Drama
Orlando
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Orlando

1992
Director Sally Potter adapts Virginia Woolf's 1928 allegorical novel about a woman who lives for 400 years -- the first half as a man -- in this surrealist study of sex and gender roles throughout the ages. The transition from man to woman and from the 16th to the 20th century is realized by Tilda Swinton's breakthrough performance and the film's Oscar-nominated costumes and art direction. Quentin Crisp plays Queen Elizabeth I.

Directed by:

  • Sally Potter
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Me and You and Everyone We Know
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    Me and You and Everyone We Know

    2005
    Miranda July writes, directs and stars in this poignant drama about both the unique and oftentimes humorous nature of people's idiosyncrasies. At the center is eccentric Christine Jesperson (July), who seeks emotional connections in the modern world. Meanwhile, shoe salesman Richard (John Hawkes) copes with his recent separation while his teen son (Miles Thompson) experiences a sexual awakening. Carlie Westerman and Brad William Henke co-star.

    Directed by:

  • Miranda July
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    The Beaches of Agnès
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    The Beaches of Agnès

    2008
    Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.

    Directed by:

  • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Group
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    Group

    2002
    Group therapy sessions connect the lives of eight disparate women in Olympia, Wash. -- among them, a born-again Christian, a hypochondriac, a bigot and an amputee with an attitude problem -- who bare it all for the sake of sanity. The ensemble cast includes Carrie Brownstein (of rock group Sleater-Kinney fame), Kari Fillipi, S. Ann Hall, Vicki Hollenberg, Tracy Kirkpatrick, Nomy Lamm, Lola Rock 'n' Rolla, Tony Wilkerson and Ruby Martin.

    Directed by:

  • Marilyn Freeman
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Boulevard
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    Boulevard

    1994
    After reluctantly putting her newborn up for adoption and fleeing from an abusive boyfriend, Jennefer (Kari Wuhrer) ends up in Toronto's red-light district, where she meets a tough hooker name Ola (Rae Dawn Chong) who takes her in. Soon Jennefer is turning tricks for a volatile pimp (Lou Diamond Phillips) -- and when he murders one of his girls, a relentless vice cop (Lance Henriksen) pressures the streetwalkers to talk in this gritty thriller.

    Directed by:

  • Penelope Buitenhuis
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Blood & Chocolate
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    Blood & Chocolate

    2007
    After moving from America to Bucharest, Romania, a teenage werewolf finds herself torn between loyalty and love when she falls for a human and incurs the ire of the pack leader -- who's planning to make her his mate.

    Directed by:

  • Katja von Garnier
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Grace of My Heart
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    Grace of My Heart

    1996
    The daughter of a Philadelphia steel tycoon, Edna Buxton (Illeana Douglas) wants nothing more than to be a singer. She's thrilled when she wins a contract at a talent show and moves to New York City to record an album. But Edna soon finds her career -- and her relationships -- hitting one dead end after another. Matt Dillon and Eric Stoltz co-star in this poignant and intimate portrayal of the 1960s music scene.

    Directed by:

  • Allison Anders
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Mississippi Masala
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    Mississippi Masala

    1992
    Mira Nair concocts a fascinating picture of Mina (Sarita Choudhury), an Indian woman whose father (Roshan Seth) pines for his native Uganda, where his family lived prosperously until the evil Idi Amin took power. Transplanted to rural Mississippi, the family struggles to make ends meet by running a string of motels, but they don't yet feel at home. When Mina falls for an African American entrepreneur (Denzel Washington), complications arise.

    Directed by:

  • Mira Nair
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Before Tomorrow
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    Before Tomorrow

    2008
    In 1840, Inuit grandmother Ningiuq (Madeline Piujuq Ivalu) and her grandson, Maniq (Paul-Dylan Ivalu), unexpectedly find themselves fighting for their lives on an isolated, harsh tundra island after they dry their clan's cache of fish in preparation for the long winter. Filmmakers Ivalu and Marie-Hélène Cousineau beautifully mesh storytelling traditions of the Arctic Circle's Inuit clan with European filming methods.

    Directed by:

  • Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    The Wedding Song
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    The Wedding Song

    2008
    Muslim Nour (Olympe Borval) and Jewish Myriam (Lizzie Brochere) grew up in the same Tunisian neighborhood and remain best friends as young women in 1942. But when the Nazi occupation affects their lives in drastic ways, their friendship becomes deeply strained. Myriam, forced to pay huge fines for being Jewish, faces an arranged marriage to a wealthy man to save her family, while Nour's wedding is put on hold in this French drama.

    Directed by:

  • Karin Albou
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Cinema Verite
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    Cinema Verite

    2011
    Based on "An American Family," the groundbreaking 1973 documentary series that paved the way for reality television, this HBO original movie follows a California family's fateful decision to have their lives filmed for the whole world to see.

    Directed by:

  • Robert Pulcini
  • Shari Springer Berman
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Rambling Rose
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    Rambling Rose

    1991
    The Hillyers are a strong family growing up in the Depression-era South. But everything changes when Rose (Laura Dern) moves in to take care of the children. After the morally sound father (Robert Duvall) resists Rose's sexual advances, she shifts her efforts to young Buddy (Lukas Haas). Told from Buddy's point of view as a flashback, the film earned an Independent Spirit Award for Beast Feature and Oscar nominations for Dern and Diane Ladd.

    Directed by:

  • Martha Coolidge
    • rating:3.2.png 3.2 Average Rating


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    Chaplin: The Legend Lives On
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    Chaplin: The Legend Lives On

    2004
    Filled with brilliant sight-gags and biting social commentary, this five-volume collection contains a variety of Charlie Chaplin's most groundbreaking short films, all of which are required viewing for any fan of the silent-film era. Chaplin's sidesplitting, gratifying slapstick comedy is unmatched, and this laugh-packed set features 32 classic films, including "Easy Street," "The Bank," "A Woman" and "Face on the Bar Room Floor."

    Directed by:

  • Mabel Normand
    • rating:3.2.png 3.2 Average Rating


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    Lou
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    Lou

    2010
    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.png 3.2 Average Rating


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    The Legend of Tillamook's Gold
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    The Legend of Tillamook's Gold

    2006
    When 14-year-old Julie (Suzanne Marie Doyon) relocates to Manzanita, Ore., with her parents and sister, she has difficulty getting used to small-town life -- until she stumbles upon an ancient gold coin and learns about the legend of the Tillamook Treasure. With the help of a history lesson from her grandfather and a Native American elder, Julie goes searching for the buried treasure and, in the process, learns what is truly precious in life.

    Directed by:

  • Jane Beaumont Hall
    • rating:3.2.png 3.2 Average Rating


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    Children of the Century
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    Children of the Century

    1999
    This is the true story of the romance between burgeoning French author George Sand (Juliette Binoche) and a much younger poet, Alfred de Musset (Benoit Magimel), whom she meets when she flees to Paris in the early 1830s after leaving her husband. Sand's affair with Musset and her pre-feminist behavior make her the scandal of the city, as she develops the personality that would later make her one of the century's most famous literary figures.

    Directed by:

  • Diane Kurys
    • rating:3.2.png 3.2 Average Rating


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    Now and Then
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    Now and Then

    1995
    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.png 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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