'Redbelt' (May 9)

A philosophical fight film grounded in samurai movies and Greek tragedy, David Mamet's "Redbelt" stars a mesmerizing Chiwetel Ejiofor as a righteous jiu-jitsu instructor, Alice Braga as his material-girl wife and Tim Allen as the aging movie star who lures them into a labyrinthine world ruled by money and power. Of course, if it's Mamet, it must be complicated -- initially a simple story about a moral being struggling to live in an amoral world, the movie turns as twisty as a noir procedural, but soulful performances by Ejiofor and Emily Mortimer, as the distressed lawyer who starts all the trouble, keep "Redbelt" surprisingly well-grounded.

--Carina Chocano

(Jim Sheldon / Sony Pictures Classics)