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Goran Visnjic). One day they encounter a woman who is somehow managing to operate an orphanage dangerously close to the fighting. Henderson sees an opportunity to put a human face on a war that the public back home is tiring of. In the process he becomes emotionally involved and decides to rescue one young orphan: he will take a girl named Emira back to his home in England. This is both illegal and incredibly dangerous, but he is resolute. Little does he dream that their perilous journey will involve him even further, and that it isn’t the final chapter of the story.

Welcome to Sarajevo blends fact and fiction with a sense of urgency; at times it is painfully difficult to watch. Thankfully, screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce resists the temptation to preach. (Boyce’s subsequent work includes Hilary and Jackie, and with director Winterbottom, 24 Hour Party People, Millions, and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.) Scenes of Henderson drinking and debating with his colleagues—including an American correspondent played by Woody Harrelson—add flavor and, in some cases, welcome humor to the proceedings. They also serve to underscore the seriousness of the situation when a character who has been flippant is later knocked for a loop.

Director Winterbottom has proved, more than once, that he has a gift for creating a tangibly believable environment for his actors. With camera work that puts us in the midst of the action, pop music on the sound track, and a solid international cast, Welcome to Sarajevo makes us believe—and care.

144. WENT TO CONEY ISLAND ON A MISSION FROM GOD…BE BACK BY FIVE

(2000)

Directed by Richard Schenkman

Screenplay by Jon Cryer and Richard Schenkman

Actors:

JON CRYER

RICK STEAR

RAFAEL BÁEZ

IONE SKYE

FRANK WHALEY

DOMINIC CHIANESE

PETER GERETY

AKILI PRINCE

AESHA WAKS

For a long time, people knew Jon Cryer best as Ducky in the indelible teen movie Pretty in Pink. Nowadays he’s the costar of the hit TV series Two and a Half Men. But a decade ago he cowrote and coproduced a low-budget film I like with a name that’s hard to forget: Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God…Be Back by Five.

This is a story about friendship, with all its ups and downs. Daniel, played by Cryer, and Stan, played by Rick Stear, grew up together on the streets of Brooklyn. Even as young men, they still seem to be stuck in adolescence, working at dead-end jobs. But one wintry day they dump their jobs in order to follow a stream of rumors about a mutual friend who’s vanished from their lives and is supposedly living among homeless people in Coney Island.

Their quest takes them on a circuitous route and they have a series of encounters with people who may or may not have leads to the whereabouts of their pal Richie. Ione Skye plays Stan’s long-suffering girlfriend, and you’ll recognize some of the people they meet, including Frank Whaley as Skee-Ball Weasel, and Dominic Chianese, from the Sopranos cast, as Mickey the Photographer.

Went to Coney Island…is an alternately funny and moving meditation on the unpredictability of life and where it takes us. It also deals squarely with the meaning of friendship among guys. I like the look and feel of the film, especially the way it captures the now-melancholy landscape of Coney Island, which resonates strongly with New Yorkers like me who remember it in its heyday.

It’s clear this movie was made as a labor of love for Cryer and director/cowriter Richard Schenkman, following their first collaboration, The Pompatus of Love. Something about the mood it creates and the relationship it portrays between two friends appeals to me, and it’s long held a place on my list of films I recommend to my friends.

145. WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU

(2008)

Directed by Brian Goodman

Screenplay by Brian Goodman, Paul T. Murray, and Donnie Wahlberg

Actors:

MARK RUFFALO

ETHAN HAWKE

AMANDA PEET

WILL LYMAN

BRIAN GOODMAN

DONNIE WAHLBERG

ANGELA FEATHERSTONE

Filmmakers have made excellent use of Boston for regionally driven crime stories in recent years. Mystic River and The Departed