Thursday's highlight

"Elena": Philip Glass provided the score for this slow-starting but impressive Russian film noir about a determined member of the Second Wives' Club. When her rich husband suffers a heart attack and appears unlikely to recover, she sets out to foil his inheritance plans. A somber variation on "Daddy's Dyin' ... Who's Got the Will?," the picture is populated by characters who are driven by greed and estrangement. Their behavior is often so extreme that they verge on the ridiculous, especially a loathsome couch-potato son who inspires his mother's plans. The director, Andrey Zvyagintsev ("The Return"), makes the most of the ghastly settings, which include a backyard that ominously features nuclear cones. 7 p.m. at Pacific Place.

John Hartl, Special to The Seattle Times