Sacha Baron Cohen's journey into America's heartland, in the guise of his fictitious Khazakstani television reporter, could justifiably stake a claim as the most uproariously and hysterically funny film of the year. There are moments in Borat - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan that cut so close to the funny bone, you'll be doubled up in physical pain from all the laughter. Like the victims who suffer the eponymous hero's anti-Semitic, homophobic quips, you'll need an open mind though. The film does not suffer political correctness or social niceties gladly.

Directed by Larry Charles, this road movie introduces Borat and his long-suffering director Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davitian), who intend to make a documentary about western culture. So they bid farewell to Borat's hometown, where he proudly introduces us to his neighbours ("The town rapist", "The town mechanic . . . and abortionist!") before heading to the U S of A. The situations depicted in the film are, with one notable exception, all real: these people truly believe Borat to be a visitor from another country, keen to absorb good ol' fashioned American values. Thus a southern society hostess shows incredible poise and restraint when Borat returns to the dinner table, having excused himself to visit the toilet, holding a plastic bag full of excrement. She spirits him upstairs for a quick lecture on bathroom etiquette, including the proper technique for using toilet paper.

Cohen keeps a straight face throughout, even when his date, a voluptuous African-American prostitute turns up at the door, hoping for more than just a bite of dessert. The madness continues at breakneck pace, to a rodeo where Borat manages to get one of the organisers to give an on-camera interview discussing his dislike of Muslims and gays. A plush hotel is the scene of the pice de rsistance - a fight between Borat and Azamat that spills out into the corridor and then into a mortgage brokers' annual banquet, where the two men smash tables as they wrestle each other to the ground . . . naked. There's even bona fide footage from WAPT News 16, which booked Borat as a guest on their live news programme. God only knows how Cohen got away with most of the antics without being deported.

The only false note in the film is Borat's bungled abduction of his romantic heroine, Pamela Anderson, at a book signing. Though played as if genuine (complete with CCTV footage), it is clear from the reaction of Anderson and her security team that the kidnapping is a set-up. The joke apparently is on us, but we're not laughing.

Based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, Little Children paints a beautifully detailed portrait of fear and self-loathing in American suburbia. Perrotta and writer-director Todd Field masterfully adapt the book for the screen, shining a light into the darkest recesses of the human soul: desire, obsession, jealousy, retribution. Certain narrative threads have been dropped between page and screen, forcing us to make emotional connections with the characters, often without fully understanding the motives for their behaviour.

The effect is both disorienting and utterly engrossing; our sympathies ebb and flow as good people make drastic choices to achieve their selfish dreams, and the threat of violence hangs heavily in the air Field demonstrates mastery of narrative pacing and subtle shifts in emotion. He effortlessly glides between the entwined plot strands, drawing together his disparate menagerie of wounded characters for a denouement that forcibly squeezes the very breath out of you.

The film's power resonates from its refusal to make sweeping moral judgments. Consequently, we see the tiniest flecks of humanity and vulnerability in seemingly the most despicable figures, like a paedophile, whose horrific past misdeeds are never revealed on screen.

Kate Winslet continues to affirm her reputation as one of the finest performers of her generation. The only actress to date to receive four Oscar nominations before her 30th birthday, Winslet should be one of next year's five hopefuls for her stunning portrayal here of a lonely wife, clinging to the one glimmer of a hopeful future.

During a trip to the local playground with her daughter Lucy (Sadie Goldstein), Sarah Pierce (Winslet) meets married man Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson) and his young son Aaron (Ty Simpkins). A chance kiss between the two parents sparks a tempestuous affair behind the backs of his emotionally cold filmmaker wife Kathy (Jenniffer Connelly) and Sarah's disinterested businessman husband Richard (Gregg Edelmann).