Just Like Home

2007

In this quirky drama from Lone Scherfig, residents of a small Danish town reconnect after they set up a phone line allowing them to call in the latest news about a streaker who's recently been spotted in their midst. As they dish the latest scoop on the naked man, the lonely provincial souls begin stripping away the facades that have long kept them apart. Lars Kaalund and the rest of the ensemble cast largely improvised the script for this film.

2.6 Average Rating

Lili and the Baobab

2006

French photographer Lili (Romane Bohringer) takes a gig in the remote Senagalese village of Angam, where she forges an unlikely bond with local woman Aminata (Aminata Zaaria). When Lili returns to France, however, she can't quite leave Senegal behind. Soon a crisis in Angam causes Lili to weigh the consequences of going back to Africa. This quiet, probing drama screened at the San Francisco Film Festival.

2.5 Average Rating

Portraits Chinois

1996

A dreamy Parisian backdrop gives a romantic setting to this thoughtful comedy that follows the heartaches and loves of a group of city-dwellers. Costume designer Ada (Helena Bonham Carter) deals with the ups and downs of her relationship with an unstable screenwriter, Paul (Jean-Philippe Ecoffey), while Paul longs for Ada's co-worker Lise (Romane Bohringer). Elsa Zylberstein, Yvan Attal and Marie Trintignant co-star.

2.5 Average Rating

Chopsuey

2007

Relationship problems plague a family of siblings in director Catherine O. Camarillo's multilayered indie drama. Businessman Jimmy (Piolo Pascual) is reeling from the shock of being dumped by his fiancée, while his sisters cope with their own romantic woes. Leslie (Krista Ranillo) can't decide between two eligible bachelors, Annette (Andrea Del Rosario) nurtures a long-distance love, and housewife Claire (Dimples Romana) can't get pregnant.

2.5 Average Rating

Ferdinando and Carolina

1999

King Ferdinando (Sergio Assisi) of Italy endures the difficulties of finding a wife worthy enough to be queen in this comedic period piece. Ferdinando's first fiancée dies, and so does the second, who was the sister of the first. Finally, Ferdinando is pressured into marrying Carolina (Gabriella Pession), a third sister from the same royal family. Carolina proves herself to the king not only in the bedroom, but in political matters as well.

2.5 Average Rating

Sheer Madness

1983

In this by turns elegant and shattering film directed by German auteur Margarethe von Trotta, two women, one a college professor and the other a troubled artist, struggle to survive in a bleak, battle-scarred environment filled with insanity, suicide and murder. Stunning cinematography by Michael Ballhaus infuses the film with an ethereal, dreamlike quality. Hanna Schygulla, Peter Striebeck and Angela Winkler star.

2.5 Average Rating

Beauty Remains

2005

Set in pre-Communist 1948 China, director Ann Hu's sumptuous family drama centers on half sisters Fei (Xun Zhou) and Ying (Vivian Wu), whose separate lives suddenly collide after the death of their father, a prominent entrepreneur. Their paths seemingly predetermined by the often-cruel whims of the men in their lives, the sisters must find a way to break the pattern and chart their own course.

2.5 Average Rating

Amor y Venganza

1996

A funeral brings together former police force partners Paco and Angel and conjures up memories of an unsolved homicide that they had investigated years earlier. Now, with the help of a new witness, the partners have what they need to solve the case. Set in Madrid both during and immediately after the Spanish Civil War, this suspense-laden thriller, full of twists and turns, is based on a novel by Joaquin Leguina.

2.5 Average Rating

Hillbrow Kids

1999

On the lonely streets of the Hillbrow district in Johannesburg, South Africa, homeless black teens ask white passersby for change, in hopes that their earnings will stave off hunger and help end their waking nightmares. In this gritty documentary framed by the narrative of a fictitious storyteller (Regina Ndlovu), German filmmakers Michael Hammon and Jacqueline Gorgen capture the lives of these impoverished young people with unflinching honesty.

2.5 Average Rating

Nobody's Wife

1982

Leonor (Luisina Brando) is a lovely woman with a seemingly great family life. All that changes when she finds out that her husband has been cheating on her, causing her to pack up and make a new life for herself somewhere else. With a new job and nothing to tie her down, Leonor begins to understand what it's like to be truly free, as she coasts through a chain of exciting new romances.

2.5 Average Rating

Design

2006

Filmmakers Danielle Schirman and Anna-Celia Kendall explore the fusion of form and function in six iconic products that helped define 20th-century design. See how the iMac, Akari lamp, BIC Cristal pen, Bubble Club sofa, Hoover vacuum and Citroën's DS19 went beyond pure functionality to capture the public's imagination and become part of popular culture.

2.5 Average Rating

Autumn Moon

1992

When Japanese tourist Tokio travels to Hong Kong, he unexpectedly begins a relationship with 15-year-old Wai, a Chinese girl who cares for her ailing grandmother. Wai invites Tokio for a home-cooked meal, sparking a new friendship. As her family prepares to immigrate to Canada, Wai forms a surprising bond with the young man. This tender coming-of-age story explores the differences in Asian cultures and the joys and sorrows of young love.

2.5 Average Rating

The New Eve

2000

Camille (Karin Viard) wallows in a decadent Parisian nightlife, partying all night with sexual abandon and pickling herself with drugs and alcohol. But Camille's lifestyle changes when she falls for Alexis (Pierre-Loup Rajot), a militant socialist activist who represents all that she detests. Now, Camille must try to reconcile her love for Alexis with her uncontrollable lust for freedom in this haunting and provocative drama.

2.5 Average Rating

Ward No. 6

2009

This unconventional drama, which employs a nonfiction filmmaking style, chronicles the peculiar case of Dr. Ragin (Vladimir Ilyin), the head of a mental hospital who irritates his subordinates and winds up being committed as a patient in his own facility. Based on a story by famed Russian author Anton Chekhov, this fascinating faux documentary was filmed on location in a functioning mental institution.

2.5 Average Rating

Strange Planet

1999

Australian director Emma-Kate Croghan weighs in with this sly romantic comedy about a group of twenty-somethings living in Sydney, Australia. Judy (Claudia Karvan) is a young woman involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with Ewan. Beginning on New Year's Eve, the film follows Judy and her two best friends and Ewan and his two buddies as they try to establish their careers and find love -- or, at the very least, sex.

2.5 Average Rating

Loving Couples

1966

Based on Agnes von Krusenstjerna's feminist novel &NFi;The Misses von Pahlen&NFi_;, Mai Zetterling's drama set at the beginning of World War I tells the story of three women from disparate backgrounds, all about to give birth in the same Stockholm hospital. Premarital sex, loveless marriages and motherhood come into play as the women relive the events leading up to present day. Harriet Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom, Gio Petre and Anita Bjork star.

2.5 Average Rating