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Home Before Dark
rating:3.2

Home Before Dark

1997Runtime:0 minutes
With a severely depressed mother and a father struggling to keep the family afloat and intact, 12-year-old Nora James (Stephanie Castellarin) has a heavy load to bear. And her lot only worsens when her mother is institutionalized and Nora is sent to live with a controlling aunt (Katharine Ross). There, she's thrust into the adult world, suddenly forced to put aside childhood ways. Maureen Foley directs this sensitive drama of a youth denied.

Directed by:

  • Maureen Foley
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    I Hate Valentine's Day
    rating:3.2

    I Hate Valentine's Day

    2009Runtime:0 minutes
    After falling in love onscreen in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos and John Corbett reteam for a romantic comedy about a florist (Vardalos) who persuades a restaurateur (Corbett) to take a gamble on a no-strings-attached relationship. Vardalos, who also penned the screenplay, makes her directorial debut with this Valentine's Day-themed love story that crams the action into a single day: February 14.

    Directed by:

  • Nia Vardalos
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    The Safety of Objects
    rating:3.2

    The Safety of Objects

    2001Runtime:0 minutes
    Four intersecting tales shed light on the difficult lives of suburbanites. Esther (Glenn Close) nurses her comatose son (Joshua Jackson) while ignoring the rest of the family, and workaholic attorney Jim (Dermot Mulroney) overlooks his wife (Moira Kelly), losing control when he doesn't get an expected promotion. Meanwhile, Annette (Patricia Clarkson) and her family struggle to survive her divorce, and Helen (Mary Kay Place) seeks excitement.

    Directed by:

  • Rose Troche
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    Toe to Toe
    rating:3.2

    Toe to Toe

    2009Runtime:0 minutes
    Out on the lacrosse pitch, wealthy but troubled Jesse (Louisa Krause) and poor but driven Tosha (Sonequa Martin) form an easy and deep bond, but their relationship is threatened once they enter the hallways of an elite prep school they attend in Washington, D.C. There, they must work to overcome racial and other tensions in their classmates, and in themselves, if they hope to keep their friendship alive. Emily Abt directs.

    Directed by:

  • Emily Abt
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    She Gets What She Wants
    rating:3.2

    She Gets What She Wants

    2002Runtime:0 minutes
    Melanie Mayron ("Thirtysomething") directs this irreverent teen movie in which a new girl arrives in a small-town Texas high school and throws off everybody's understanding of who's who in the popular crowd. Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) stars as Genevieve, the French foreign-exchange student who threatens to usurp the position of the school's most popular girl, cheerleader Starla Grady (Jane McGregor).

    Directed by:

  • Melanie Mayron
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    Never Forever
    rating:3.2

    Never Forever

    2007Runtime:0 minutes
    Vera Farmiga stars in this heartbreaking drama (a 2006 Sundance Film Festival entry) as Sophie, a woman who's utterly devoted to her husband but finds she's unable to get pregnant. When Sophie makes an odd but decisive choice to bring a Korean immigrant (Jung-woo Ha) into their marriage, her fateful decision soon threatens to tear the couple apart -- and drive Sophie to the brink of total despair.

    Directed by:

  • Gina Kim
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    Oyster Farmer
    rating:3.2

    Oyster Farmer

    2005Runtime:0 minutes
    Down-on-his-luck drifter Jack Flange (Alex O'Loughlin) heads to a secluded oyster-farming community to wait for a parcel of stolen cash that he's mailed to himself. But the package never arrives, and Jack suspects a beautiful postal worker named (what else?) Pearl (Diana Glenn) may be responsible for its disappearance. Anna Reeves directs this quirky but charming romance set along Australia's Hawkesbury River.

    Directed by:

  • Anna Reeves
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    Little Fugitive
    rating:3.2

    Little Fugitive

    2005Runtime:0 minutes
    Left in the care of his older brother Lenny for the weekend, 7-year-old Joey takes the first opportunity to flout his sibling's authority. But when a joke goes awry and Joey thinks he's killed his brother, he runs off to Coney Island to escape. Now, Lenny must track his brother down before he comes to harm. Joanna Lipper directs and Nicolas Martí Salgado and David Castro star in this remake of the 1953 film of the same name

    Directed by:

  • Joanna Lipper
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    Lou
    rating:3.2

    Lou

    2010Runtime:0 minutes
    This poignant drama follows Lou, an 11-year-old Australian coping with having been abandoned by her father when her estranged grandfather, Doyle, comes to live with the family. Much to Lou's surprise, she develops a deep bond with the ailing Doyle.

    Directed by:

  • Belinda Chayko
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    Lost in Translation
    rating:3.2

    Lost in Translation

    2003Runtime:0 minutes
    Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.

    Directed by:

  • Sofia Coppola
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    The Boys Next Door
    rating:3.2

    The Boys Next Door

    1985Runtime:0 minutes
    On the eve of their high school graduation, two young men (Maxwell Caulfield and Charlie Sheen) head for Los Angeles -- along the way they embark on a violent murder spree that shocks the nation. They're not maniacs, nor are they hardened criminals; they're just the "typical" boys next door. This crime drama from director Penelope Spheeris (Wayne's World) is a startling look at crime amid normalcy.

    Directed by:

  • Penelope Spheeris
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    Helen
    rating:3.2

    Helen

    2009Runtime:0 minutes
    Ashley Judd stars as Helen, an adored wife, mother and successful music professor who also struggles to mask her debilitating depression until a breakdown lands her in the hospital. But this apparent setback offers Helen a new perspective on life and her condition in the form of Mathilda (Lauren Lee Smith), a fellow patient with whom Helen forms a potent bond. Sandra Nettelbeck directs this touching drama; Goran Visnjic and Alexia Fast co-star.

    Directed by:

  • Sandra Nettelbeck
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    High Art
    rating:3.2

    High Art

    1998Runtime:0 minutes
    Magazine editor Syd (Radha Mitchell) is stuck in a dreary relationship with her boyfriend (Gabriel Mann) when she befriends her upstairs neighbor Lucy (Ally Sheedy), a well-known photographer whose live-in actress girlfriend (Patricia Clarkson) is struggling with a drug addiction. Lucy fascinates Syd, and the pair hit it off. But when Syd calls on Lucy to do an assignment for the magazine, their friendship soon grows into something much more.

    Directed by:

  • Lisa Cholodenko
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity
    rating:3.2

    Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity

    2004Runtime:0 minutes
    Determined to improve the romantic prospects of her lonely single mother, Kin Ho, quirky but well-meaning 12-year-old Mindy (Valerie Tian) resorts to Taoist magic to do the trick. But although the spells and potions seem to miss the mark, Kin finds her humdrum, unfulfilling life given a fresh spark from her daughter's good-intentioned charms. Reteaming with director Mina Shum (Double Happiness), Sandra Oh stars in this enchanting light comedy.

    Directed by:

  • Mina Shum
  • rating:3.2 3.2 Average Rating

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    Sister My Sister
    rating:3.1

    Sister My Sister

    1994Runtime:0 minutes
    This darkly engaging film dramatizes real-life events that scandalized French society in the 1930s, when Christine (Joely Richardson) and Lea Papin (Jodhi May), sisters who worked as maids, murdered their overbearing bourgeois mistress and her daughter. Their lives stifled by their employer, the sisters also formed an incestuous sexual relationship. Nancy Meckler directs this tale of rage and twisted love that also features Julie Walters.

    Directed by:

  • Nancy Meckler
  • rating:3.1 3.1 Average Rating

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    I'll Take You There
    rating:3.1

    I'll Take You There

    1999Runtime:0 minutes
    Adrienne Shelly directs and co-stars in this offbeat comedy about Bill (Reg Rogers), a man whose wife just ran off with his best friend. Trying to help, Bill's sister sets him up with Bernice (Ally Sheedy), an odd woman who takes their blind date in an unsettling direction. While Bill tries to make it clear that Bernice isn't his type, she grows increasingly obsessive and forces him to take a bizarre journey with her.

    Directed by:

  • Adrienne Shelly
  • rating:3.1 3.1 Average Rating

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    Now and Then
    rating:3.8

    Now and Then

    1995Runtime:0 minutes
    Waxing nostalgic about the bittersweet passage from childhood to puberty in this tender coming-of-age tale, four childhood girlfriends -- Teeny, Chrissy, Samantha and Roberta -- recall the magical summer of 1970. During their walk down memory lane, they reconcile experiences with boys, secrets, bullies and more. Lesli Linka Glatter directs; Gaby Hoffmann, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Cloris Leachman, Thora Birch and Christina Ricci co-star.

    Directed by:

  • Lesli Linka Glatter
  • rating:3.8 3.8 Average Rating

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    Now and Then (1995)
    A heartwarming movie about four childhood girlfriends who, in adulthood reunion, relive their experience of the life-changing summer of 1970, including a mystery death, divorce, standing up to the boys, first kiss, and the meaning of true friendship. Each explores her unique identity amidst family and friends. Beautifully directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.
    - Frances   
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    frances 'at' femaledirectors.com