A masterpiece of indirection and pure visceral thrills, David Cronenberg's latest mindblower, "A History of Violence," is the feel-good, feel-bad movie of the year.

I wanted to make a feel-bad movie.

And, if it's going to happen, we won't be bullied into it, even by didactic and beautiful films like this one, a feel-bad movie passing as low-key entertainment.

(Dargis) * 'A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE' (R, 97 minutes) A masterpiece of indirection and pure visceral thrills about a seemingly average American family almost undone by cataclysmic violence, David Cronenberg's latest mindblower is the feel-good, feel-bad movie of the year.

It's not that feel-bad movies aren't still being made.

(Lee) 'UNITED 93' (R, 115 minutes) A scrupulously tasteful Hollywood re-creation of the downing of the fourth plane hijacked by Muslim terrorists on Sept. 11 and easily the feel-bad American movie of the year.

For, even if it ends on a hopeful note, this is a feel-bad movie that leaves a bitter aftertaste.

Let me be clear: I yield to no one in my enthusiasm for good feel-bad movies (and there have been a number here at Cannes), but even a connoisseur of misery needs to laugh now and then.

That would be the wind-down of a feel-bad movie, and Chow, for all the years he's been in show business, has barely ever shot a feel-bad scene.

Tom Long of The Detroit News wrote "Young Adult may be the year's most engaging feel-bad movie."