Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control

(Columbia TriStar)

What do a topiary gardener, a robot engineer, a mole-rat expert, and a lion tamer have in common? Errol Morris's exhilarating and original film says a lot more about the human place in the universe than his ponderous A Brief History of Time did. Morris has achieved the cinematic equivalent of a Bach fugue: this is delightful in its wit and intricacies and, in the end, spiritually elevating.