SPOOR (POKOT) World Cinema

Polish master Agnieszka Holland delivers an animal rights murder mystery for the ages in this genre-bending pleasure. Agnieszka Mandat stars as Duszejko, a middle-aged hippie living in the Klodzko Valley, a region in Poland known for grand, heart-stoppingly beautiful forest landscapes, plentiful wildlife and a vicious hunting season. Holland lovingly photographs the forest creatures, and Duszejko’s pain is deeply felt each time a local hunter brings one of these animals a grim fate. When the hunters themselves start to turn up dead, the fiery protagonist’s personal investigation leads her to believe that the forest might be taking its revenge. SPOOR is both a visual feast and a comically tinged, gloriously twisted thriller. – Mike Dougherty