Coming soon to theaters

VERA DRAKE, written and directed by Mike Leigh, 125 minutes, rated R.

The new Mike Leigh movie, “Vera Drake,” is set in North London in 1950. It stars Imelda Staunton as Vera, a cheerful woman who cleans the homes of the rich, yet who lives in a world that smacks of Dickens.

As played by Staunton in one of the year’s best performances, Vera is a small, sturdy-looking woman with a round, weathered face that’s surprisingly bright in spite of being pinched so hard by life.

She takes care of a demanding family that loves her, and she tends to an ailing mother who needs her more than she’d like to admit. Vera is the life of the picture, which is ironic since a good deal of her time is spent performing secret, backstreet abortions on women “who have gotten themselves in trouble.”

It’s something her family knows nothing about, especially her mechanic husband, Stan (Philip Davis), who considers his wife to be a “diamond, that one.” But since even the best diamonds don’t reveal their flaws easily, Vera’s flaw has long remained hidden. For the better part of 20 years, she has been living a lie.

This excellent film, which Leigh (“Secrets & Lies,” “Topsy-Turvy”) based on his own script, takes an irrevocable turn when Vera is arrested by the police after one of her abortions goes wrong. When she is caught, the police learn that she has performed hundreds of abortions for free. She does so because she knows that the women who come to her seeking an abortion have financial means as meager as her own. They can’t afford the luxury of a private clinic – as the daughter of Vera’s employer can – so Vera performs the abortions herself.

Obviously, audiences will be divided about “Vera Drake.” Some will see her as a saint, others as the face of evil, and others still will see her as Leigh does – complex and human, a good woman with a good heart who believes she is doing the right thing yet who is rendered still the moment the law slams her life shut.

Leigh never moralizes here; he simply allows the events to unravel and reveal themselves to Vera, to her family and to us. For Staunton, a vibrant, award-winning stage and television actress in England, this allows for a performance that becomes almost purely physical. So stunned and ashamed is Vera by her situation, words and movement become a near impossibility. It’s her eyes that reveal the truth of what she’s feeling, and that truth is devastating.

Backed by an outstanding cast that includes Daniel Mays as Vera’s son, Sid, and Alex Kelly as her shy daughter, Ethel, “Vera Drake” is among the year’s best movies, with a performance by Staunton that has been receiving awards, nominations and accolades since the film’s release – and which might just win her the Academy Award.

Grade: A

On video and DVD

I, ROBOT, directed by Alex Proyas, written by Jeff Vintar and Akiva Goldman, 115 minutes, rated PG-13.

Like so many science fiction movies – from Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” to Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” and Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report” – Alex Proyas’ “I, Robot” peers into the future and sees a wealth of technology it doesn’t like or trust.

In this case, it sees robots – millions of robots; one for every five people in the United States alone. As the film opens, it’s 2035 and these gleaming automatons are everywhere.

Created by Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), they are a genial enslaved race of circuitry and metal that do the work we don’t want to do while abiding by three laws: They must never injure humans or allow them to be injured; they must obey humans unless doing so would injure a human; and they must protect their own existence, unless doing so would go against the first two laws.

For most, that philosophy covers the bases. But for Will Smith’s Detective Del Spooner, there are flaws in those laws that the robots might have recognized. And if they have, they might be quietly evolving, using the laws to serve their own needs while plotting our own undoing.

Borrowing from a wealth of influences, particularly the 1950 short story collection by Isaac Asimov, “I, Robot” is hardly original and it gets off to a slow start. Still, when it does dig in to deliver the goods, it does so with first-rate action and special effects sequences that are thrilling, especially at the end, when Proyas uses the bulk of his $100 million budget to muscle a strong finish onto the screen.

Smith holds the movie together with a performance he has given before, but screenwriters Jeff Vintar and Akiva Goldman don’t let him down. They give him enough funny, throwaway lines to make the movie a crowd-pleaser crammed with enough eye candy so it won’t disappoint.

Grade: B+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 Bangor and WCSH 6 Portland, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He may 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. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Around the World in 80 Days – D

At Home at the End of the World – B+

The Bourne Supremacy – B

The Chronicles of Riddick – C-

The Clearing – C+

Collateral – B+

Dawn of the Dead – A-

The Day After Tomorrow- B

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story – B

Dogville – B

Elf – B+

Ella Enchanted – B

Envy – D

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – A-

Fahrenheit 9/11 – A-

Fog of War – A

Garfield: The Movie – C+

The Girl Next Door – C+

Gone With the Wind (new on DVD) – A+

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – A-

Hero – B+

I, Robot – B+

Kill Bill Vol. 2 – B

Man on Fire – B

Mean Girls – B+

Raising Helen – C+

Shrek 2 – B

Spider-Man 2 – A

The Stepford Wives – C

Soul Plane – D

Super Size Me – C-

The Terminal – D

The Triplets of Belleville – A

Van Helsing – B

Walking Tall – C

White Chicks – C-