He's the last man you can imagine living through the five year horror of the Warsaw ghetto in World War II — a willowy, impractical, anti-heroic artist. But Adrien Brody's care, alertness and patience in the title role turns Roman Polanski's film into one of the great epics of survival.
The Piano Man conquers Broadway, Eminem goes Hollywood, plus the rest of TIME's picks for the best of the year