Kate Winslet had a banner year with breathtaking work in both Revolutionary Road and now The Reader, Stephen Daldry's flawed but exquisite screen adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's novel.

The Reader is comprised of three distinct acts. The first act takes place in post World War II Germany and features David Kross as Michael Berg, a teenager afflicted with scarlet fever at the peak of his young life. Shortly after recovering from his severe illness, Michael returns to the home of a stranger who left an impression on him after displaying an act of kindness while he was sick. This gorgeous but slightly aloof stranger introduces herself as Hanna (played by Kate Winslet). Almost instantly, there is an attraction and despite their age difference (Hanna is several years Michael's senior), a romance quickly follows. While the relationship is mostly sexual in nature, a unique bond soon develops. A bond that finds Hanna offering up physical companionship to Michael if he agrees to read books to her in return. Michael is immediately bitten by the love bug. The question remains, however, does Hanna share the same feelings, or is this merely a summer fling? The inevitable does happen. Hanna disappears leaving Michael heartbroken.

The second act takes place eight years later and focuses on an older and wiser Michael. Now a law student, Michael accompanies his fellow students to the courthouse where exposure to an actual trial will hopefully assist in his understanding of the profession he has chosen. The trial in question has a handful of individuals pleading for their lives in a war crimes case, and to Michael's great shock, a startling revelation forces him to make some unbelievably tough choices.

In the third act, a very distant, middle aged Michael (beautifully played by Ralph Fiennes) is compelled to re-connect with a past that has haunted him for most of his life.

Kate Winslet is simply spectacular here taking a character who, in all probability, shouldn't be sympathetic at all. But she is. Winslet gives Hanna a soul. Her broken down moments towards the end of the picture in particular are positively heartbreaking. David Kross has the daunting task of standing toe to toe with the more seasoned Winslet, and he pulls it off. As the teenage Michael he's subtle and completely believable and as the older Michael, he brings a sad, effectively haunting aura to the role that's so convincing, that it seeps right into Ralph Fiennes' amazing performance. Lena Olin is the one performer in the picture who comes up a little short. As a holocaust survivor, there's something rather processed about her turn. Olin's big scene at the end of the picture is supposed to resonate with audiences, but it left me a little cold.

The Reader actually has quite a bit in common with Sam Mendes' falling out of love epic Revolutionary Road, and the comparison goes beyond Kate Winslet's masterful performance. Both films are extremely theatric in nature and both end on an extremely melancholy note.

The screenplay adaptation by David Hare is filled with interesting characters and moral complexity, but ultimately The Reader suffers from an overly long first act. In fact, the Hanna/Michael courtship is so long, that acts two and three sort of feel a little shortchanged. This isn't to say that the overly long set up isn't important. It certainly is. The events that occur in the first hour of The Reader will shape the man Michael becomes. Its just that the film would have been more effective had all three acts been more balanced.

Is The Reader worthy of it's best picture nomination? That's certainly debatable. It's a strong, thought provoking movie and offers up two of the very best performances of the year in the form of Kate Winslet and David Kross. It's also gorgeous to look at courtesy of the stunning cinematography by Roger Deakins and Chris Menges. This is a very good film, but it isn't quite the masterpiece it aspires to be.