The Caveman's Valentine

Samuel L. Jackson gives a brilliantly tormented performance in this provocative, stylized psychological thriller/murder mystery about a one-time musical genius whose acute paranoid schizophrenia drove him to homelessness. Jackson becomes entangled in a murder investigation that taxes his remaining sanity when the body of a drug-addicted young drifter is found frozen to death in a tree outside his cavern in a Manhattan park. With the strong acting, lavish visuals and enigmatic atmosphere (the camera often sees the world the way Jackson imagines it), director Kasi Lemmons' (Eve's Bayou) sophomore effort is something to see, even as it collapses under the continued strain of ever-growing implausibility. But, ultimately, there's no way around the whodunit/how-it-was-done switcheroo finale--an outcome so impossibly complicated and absurdly staged it would make even Agatha Christie laugh out loud. A strong optional purchase. (R. Blackwelder)