Critics’ picks: the best movies to see (or rent) this week

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The freedom to choose is not only overwhelming -- it’s overrated. So don’t strain your brain. When it comes to picking the best movies to see each week, let Times critics Kenneth Turan and Betsy Sharkey (who’s on vacation this week) do the thinking for you. Honestly. We’re all better off this way.

KENNETH TURAN: No one needs to be told the importance of Jean-Paul Belmondo, the great French actor of his generation and the star of films such as “Breathless,� “Pierrot le Fou� and “That Man From Rio.� The 76-year-old veteran rarely visits Los Angeles but he is here this weekend to receive the L.A. Film Critics Life Achievement Award and as part of his trip he has agreed to introduce the LACMA screening of “Mississippi Mermaid,� the 1969 Francois Truffaut-directed film in which he costars with Catherine Deneuve. If you want to see Belmondo in person, this may be your best chance. Friday at 7:30 p.m. Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd.Boulevard, Los Angeles.