Wild Things (1998) *****

Of Freaks And Men (1998) *****

Dinara Drukarova is a Russian actress who appeared in films like "Freeze-Die-Come To Life" (1990) and "Since Otar Left" (2003), but her most memorable role was as an innocent rich girl forced to appear in pornographic films in "Of Freaks and Men" (1998), one of the best Russian movies of the last decade. Poor Dinara has to strip naked, kneel on all fours and be whipped by an old lady, while being filmed and watched by perverts. A blind woman, played by Anzhelika Nevolina, is also forced to undress and be whipped. Those torrid scenes are as arousing as they are fascinating, showing those previously prim and proper bourgeois ladies being humiliated, and their tender little asses being struck by whips. This masterpiece of perversity was directed by Aleksei Balabanov. But ''Of Freaks And Men'' isn't just a perverse film. It's a hauntingly beautiful allegory about Communism. The perverts, gradually taking over the lives of two bourgeois families, clearly represent the Bolsheviks, and their rape and the humiliation of the old Russia.

The Big Hit (1998) *****

An absolutely brilliant, totally insane and screamingly funny comedy about a shy hitman (Mark Wahlberg) and his buddies kidnapping the daughter of a bankrupt Japanese businessman. It out-pulp-fictions any recent Tarantino imitation in its hilarity, fast pace, violence, wackiness, inventiveness and energy. Kirk Wong, a Hong Kong master best known for 1994's "Organized Crime And Triad Bureau", makes a stunning Hollywood debut. Domestic box-office: $28 million.