Ladies in Lavender, written and directed by British actor Charles Dance, from a short story by William Locke, 
received a rather limited release in the United States, and would have remained off my radar except for a recommendation (which is almost always a welcome thing) from my parents (to whom one should almost always listen). While there may be a few films on these pages I enjoy yet would not recommend to my parents (which recalls the time I insisted we all sit down and watch Glengarry Glen Ross, mysteriously having forgotten its dialog is among David Mamet’s most severe), I am happy to report that this recommendation from them was quite enjoyable.
The titular ladies are two spinster sisters (Judi Dench and Maggie Smith), whose lives are interrupted 
when a young man quite literally washes up on the shore outside their idyllic Cornwall home. The story is both slight and, at times, moving, and while the characters and the narrative are familiar, Director Dance injects enough ambiguity that it never quite feels like we’re being led to an inevitable end. The mysterious young man, Andrea (played by Daniel Brühl, the star of the marvelously touching and funny Goodbye Lenin!), turns out to have an extraordinary gift. Although his path here might be a bit too swift and tidy, there is compelling beauty in the notion that a person might be able to fully utilize his talents, due in no small part to the sacrifice of others.
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
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