The Reader

Kate Winslet's back must be really sore because she carries The Reader all by herself. It's not that the other fine thesps drop the ball - actors like Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Lena Olin - it's just that Winslet's Hanna Schmitz has the burden of the film's spine and is the only character I felt any affinity for.
The Reader chronicles Schmitz affair with a teenage boy Michael Berg (Kross) in post-war Germany. One day he shows up at her apartment for their usual rendezvous only to find the place empty. Later in life the lad has become a law student and while attending a heavily publicised trial, to his shock, he sees Hanna is one of the defendants. She's being tried along with several other women for their complicity in the deaths of concentration camp victims.
The Reader has a simple enough framing device with Fiennes as the older Berg (no relation I swear) looking back on the events trying to make sense of it all. The film's production has more drama than the movie what with one-time producer Scott Rudin taking his name off after a skirmish with Harvey Weinstein. As directed by Stephen Daldry (The Hours) the film never really reaches altitude but Winslet will amaze with her performance.