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TSOTSI Tsotsi is the South African word for "thug"; here, it's also the name used by a Johannesburg punk (Presley Chweneyagae) who shoots an upper-class woman and steals her car, failing to realize that an infant boy is resting in the back seat. Deciding to keep the child, he forces a single mom (Terry Pheto) to help him, but he soon softens thanks to these two new people in his life. Winner of this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, this South African import takes a sentimental view of what can largely be construed as unsentimental circumstances, yet its selling point is the subtlety by which it spreads around its empathy. The sturdy performances by Chweneyagae and Pheto are as understated and matter-of-fact as the rest of the picture, signaling that writer-director Gavin Hood (adapting a novel by playwright Athol Fugard) made sure everyone was on the same page right from the start. ***
OPENS FRIDAY, APRIL 21:
AMERICAN DREAMZ: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid.
FRIENDS WITH MONEY: Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack.
THE SENTINEL: Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland.
SILENT HILL: Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean.