Ty's picks for Friday, January 19

Some good ones opening today: "Venus," with Peter O'Toole giving a majestic career-summing performance, at the Harvard Square. The heartwrenching documentary "God Grew Tired of Us" at the Kendall. Chris Marker's whimsical docu-essay "The Case of the Grinning Cat" at the Brattle. Then there's, um, "The Hitcher," which wasn't screened in time for today's paper. I saw it last night, though, and will post a review here later this afternoon. (Let's just say the 1986 original looks like "Gone With the Wind" in comparison.)

Also, if you haven't seen any of the following end-of-the-year award contenders, you really need to do your homework: "Notes on a Scandal," "Children of Men," "Pan's Labyrinth," "Letters from Iwo Jima," "Volver," "Babel," "The Pursuit of Happyness," and "The Queen." And allow me to give a shout-out to "The Painted Veil" (in photo above), a perfectly acceptable little Miramax-y movie that has been lost in the shuffle. Based on a Somerset Maugham novel, it's a little too-too, but Naomi Watts is very good in it, Edward Norton is subtly excellent, the cinematography is gawgeous, and there's a reason Alexandre Desplat's score won a Golden Globe. Class stuff if not four-star.

"Shortbus" is still playing at the Coolidge, by the way. Take a date. Just not a first date.

The Harvard Film Archive kicks off its 7th annual survey of new films from Europe tonight (read Ethan Gilsdorf's fine round-up today here) with, curiously, a movie that looks back 35 years: Manoel de Oliveira's "Belles Toujours," an ode to Bunuel's "Belle De Jour" that reunites much of that classic 1967 film's cast (except with Bulle Ogier playing Severine instead of Catherine Deneuve. Oh well.)

Also, if you have four hours Saturday and want a unique cinematic challenge, Jacques Rivette's groundbreaking 1969 meditation on paranoia and the theater, "L'Amour Fou," plays the HFA. Thank me later.