There are a few different types of sequel. There are the types that try as much as they can to not vary from the original formula, in order to sell themselves on their familiarity (hello, Ring 2 and Oceans 12). There are the types that are churned out very quickly after the original's release (sometimes within 12 months), in order to capitalise on the popularity of the film (step right up, Saw 2 and Blair Witch 2). Both of these types are blatant, big-profit-for-studio efforts.Then there are the types that continue the characters' journey, often set a significant time later. Recent examples are Before Sunset and The Barbarian Invasions.

Russian Dolls is set five years after The Spanish Apartment, and revisits the lives of Xavier, Wendy, William, Isabelle and others. Where Apartment was a student-share-house-with-a-European-melting-pot-feel film, Dolls explores the same themes of love, creativity and fantasy, but from a late-twenties, searching-for-life-purpose angle.

This sequel succeeds in taking fans of the original film a step further into the lives of these characters. At the same time, it doesn't alienate viewers who haven't seen Apartment. Basically, it's a non-mawkish love story with something for pretty much everybody.

The Edukators are Jan (Bruhl) and Peter (Erceg), two anti-heroes who protest against modern consumerism with a 60s-bent, unique strategy - they break into middle-class homes, re-arrange the furniture, and leave, taking and vandalising nothing. Jule (Jentsch) soon joins in, but the tense love triangle created starts to unravel the group, and one particular raid goes wrong, ending up with the trio on the run with a hostage.

The Edukators may sound like a very political film, but at its core lies a deep understanding of the enthusiasm of youth, which is tempered by the conservatism of the hostage. It has a lot in common with Bertoluccis The Dreamers (without explicit sex scenes!). The performances are excellent - Bruhl (from Goodbye, Lenin!) is suitably intense, and Jentsch can rightly be regarded as the heart of this film (watch for her in Sophie Scholl - The Final Days, released in cinemas later this year).This was one of my favourite films of 2005, and I was dismayed when it only had a brief cinema season here in Canberra, as I wanted my friends to see it. Hopefully they (and you) will take the opportunity to see it here.