How to compel you to see Broken English without spoiling which of her suitors will become the focus of the movie? Suffice it to say, someone gets through to Nora, breaking through the defenses built up by decades of dead-end relationships -- and only then does her real work begin.

Nobody plays fragile quite like Posey, who wins us over from the opening shots: Nora stands at the mirror preparing for yet another dead-end dinner party. Watching her, you get the distinct impression that the mirror is the last place this character wants to look, and director Zoe Cassavetes' camera makes no attempt to flatter Posey's features, accentuating those frowny little lines at the corner of her mouth.

Filmmaking is a family affair for the Cassavetes, and Zoe inherits the unpretentious, performance-driven style from her father, John, while delivering a love story that's accessible enough for mainstream audiences, a trick learned from her brother Nick, director of The Notebook, no doubt. Rowlands, of course, is Zoe's actual mother.

"What if we always turn into our parents?" Nora frets. "I like to think of it as where my parents left off," her date replies. The line has particular resonance here, though Zoe brings a softer, distinctly feminine perspective to the family aesthetic, which aggressively seeks out real examples of raw emotion.

It helps that she's working with perhaps the greatest actress of her generation. Once the queen of indie cinema, Posey's been gone far too long, relegated to campy cameos in films like Blade: Trinity and Superman Returns. It's good to have her back, delivering a performance that's all soul and no snark in a movie about the risks worth taking in the name of romance.

[as featured in The Miami Herald]