directed by Evan Brenner, produced by Yuri Torokhov, in Russian with English subtitles -- Little Theatre, Hamilton.

`The Riddle' is American director Evan Brenner's feature-length debut, although he has made numerous short films and displays here the absolutely sure hand of a veteran. The film, shot in Russia, has become celebrated for the unusual circumstances in which it was made.

Mr. Brenner, who did not at the time speak Russian, hand-picked and directed a cast of unknowns, many of them orphans living in the orphanage in which the second half of his film is set. Mr. Brenner was nevertheless able to marshal his powers and direct his first movie in a foreign language. The force which drove him to work in that fashion can only have been optimism, with which his movie is infused.

`The Riddle' revolves around Sasha, a 10-year-old whose mother was killed by a train the year before.

His alcoholic father proves incapable of sustaining the increasingly difficult boy, who is dispatched to a state institution half a continent away, where he encounters well-meaning bureaucracy and takes an increasing interest in the circumstances of his mother's death...

...which hardly sounds like the recipe for a light-hearted film which pokes gentle fun at communism, adults and other institutions, while making points about the power of love and the indomitability of youth.

Much of what makes `The Riddle' work is close attention to the authentic detail of its Russian mis-en-sce mne. Some splendid cinematography by Richard Dallett provides visually riveting moments and the anchor of a more-than-occasional documentary feel.

`The Riddle' sits well in the European genre of train-related mysteries. The other-worldly sense of menace a train imbues in children resonates through German and Russian literature and Mr. Brenner has captured it vividly and memorably.

Speaking after the movie to a small but attentive audience, the director explained that his was a universal message. His movie, he felt, resonated with what Russia was experiencing at the time the film was made, "a few years ago''. He also said, less convincingly, that his family's roots are Russian, but that choosing to set his directorial debut there was accidental.

For the local movie fan, the idea of a film festival in Bermuda can only have come as welcome news. With a broad range of films to choose from, anyone who likes the movies should come out and support BIFF because if this one is a success, there'll be another.

ROGER CROMBIE The Riddle will be shown again tonight at 9.15 p.m. at the Liberty Theatre.

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