Sometimes I love subdued cinema in which nothing seems to happen, while other films find me muttering to my pen and/or Blow Pop about how hellaciously bored I am with it all. What distinguishes the former from the latter is the presence of compelling conflict, be it external or internal. Argentinean filmmaker Daniel Burman's Family Law, a lackluster meditation on fathers and sons, is... oh, I already told you. It's pretty damn dull, despite some interesting supporting performances, or possibly because of, since they expose the main character as a lazy, nonconfrontational yawn.

Our "hero" is Ariel Perelman (Daniel Hendler, ultra-bland), a law professor who also narrates the film, introducing us to his widowed father Bernardo (the charming Arturo Goetz), a tireless lawyer with a structured day and a neglectful son. Ariel will soon have a wife (stunning, feisty Julieta Díaz) and kid of his own (played by Burman's boy Eloy), and Family Law observes as the Perelman men finally try to understand each other --- albeit with the least amount of effort possible --- perhaps because they too have noticed the film's plinky piano score that traditionally foreshadows terminal illness and lesson-learning.

Family Law is the third installment in Burman's semi-autobiographical fatherhood trilogy (following 2000's Waiting for the Messiah and 2004's Lost Embrace, two films I'm in no danger of ever seeing), and according to the press notes, the lack of overt drama in Family Law is deliberate, with Burman opting to convey emotion via everyday gestures and things unsaid, an odd choice for a medium whose very success hinges on capturing hearts and minds with little epiphanies. So while it's certainly refreshing to see a filmmaker going at a clichéd setup in an inventive way, that doesn't automatically make it entertaining or enlightening --- the best reasons, as far as I'm concerned, for stopping to reflect upon the artistic expression of another.

But if you're partial to trite tedium, you'll really like The Situation, the title of which refers to the clusterfu... um, quagmire currently overwhelming Iraq. It serves as the backdrop for an elaborately clunky political commentary/love triangle written by war correspondent Wendell Steavenson and directed by Philip Haas, best known for 1995's weirdly intriguing Angels and Insects but most recently responsible for one of Sean Penn's worst performances in 2000's Up at the Villa.

The Situation stars the lifeless Connie Nielsen (Gladiator) as Anna, a willowy journalist flitting around the region while trying to get to the bottom of stuff, including the suspicious death of an Iraqi teenager at the hands of American troops and the power struggle between a slimy sheikh and a principled thug. The woefully misused Damian Lewis (HBO's Band of Brothers and PBS's The Forsyte Saga) plays Dan, a CIA officer involved with Anna but also willing to hop into proverbial bed with anyone able to cut through red tape. Slowly coming between them is Anna's colleague Zaid (Mido Hamada), a sensitive Iraqi photostud to whom the increasingly ineffectual Dan must turn when it looks as though Anna has been kidnapped.

The Situation is predictably shot (Morocco plays the role of Iraq) in the desaturated hues and urgent handheld style now requisite to a typical war zone movie, but the Iraqi characters, while still quite formulaic, slightly redeem the otherwise tiresome and uninvolving narrative with their tragic perspectives and fascinating quid pro quos. Someday a decent film will be made that does justice to the grey areas attendant to the American occupation of Iraq, but in the meantime, I'm waiting for a director to harness the power of the charismatic Lewis, who ought to find a new agent.

Hey, wait! I just remembered a filmmaker who has used Damian Lewis for good and not evil. (I am totally slick with the segues; it's true.) His name is Lodge Kerrigan, and he'll be at the Dryden Theatre on Monday, March 12, for an 8 p.m. screening of 2004's Keane, which showcases Lewis' astonishing performance as a man unsuccessfully coping with the disappearance of his daughter, though his glaring mental instability calls into question whether the girl ever actually existed. Keane co-stars recent Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) as a young neighbor with whom Keane bonds during what we hope are his more lucid moments. Kerrigan has also made the critically acclaimed Clean, Shaven (1994) and Claire Dolan (1998), and it's a jumpworthy chance to hear from this gifted writer and director, who will present his film and answer questions following the screening.

Family Law (NR), written and directed by Daniel Burman, opens Friday, March 9, at the Little Theatres | The Situation (R), directed by Philip Haas, opens Friday, March 16, at the Little Theatres.