Babel

Acclaimed Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, working with regular co-writer Guillermo Arriaga, once again fashions an ambitious, harrowing narrative from seemingly unconnected stories. As if to top his debut Amores Perros (set in Mexico City) and English-language follow-up 21 Grams (shot in Memphis), Babel crosses three continents and employs a number of languages, including sign. Two young goatherds fire a newly acquired rifle from a Moroccan hillside, precipitating trouble for an American tourist couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) and a risky trip from San Diego across the Mexican border for their nanny (a formidable Adriana Barraza). Meanwhile, a deaf-mute teenager in Tokyo (Rinko Kikuchi) experiences familial, social and sexual frustration. Deftly moving between these four strands, the film is grainily handsome, naturalistically acted (the Moroccans are non-professionals) and throws up assorted themes to chew on. But with one of the links predictable and another arbitrarily contrived, the whole isn't quite as profound as it appears.