1.   He can be forgiven that lapse and should recover losses at the expense of the Gold Cup pretender.

2.   But Kusama invests other sections of the movie -- particularly the guarded relationship between the young innocents -- with such authenticity that we can forgive lapses of predictability.

3.   But silent-film buffs are usually willing to forgive such lapses.

4.   Still, his good points as traveling companion allow us to forgive such lapses.

5.   Still, so much of the rest of this gentle tale works that it builds a surplus of goodwill, which allows such lapses to be forgiven.