A brilliant, solipsistic philosophy professor/author of elastic moral principles (an off-kilter Joaquin Phoenix) rationalizes his way to a unique approach to bringing himself out of an existential funk: the perfect murder. A sunny coed (Emma Stone) is on to him, to her peril.

A brilliantly cast Parker Posey puts in a career best. I’m not at all sure what Woody Allen is aiming for here. Slyly comic, but not exactly a comedy, and unabashedly intellectual. Perhaps a Dostoyevskian rumination on the monster within. I liked it on several levels. Many did not. Never listen to film critics on Woody Allen. Japanese title: Kyouju no Okashina Mousou Satsujin (95 min)