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Comedy Rules This Year's Batch

Pentecost, Peter McDonald

Raju, Max Zähle

The Shore, Terry George

Time Freak, Andrew Bowler

Tuba Atlantic, Hallvar Witzø

A strong group with none attaining greatness. A real tough call as to who will bring home the statue.

"Pentecost" In Ireland, being an altar boy is paralleled with being a member of a soccer team, including a Knute Rockne, win-it-for-the Gipper speech. Funny, good looking, but essentially a one-trick pony.

"Raju" A German couple goes to an orphanage in Calcutta to adopt a cute young boy. When the boy then disappears, a sad scandal becomes exposed. Tense, but should have been a bit more moving, considering the subject matter.

"The Shore" This one has the distinctive advantage of having Ciarán Hinds in the starring role and he does not disappoint. Also from Ireland, it is lush, professionally made and features real emotion and touching comedy.

"Time Freak" A cute young man invents a time machine and his life becomes no more exciting. He re-enacts days so often that he gets nothing accomplished. Essentially, a less effective "Groundhog Day".

"Tuba Atlantic" Definitely the oddball of the group and by far the most creative, featuring an utterly off-the wall plot about a dying Norwegian man obsessed with killing seagulls and constructing the world's largest and loudest tuba.