World cinema

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Central do Brasil (1998)

An emotive journey of a former school teacher, who write letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, in search for the father he never knew.

Storyline

Dora, a dour old woman, works at a Rio de Janeiro central station, writing letters for customers and mailing them. She hates customers and calls them 'trash'. Josue is a 9-year-old boy who never met his father. His mother is sending letters to his father through Dora. When she dies in a car accident, Dora takes Josue and takes a trip with him to find his father.

Serendipity (2001)

A couple reunite years after the night they first met, fell in love, and separated, convinced that one day they'd end up together.

Director:

Peter Chelsom

Writer:

Marc Klein

Stars:

John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale and Lilli Lavine

Storyline

Jonathan Trager and Sara Thomas met while shopping for gloves in New York. Though buying for their respective lovers, the magic was right and a night of Christmas shopping turned into romance. Jon wanted to explore things further but Sara wasn't sure their love was meant to be. They decided to test fate by splitting up and seeing if destiny brought them back together... Many years later, having lost each other that night, both are engaged to be married. Still, neither can shake the need to give fate one last chance to reunite them. Jon enlists the help of his best man to track down the girl he can't forget starting at the store where they met. Sara asks her new age musician fiance for a break before the wedding and, with her best friend in tow, flies from California to New York hoping destiny will bring her soulmate back. Near-misses and classic Shakespearean confusion bring the two close to meeting a number of times but fate will have the final word on whether it was meant to be.

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988)

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

Director:

Giuseppe Tornatore

Writers:

Giuseppe Tornatore (story), Giuseppe Tornatore(screenplay), and 1 more credit »

Stars:

Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale and Antonella Attili

Storyline

A famous film director returns home to a Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years. He reminisces about his childhood at the Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo, the projectionist, first brought about his love of films. He is also reminded of his lost teenage love, Elena, who he had to leave before he left for Rome.

RUN LOLA RUN [Lola rennt (1998)]

A young woman in Germany has twenty minutes to find and bring 100,000 Deutschmarks to her boyfriend before he robs a supermarket.

Director:

Tom Tykwer

Writer:

Tom Tykwer

Stars:

Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu and Herbert Knaup

Storyline

Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend Manny. He lost 100,000 DM in a subway train that belongs to a very bad guy. Lola has 20 min to raise this amount and meet Manny. Otherwise, he will rob a store to get the money. Three different alternatives may happen depending on some minor event along Lola's run.

Cast Away (2000)

A FedEx executive must transform himself physically and emotionally to survive a crash landing on a deserted island.

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writer:

William Broyles Jr.

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt and Paul Sanchez

Storyline

After FedEx systems engineer Chuck Noland is ripped out of his hasty life by the clock in a plane crash, he finds himself alone on the shores of a tropical island. First, frustration gets to him and then he realizes how little his chances are to ever get back to civilization. Four years later, Chuck has learned very well how to survive on his own: mending his dental health, catching fish with a spear, predicting the weather with a self-made calendar. A photograph of his girlfriend Kelly has kept his hopes alive all these years. Finally, Chuck takes the opportunity to take off for home: He sets off on a wooden raft with a sail that has washed ashore.

50 First Dates (2004)

Henry Roth is a man afraid of commitment up until he meets the beautiful Lucy. They hit it off and Henry think he's finally found the girl of his dreams, until he discovers she has short-term memory loss and forgets him the very next day.

Director:

Peter Segal

Writer:

George Wing

Stars:

Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore and Rob Schneider

Storyline

Henry Roth lives in a Hawaiian paradise with the company of endless women with no strings attached. This is until he meets Lucy Whitmore. Both Henry and Lucy enjoy the company of each other and feels the start of a serious relationship occurring. Approaching Lucy the next day, Henry is confused when Lucy fails to recognise him. This is the moment Henry discovers that Lucy actually suffers from short term memory loss and can't remember each individual day. Henry won't let this stop him and is prepared to make her fall in love with him all over again, each and every day.

The Terminal (2004)

An eastern immigrant finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Andrew Niccol (story), Sacha Gervasi (story), and 2 more credits »

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Chi McBride

Storyline

Viktor Navorski, a man from an Eastern European country arrives in New York. However after he left his country war broke out. Suddenly Navorski is a man without a country - or one that the U.S. cannot recognize, thus he is denied entrance to the U.S. However, he also can't be deported so he is told by the Security Manager that he has to remain in the airport until his status can be fixed. And also Navorski doesn't speak English very well, so he cannot talk to or understand anyone. But he somehow adapts and sets up residence in the airport, which makes the man who placed him there unhappy, as it seems he is in line for a promotion but Navroski's presence might complicate that. So he tries to get Navorski to leave but Navorski remains where he is. Navorski makes friends with some of the people who work in the airport and is attracted to a flight attendant he runs into whenever she comes in.

Scent of a Woman (1992)

A prep school student needing money agrees to "babysit" a blind man, but the job is not at all what he anticipated.

Director:

Martin Brest

Writers:

Giovanni Arpino (novel), Bo Goldman (screenplay),and 2 more credits »

Stars:

Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell and James Rebhorn

Storyline

Frank is a retired Lt Col in the US army. He's blind and impossible to get along with. Charlie is at school and is looking forward to going to university; to help pay for a trip home for Christmas, he agrees to look after Frank over thanksgiving. Frank's niece says this will be easy money, but she didn't reckon on Frank spending his thanksgiving in New York.

P.S. I Love You (2007)

A young widow discovers that her late husband has left her 10 messages intended to help ease her pain and start a new life.

Director:

Richard LaGravenese

Writers:

Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Steven Rogers(screenplay), and 1 more credit »

Stars:

Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler and Harry Connick Jr.

Storyline

Holly Kennedy is beautiful, smart and married to the love of her life - a passionate, funny, and impetuous Irishman named Gerry. So when Gerry's life is taken by an illness, it takes the life out of Holly. The only one who can help her is the person who is no longer there. Nobody knows Holly better than Gerry. So it's a good thing he planned ahead. Before he died, Gerry wrote Holly a series of letters that will guide her, not only through her grief, but in rediscovering herself. The first message arrives on Holly's 30th birthday in the form of a cake, and to her utter shock, a tape recording from Gerry, who proceeds to tell her to get out and "celebrate herself". In the weeks and months that follow, more letters from Gerry are delivered in surprising ways, each sending her on a new adventure and each signing off in the same way; P.S. I Love You. Holly's mother and best friends begin to worry that Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past...

Crash (I) (2004)

Director:

Paul Haggis

Writers:

Paul Haggis (story), Paul Haggis (screenplay), and 1 more credit »

Stars:

Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock and Thandie Newton

Storyline

Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the white district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist white veteran cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with the racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets, and more.

The Notebook (2004)

A poor and passionate young man falls in love with a rich young woman and gives her a sense of freedom. They soon are separated by their social differences.

Director:

Nick Cassavetes

Writers:

Jeremy Leven (screenplay), Jan Sardi(adaptation), and 1 more credit »

Stars:

Gena Rowlands, James Garner and Rachel McAdams

Storyline

The movie focuses on an old man reading a story to an old woman in a nursing home. The story he reads follows two young lovers named Allie Hamilton and Noah Calhoun, who meet one evening at a carnival. But they are separated by Allie's parents who dissaprove of Noah's unwealthy family, and move Allie away. After waiting for Noah to write her for several years, Allie meets and gets engaged to a handsome young soldier named Lon. Allie, then, with her love for Noah still alive, stops by Noah's 200-year-old home that he restored for her, "to see if he's okay". It is evident that they still have feelings for each other, and Allie has to choose between her fiancé and her first love.

Up in the Air (I) (2009)

With a job that has him traveling around the country firing people, Ryan Bingham leads an empty life out of a suitcase, until his company does the unexpected: ground him.

Director:

Jason Reitman

Writers:

Jason Reitman (screenplay), Sheldon Turner(screenplay), and 1 more credit »

Stars:

George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick

Storyline

Ryan Bingham is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.

(500) Days of Summer (2009)

An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman who doesn't believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her.

Director:

Marc Webb

Writers:

Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber

Stars:

Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt andGeoffrey Arend

Storyline

After it looks as if she's left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn. Despite being physically average in almost every respect, Summer had always attracted the attention of men, Tom included. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends - in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way - Tom and Summer became more than just friends. Through the trials and tribulations of Tom and Summer's so-called relationship, Tom could always count on the advice of his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul. However, it is Tom's adolescent sister, Rachel, who is his voice of reason...

Forrest Gump (1994)

Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny, eludes him.

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writers:

Winston Groom (novel), Eric Roth (screenplay)

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise

Storyline

Forrest, Forrest Gump is a simple man with little brain activity but good intentions. He struggles through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His 'mama' teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. Forrest joins the army for service in Vietnam, finding new friends called Dan and Bubba, he wins medals, starts a table tennis craze, creates a famous shrimp fishing fleet, inspires people to jog, create the smiley, write bumper stickers and songs, donating to people and meeting the president several times. However this is all irrelevant to Forrest who can only think of his childhood sweetheart Jenny. Who has messed up her life. Although in the end all he wants to prove is that anyone can love anyone

The Kid (1921)

The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put that relationship in jeopardy.

Director:

Charles Chaplin

Writer:

Charles Chaplin

Stars:

Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance and Jackie Coogan

Storyline

The opening title reads: "A comedy with a smile--and perhaps a tear". As she leaves the charity hospital and passes a church wedding, Edna deposits her new baby with a pleading note in a limousine and goes off to commit suicide. The limo is stolen by thieves who dump the baby by a garbage can. Charlie the Tramp finds the baby and makes a home for him. Five years later Edna has become an opera star but does charity work for slum youngsters in hope of finding her boy. A doctor called by Edna discovers the note with the truth about the Kid and reports it to the authorities who come to take him away from Charlie. Before he arrives at the Orphan Asylum Charlie steals him back and takes him to a flophouse. The proprietor reads of a reward for the Kid and takes him to Edna. Charlie is later awakened by a kind policeman who reunites him with the Kid at Edna's mansion.

COLOUR OF PARADISE [Rang-e khoda (1999)]

Director:

Majid Majidi

Writer:

Majid Majidi

Stars:

Hossein Mahjoub, Mohsen Ramezani and Salameh Feyzi

Mohammad, a boy at Tehran's institute for the blind, waits for his dad to pick him up for summer vacation. While waiting, he realizes a baby bird has fallen from its nest: he chases away a cat, finds the bird, climbs a tree, and puts it back. His father finally comes and takes him to their village where his sisters and granny await. The lad is a loving student of nature and longs for village life with his family, but his father is ashamed of him, wanting to farm the boy out to clear the way for marriage to a woman who knows nothing of this son. Over granny's objections, dad apprentices Mohammad far from home to a blind carpenter. Can anything bring father and son together?

TALK TO HER [Hable con ella (2002)]

Two men share an odd friendship while they care for their girlfriends who are both in deep comas.

Director:

Pedro Almodóvar

Writer:

Pedro Almodóvar

Stars:

Rosario Flores, Javier Cámara and Darío Grandinetti

Storyline

After a chance encounter at a theater, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia, Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession, has been gored and is in a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma, Alicia, a young ballet student. The lives of the four characters will flow in all directions, past, present and future, dragging all of them towards an unsuspected destiny.

TOGETHER [He ni zai yi qi (2002)]

A violin prodigy and his father travel to Beijing, where the father seeks the means to his son's success while the son struggles to accept the path laid before him.

Director:

Kaige Chen

Writers:

Kaige Chen, Xiao Lu Xue

Stars:

Yun Tang, Peiqi Liu and Hong Chen

Storyline

Young violinist Xiaochun and his father move from their small, provincial town to Beijing so Xiaochun can audition for a prestiguous music academy. Their new life is unfamiliar but full of promise, allowing the young man to truly figure out which direction he wants to take in life.

THE ROAD HOME [Wo de fu qin mu qin (1999)]

Prompted by the death of his father and the grief of his mother, a man recalls the story of how they met in flashback.

Director:

Yimou Zhang

Writers:

Shi Bao (novel), Shi Bao (screenplay)

Stars:

Ziyi Zhang, Honglei Sun and Hao Zheng

Storyline

City businessman Luo Yusheng returns to his home village in North China for the funeral of his father, the village teacher. He finds his elderly mother insisting that all the traditional burial customs be observed, despite the fact that times have changed so much, and that it involves many people carrying his father's body back to the village - the road home. As Yusheng debates the complications involved in organising such a big feat, he remembers the magical story of how his father and mother first met and got together.

THE WAY HOME [Jibeuro (2002)]

Director:

Jeong-hyang Lee

Writer:

Jeong-hyang Lee

Stars:

Seung-ho Yu, Eul-boon Kim and Hyo-hee Dong

Seven-year-old Sang-woo is left with his grandmother in a remote village while his mother looks for work. Born and raised in the city, Sang-woo quickly comes into conflict with his old-fashioned grandmother and his new rural surroundings. Disrespectful and selfish, Sang-woo lashes out in anger, perceiving that he has been abandoned. He trades his grandmother's only treasure for a video game; he throws his food and he throws tantrums. When Sang-woo's mother finds work and finally returns for him, Sang-woo has become a different boy. Through his grandmother's boundless patience and devotion, he learns to embrace empathy, humility and the importance of family.

A Walk to Remember (2002)

101 min - Drama | Romance - 25 January 2002 (USA)

The story of two North Carolina teens, Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan, who are thrown together after Landon gets into trouble and is made to do community service.

Director:

Adam Shankman

Writers:

Nicholas Sparks (novel), Karen Janszen(screenplay)

Stars:

Mandy Moore, Shane West and Peter Coyote