‘Night Falls on Manhattan.’

Director Sidney Lumet marked his 40th year in films with his 40th movie, and it is gratifying to report that this 1996 release is one of his best. Lumet is perennially concerned that, in a corrupt world, the choices that individuals of character and principles make do in fact matter and have real-life consequences for themselves and others and even society at large. The great thing about Lumet is that he is not cynical but instead finds an amusing irony in exploring the art of the possible, in discovering that point at which decent people in positions of power and responsibility can be capable of working together privately, of looking the other way if necessary, for the greater good of all concerned. This is the lesson that Andy Garcia’s (pictured) New York cop turned assistant D.A. badly needs to learn. A chain of events rapidly propel him into becoming the district attorney, fiercely idealistic and seriously inexperienced. To experience the pleasure of surprise after surprise in watching this picture, it’s clearly better not to have read Robert Daley’s “Tainted Evidence,” which Lumet adapted to the screen, or to know much about the plot. With Richard Dreyfuss, Lena Olin, Ian Holm and Ron Leibman (Cinemax Friday at 8 p.m.).