His mother (Anjelica Huston), her face a mask of rage, drives him nuts with her self-dramatizing anxieties.

NEWYORKER: Playing The Numbers

There are poised performances, notably that of the pensive engineer (Sergei Makovetsky) who, propelled by conscience, follows in the tracks of Henry Fonda, but there is also a fair dose of grandstanding, not helped by the lengthy, self-dramatizing speeches with which many of the men are encumbered.

NEWYORKER: (director: Nikita Mikhalkov; 2009)