In Brief

* * * 1/2 Leonard Cohen, “The Future,” Columbia. Cohen goes caustic in the two quasi-poli-sci side-openers, “The Future” and “Democracy.” The rest, though, is the erstwhile cerebral curmudgeon’s most deeply and satisfyingly romantic work (dedicated to current squeeze--and co-producer!--Rebecca DeMornay), though definitely not without its requisite pain. Rumbling through Irving Berlin’s “Always,” of all things, Cohen sounds like the thinking-man’s Barry White.