Based on a beloved and critically acclaimed bestseller—check. Deals with topical political and cultural issues—check. Tough subject matter redeemed by sentimental uplift—check. No doubt, Marc Forster’s The Kite Runner is certainly the very definition of studio-produced mid-December Oscar bait. The story works very well, and you have to have a calloused heart not to be drawn into its multi-decade saga of personal redemption. Its depictions of Afghanistan both pre-Soviet invasion and under the Taliban regime are textured enough to have impact, but it’s hard not to feel that Forster has coated the story’s harder edges—the rape of a child, for instance—a little too much. It’s moving in the moment, but too studiously tasteful to really last. (Awards Screener DVD)