Sisman's book is, in effect, the biography of a biography, and it's also a closely focused but highly affecting portrait of Boswell the writer.

"The Invisibles" comes through as a sensitive, intelligent, affecting portrait of a group of people who are indeed anachronisms.

In 2000 our reviewer, Adam Goodheart, called this an "always lucid, often sad and affecting" portrait of Panthera tigris.

Do these elements cohere into a fully integrated and affecting portrait?

Ms. Carmello nonetheless creates a vital and affecting portrait of a sheltered woman thrust out into a harsh and dangerous world.

At the same time, in fictionalizing their story, it draws a nuanced and often affecting portrait of the brothers - two very different personalities, bound together as doppelgangers for their entire lives.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf creates a spare and deeply affecting portrait of human despair, exploitation, and resilience in The Cyclist (1987).

The family drama is a closely observed, often affecting portrait of the Garland clan, an elite, socially prominent black family with a secret history that will come to haunt its youngest son.

It doesn't add up to a terribly credible or affecting portrait of a soul in extremis.

This is the terrain into which Lee has ventured, and the resulting motion picture offers yet another effective and affecting portrait of the United States' most important and difficult conflict.