A rather thoughtful and curious period drama from writer-director Tim Metcalfe, based on the published journal of Carl Panzram (played here by James Wood), an early-20th-century serial killer improbably befriended in the 1920s by a Jewish guard at Leavenworth. The guard, Henry Lesser (Robert Sean Leonard), encouraged him to write about his life. Oliver Stone served as one of the executive producers here, but apart from a hyperbolic moment or two there’s little of his bombast. The period details are well handled, and the performancesby the two leads and by Cara Buono, Robert John Burke, Ellen Greene, and Steve Forrestare solid. (JR)