For his fourth full feature, Toyoshi Toyoda has abandoned the theme of the angry young man, examined in depth in Pornostar, Blue Spring and 9 Souls. Kuchu Teien is, on the face of it, more a drama, a character study, than a typical Toyoda genre flick. Yet within this beautifully structured and photographed film, there lies a dark soul. Ostensibly the story of a happy family, it becomes increasingly clear as the movie progresses that the Kyobashis are anything but. Despite a family agreement that they are all open with each other, the entire household knows the opposite is true.
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Ex con turned private investigator Bradford Galt suspects someone is following him and maybe even trying to kill him. With the assistance of his spunky secretary, Kathleen Stewart, he dives deep into a mystery in search of answers.
Jack Sparks is a story junkie, desperate to find the untold story. He is a reporter for his public access TV program “The Untold Story” on cable, channel 23, for his native fish town neighbourhood. He has collected millions of stories over his career but he is still looking for that one story that will launch his career. Jack keeps to himself working day and night on his dream. But when Jack receives an anonymous tip on “the really big untold story,” he jumps at the opportunity to investigate, and breaks out of his normal routine. He discovers this band called Steve Phoenix. Soon he finds himself going deep undercover with this local band (played, ironically, by local rock band Steve Phoenix). But that’s not the real story…
Wendy Walton is the best designer in Boston… but no one knows it yet. Hoping to kick-start her career, Wendy has left work with the local theatre to take a job as an assistant to Priscilla Hall, the most prestigious designer in the city. Ms. Hall works Wendy around the clock, which is how Wendy finds herself trapped in an elevator late one night with an incredibly handsome stranger. Wendy and the mystery man share an impulsive, romantic, life changing kiss before the doors open and Wendy runs out, leaving him behind. The next day at work, Wendy answers the door to find the handsome gentleman standing in front of her.
The true story of four student athletes from Carter High School in Dallas, Texas in the 1980s, whose bright futures irrevocably changed due to their off-field activities.
It’s San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society’s reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.
“The Straight Story” chronicles a trip made by 73-year-old Alvin Straight from Laurens, Iowa, to Mt. Zion, Wisconsin, in 1994 while riding a lawn mower. The man undertook his strange journey to mend his relationship with his ill, estranged, 75-year-old brother Lyle.
Unexpected tragedy causes a coming-of-age woman to question the meaning of life, until she finds her purpose by helping others deal with the loss of a loved one.
Creature of habit, Jon Smith, spends his days mindlessly working as a barista in New York City. When night falls, this seeming everyman savagely kills “filthy women” as his social outlet. A chance encounter with Delia, a young prostitute searching for an escape from her troubled past, forces Jon to confront the most terrifying thing he has ever faced in all his dark affairs – himself. All God’s Creatures examines the true nature of what it means to be a monster and reveals that love is not only for a chosen few, but for all God’s creatures.
Two young men strangle their “inferior” classmate, hide his body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the “perfection” of their crime.