In theaters

INNOCENCE, Written and directed by Paul Cox, 94 minutes, No MPAA rating, Now playing, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

If the long lines, crowds and hysteria surrounding today’s release of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” aren’t for you, maybe Paul Cox’s “Innocence” is. In some ways, it’s one of the most important movies of the year.

The film follows the ramifications of a love triangle that blossoms among a 70-year-old widower, the woman he loved 50 years before and now finds himself in love with again, and the woman’s husband, a self-absorbed curmudgeon suddenly faced with losing his wife of 44 years just when he needs her most.

Weak hearts, white hair, bad knees and cancer abound in the film, but so do passion, betrayal, sex and lust.

The movie, which the Dutch-born, Australian-raised Cox also wrote, is essentially 94 minutes of nose-thumbing at Hollywood, a defiant film from the director of “Vincent,” “Lonely Hearts” and “A Woman’s Tale” that takes Hollywood’s treasured 18-to-36 demographic and feeds it a much-needed dose of reality.

Beautifully shot and acted, the movie explores what it means to live and love at the end of one’s life. Its occasional heavy-handed philosophizing, melodramatic dialogue and contrivances undermine its intent, but only slightly. Cox has such keen insights into aging, relationships and the importance of first love that “Innocence” consistently rises above its flaws.

The film stars Charles Tingwell as Andreas, a widower of 30 years who’s startled to learn that Claire (Julia Blake), his teen-age love from Belgium five decades ago, is now living close by in Adelaide, Australia. Swiftly skirting that convenience, the story marches forward. Andreas sends Claire a letter, they meet for dinner and fall hard for each other all over again. After an evening of lovemaking at Andreas’ home, the couple decides they should never have parted and must be together now.

Of course it’s not that simple, but Cox and his characters know that. Claire’s husband, John (Blake’s real-life husband, Terry Norris), is so incredulous when he learns the news of Claire’s affair that he first believes it must be a joke. “Love at her age?” he says to their son, David (Robert Menzies). “It’s ridiculous.”

But as everyone soon learns, Claire is a woman coming fully into her own. At nearly 70, she’s consumed with love for Andreas and, perhaps for the first time in her life, also for herself. Her newfound inner strength is powerful, intoxicating, more liberating than anything she’s known. As John comes to realize this, it occurs to him that his sudden marital attentiveness may be too late.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

“crazy/beautiful,” directed by John Stockwell, written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, 95 minutes, rated PG-13.

John Stockwell’s “crazy/beautiful” isn’t your typical teen romance – and that’s a good thing, especially if you’ve seen some of the crap Hollywood has been pushing through the mill for teens.

Instead of pandering to baser sensibilities and being without an honest moment, the film is intent on offering its target audience something deeper, more interesting and worthwhile.

Its story of a lovesick couple crossing class and color lines is timeworn and designed to be box-office friendly, but Stockwell and his screenwriters, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, nevertheless make it work.

The film stars Kirsten Dunst as Nicole Oakley, an oily, out-of-control, 17-year-old drunk who seeks trouble, revels in it and then goes out of her way to cause more. Her father, Tom (Bruce Davison), a rich, liberal congressman with a new wife and child, doesn’t know what to do with her – and so, it initially appears, he does nothing.

Free to roam the streets of Pacific Palisades with her equally edgy friend, Maddy (Taryn Manning), Nicole is ready to crash and burn when she meets Carlos Nunez (Jay Hernandez), a Mexican-American who’s fighting to get out of East L.A. before East L.A. takes the fight out of him.

With early scenes that aren’t exactly subtle when hammering home the fact that Carlos is as perfect as Nicole is imperfect, the film goes too far in showcasing the differences between its two doe-eyed lovers. But as these two fall in love and are forced to deal with all that entails – she’s crazy, he’s beautiful, together they’re dysfunctional – the film generates sustained interest as the ramifications of this bumpy yet loving relationship become clear.

With Dunst again showing her impressive range and Hernandez delivering a performance that establishes him as a young actor to watch, “crazy/beautiful” doesn’t preach as its fragile world falls apart. Instead, it respects its characters, allowing them their issues and problems while respecting us enough to judge them and their choices for ourselves.

Grade: B

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

THE VIDEO-DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

America’s Sweethearts ? D+

crazy/beautiful ? B

Osmosis Jones ? C-

Tomb Raider ? D+

Doctor Zhivago

(DVD debut) ? A-

The Golden Bowl ? C+

Legally Blonde ? B+

Shrek ? A-

Aimee & Jaguar ? A

The Animal ? B

Swordfish ? C

With a Friend

Like Harry ? A-

Dr. Dolittle 2 ? C-

Dumbo (DVD debut) ? A

Final Fantasy:

The Spirits Within ? C+

Freddy Got

Fingered ? BOMB

Monty Python

and the Holy Grail ? B+

Angel Eyes ? C+

Cats & Dogs ? B+

Star Wars:

The Phantom Menace

(DVD debut) ? B

Town & Country ? C+

Bridget Jones’s Diary ? A-

One Night at McCool’s ? C-

Snow White and the Seven

Dwarfs (DVD debut) ? A+

Heartbreakers ? B+

The Mummy Returns ? D

Along Came a Spider ? C-

Citizen Kane

(DVD debut) ? A+

A Knight’s Tale ? C