In theaters

THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, written and directed by Denys Arcand, 99 minutes, rated R. In French with English subtitles. Starts tonight, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions” is a sequel to his 1986 film “The Decline of the American Empire,” a modest hit that shook up the mid-’80s by featuring a group of friends talking freely and frankly about their kinky sexual exploits, most of which were shared with one another.

Together and apart, they discussed the highs and lows of their sex lives, cutting to the chase with a fierce wit that made the film’s most obvious contemporary, 1983’s “The Big Chill,” look like amateur hour.

Upon its release, “Empire” was something of a shock – and a welcome one at that – with audiences responding as much to its prickly characters as to their sharp, intellectual banter.

But now, with the characters having aged nearly 20 years, the spry verbal dance that once defined them has become a waltz, with the 63-year-old Arcand, who wrote the script, no longer as interested in the sex talk as he is in the process of dying.

Nominated this Sunday for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, “Invasions” is set in Quebec, where the health care system, according to Arcand, is less than desirable. It follows “Empire’s” original cast as they review their friendships and love affairs over the deathbed of former college professor Remy (Remy Girard), the difficult patriarch of a splintered family whose younger days were spent cheating on his former wife, Louise (Dorothy Berryman).

The most important relationship of his life is the relationship he never had: the one with his estranged son, Sebastien (Stephane Rousseau), a wealthy investment capitalist who is his father’s polar opposite, so much so that Sebastian has allegedly never read a book, much to his father’s embarrassment and chagrin.

Together, Sebastien and Remy are poison; they wrinkle the screen. But when Sebastien learns that his father’s cancer is indeed terminal and that he is in deep physical pain, he rises to the occasion and does what he does best: He negotiates a better end for the man, pulling out his cell phone and laptop computer and using his business acumen to find the proper help – even if it’s illegal.

The title of the film is twofold, recalling the cancer bombarding Remy’s system and the terrorist attacks against our country, both of which have left Remy and his friends scarred but also emotionally stronger. Indeed, even in the face of death, these friends are survivors, perhaps more eager now to share a laugh than they were when the world slipped away from them, stealing with it Remy’s health.

The film’s emotional ending is deeply felt and powerful, working as well as it does because Arcand doesn’t go too far. He examines the pain and the humor of life, but he doesn’t betray either with pathos or melodrama. As such, his film resonates and lingers.

Look for it to win the Academy Award.

Grade: A

On video and DVD

COLD CREEK MANOR, directed by Mike Figgis, written by Richard Jefferies, 118 minutes, rated R.

Tucked in the middle of the suspense thriller “Cold Creek Manor” is a line that neatly sums up the experience of watching the film: “I’m sorry, Cooper, but I’m having trouble relating to any of this.”

Others might too.

It’s the actress Sharon Stone who delivers those words, and you know what? The one nugget of truth nestled in her strained, wooden performance is that Stone isn’t joking. She really isn’t relating to any of this and neither is her character.

The movie, which Mike Figgis directed from a screenplay by Richard Jefferies, hails from Red Mullet Productions. That’s easy to believe, especially since the movie is about a deranged hillbilly with an auburn mullet who leaves prison to cause all sorts of problems at his family’s old manor house, which he lost to the bank and is now owned by some of the dumbest city slickers ever to hail from Manhattan.

The hillbilly, Dale Massie, is played by Stephen Dorff with the sort of crazy-eyed intensity that suggests his prey – the unbearably naive Tilsons-Cooper (Dennis Quaid), Leah (Stone) and the couple’s two children, Kristen (Kristen Stewart) and Jesse (Ryan Wilson) – will soon become part of his own private gumbo called the Devil’s Throat.

Just what that is won’t be revealed here, but rest assured that it’s every bit as unpleasant as it sounds, not to mention just silly enough to be worthy of a few snorts and giggles. In fact, “Cold Creek Manor” works best as a comedy. For instance, Juliette Lewis’ over-the-top performance as Ruby, the local slut with a drinking problem who decorates Dale’s arm like a nasty case of shingles, is a hoot. Her hair-pulling, slap-and-push fight with Stone is a highlight among the lowlights.

Marketed as a haunted house movie, which it isn’t, the film deceives us by instead offering up a camp spectacle. It’s such a misfire, it’s one of those bad movies that will take its stars two good movies to recover from. Indeed, for all the utter lack of suspense and thrills “Cold Creek Manor” kicks up, a better title might have been “Cold Water Flat.”

Grade: D

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 and WCSH 6, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. 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. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

American Splendor ? A-

Anything Else ? B+

Bad Boys II ? C-

Bruce Almighty ? B+

The Fighting Temptations ? C

Finding Nemo ? B+

Freaky Friday ? A-

How to Deal ? C-

House of the Dead ? D

The In-Laws ? C

Intolerable Cruelty ? B-

The Italian Job ? A-

Le Divorce ? C-

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ? A-

Lost in Translation ? A

Man on the Train ? A-

Matchstick Men ? A-

The Matrix Reloaded ? A-

The Missing ? B+

My Boss’s Daughter ? BOMB

Nowhere in Africa ? A

Once Upon a Time in Mexico ? B-

Open Range ? B+

Out of Time ? B

The Order ? D

Pieces of April ? B

Pirates of the Caribbean ? A-

Radio ? C

Runaway Jury ? B

Secondhand Lions ? C+

The Secret Lives of Dentists ? B+

Swimming Pool ? B+

Sylvia ? B-

Thirteen ? B+

28 Days Later ? B+

Under the Tuscan Sun ? B+

Underworld ? D

Winged Migration ? A