R

Who knows better about prison life than someone who has experienced it firsthand?

"R" is not about justice or redemption. You couldn't even call it a protest film about prison conditions, but it is very well made and persuasively acted.

Directors-screenwriters Lindholm and Noer are careful not to let the audience know more than their protagonist does, keeping them in the nerve-wrecking state of uncertainty and fear.

Even though its gloomy setting and crushingly bleak authenticity makes "R" a film that is at times hard to watch, it still is one of the best films I've seen this year.