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When I saw Ceylan's I was amazed by its beauty and subtlety, it is a wonderful portrait of an Istanbul photographer and his cousin (straight from the country and somewhat despised by his wealthier relative) who comes to look for a job in the city. The second Ceylan film to get a release in this country, , was altogether different - rather than a vanity project this was a robustly anti-vanity project in which Ceylan and his wife played... a husband and wife. I personally have a very high tolerance of actors staring into space and contemplating the void, but this had me climbing the walls. It was very positively reviewed, so perhaps the backlash will start with Three Monkeys, but I have my paws crossed that the film will be a return to form.

have been lucky at Cannes, two of their films, Rosetta and The Child have won the Palme D'Or in the past and this year they won for Best Screenplay. I saw them a couple of years ago about their films and I would definitely nominate them for the award of greatest living Belgians (Belgium and Canada always being accused of lacking interesting inhabitants). They deserve to be much better known outside arthouse circles because they make thrilling films about people on the fringes of society - films that are anything but dull and worthy. In some ways they remind me of Dickens, with their love of showing ordinary people in difficult circumstances. I can't help but wonder what a roomful of obstreperous teens would make of , a film about a 17-year-old boy with a secret. Perhaps I should start showing it in inner city schools and make a moving documentary about how it turns the kids away from crime and disaffection. Perhaps not.