High Fidelity (15) General release

There was some initial consternation in Britain when it was announced that the film version of Nick Hornby's best-selling novel, High Fidelity, was to transpose the story from its original London setting to Chicago, home of its star and co-screenwriter, John Cusack. However, the subsequent adaptation has been enthusiastically endorsed by Hornby, who commented: "I never expected it to be so faithful. At first it appears to be a film in which John Cusack reads my book."

Not having read the book (yet), I cannot comment on the fidelity of High Fidelity to its source, but what is clear is that its central characters and themes are so universal that the movie conceivably could work just as well if it were set in, say, Dublin or Sydney. Its narrative astutely taps into the experiences of all of us who grew up with a pop/rock music soundtrack to our lives and for whom so many songs have indelible personal associations.

Its protagonist, Rob Gordon, played by John Cusack, is a slouching, doleful thirtysomething whose world revolves around music. One of life's diehards who refuses to believe that vinyl is final, he runs a record store, Championship Vinyl, a no-CD zone. He works with the shy, intense Dick (Todd Louiso) and the loudmouth slacker, Barry (Jack Black) whose musical snobbery knows no bounds and is exemplified when an unfortunate middle-aged man dares to ask for Stevie Wonder's schmaltzy I Just Called to Say I Love You.

Rob and his colleagues are fixated on compiling top five lists - of the best songs about death, the best first tracks on first albums, and in Rob's case, revising his own top five songs related to the crucial break-ups in his personal life. A new entry on that list is his longtime companion, Laura (Danish actress Iben Hjejle from Mifune) who leaves him for a ponytailed lawyer (Tim Robbins), prompting a series of flashbacks trawling through Rob's unhappy romantic attachments.

This witty and wise entertainment has been adapted from Hornby's book by John Cusack and his collaborators on the Grosse Pointe Blank screenplay, D.V. DeVincentis and Steve Pink, along with Scott Rosenberg, the writer of Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead. The film is directed with pace and precision by Stephen Frears, who, for all the movie's quirky and whimsicial diversions, firmly anchors it in reality and treats its characters with affection and sympathy.

For all the flaws of the self-absorbed and angst-riddled Rob, he registers as an engagingly self-deprecating creation in John Cusack's alert and subtle performance, while the obnoxious Barry is vividly brought to life by the excellent Jack Black. The solid cast also includes Lili Taylor, Lisa Bonet, Joan Cusack, Catherine Zeta Jones and a cameo from Bruce Springsteen. The movie's moods are distinctively captured by the Irish cinematographer, Seamus McGarvey, and enhanced by a jukebox of a soundtrack which is as eclectic and stimulating as it ought to be in the context.

Two classic European movies are re-released in new prints at the IFC in Dublin today. Jean-Luc Godard's highly influential 1959 Breathless/A Bout de Souffle remains one of the outstanding movies from France's Nouvelle Vague movement. Godard's first feature film, this black-and-white valentine to Paris inventively employs handheld camerawork and jump cuts as it follows the adventures of a car thief (JeanPaul Belmondo) and the young American (Jean Seberg) he meets on the ChampsElysees.

There is a rare and welcome opportunity to see Sergio Leone's finest film, Once Upon a Time in the West in its complete, uncut 168-minute version, on the cinema screen. Written by Leone in collaboration with directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, this stylish and operatic 1968 western, powered by a splendid Ennio Morricone score, features Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards and Charles Bronson.