As 2006 draws to a close, it is striking that a modest number of films (as is typically the case in a given year) are so thematically potent, regardless of perceived success or failure otherwise, that they can be summed up in a single, solitary word. It takes a measured amount of focus to concentrate a work of art so specifically. Sometimes it goes toward the crafting of a fine film, other times peripheral aspects (performance, style, over ambition) can get in the way of moving beyond and to greatness. But at the center of each of the titles below remains a specific idea that permeates throughout, inhaling and exhaling through every pour of the mixture.

"Babel" - communication
"Breaking and Entering" - purpose
"Children of Men" - hope
"The Fountain" - inevitability
"Little Miss Sunshine" - dependance
"Miami Vice" - deception
"Shortbus" - fear
"Stranger than Fiction - altruism
"World Trade Center" - home

Anything from the crowd?