Italian film should be able to make a little business of its own. Not millions of dollars, but something at least interesting, Fantasy Moguls-wise. Something like a good User Rating (it already has one: 7.2 with 650 votes) and, being a bit alone among new limited releases that week, probably at least 2 or 3 PTA points. ThinkFilm is launching it in New York only. It will cost you $7 in Ultimate Leagues ($2 in Box Office ones, not worth it), and, in my mind, those are $7 much better used than with Flawless.

And here ends this Dances With the Arthouse. Lovers of Norwegian cinema, I'm sorry that Reprise has been pushed back, so I'll deal with it in a future column. A warning to those of you who grabbed Funny Games, maybe on my advice: The film opens in more than 200 theaters this weekend. I don't think it will grab many (if any) PTA points given that breadth. Before I go, let me recommend you an arthouse film that is not included in the game, Priceless, opening in limited release in the States, with the exquisite Audrey Tautou. (Yes, it's another French film — I can't help it!) My most recent spectator thoughts? Run, Fat Boy, Run was nice, Jumper was watchable, The Orphanage has a beautiful ending, and Johnny To's Mad Detective is great (as usual)! Talk to you next week!

If Indie Jones was planning a diamond heist, he'd probably try to get Demi Moore in on it, too. Especially now that Ashton has, apparently, given up acting to stay home with the kids. On the other hand, maybe he'd take a shot at Juliette Binoche first. She is French, after all. To say nothing of being younger than Demi. And sexier, too. Tell him who you'd take your heist scheme to at danceswiththearthouse@gmail.com.