In A Rut

The Perfect Daughter

August 1996 •English

Alexandra Michaelson has spent two years on the city streets as a runaway, but she awakens after an accident with no memory of her recent past. Her family welcomes her back, but soon she's visited by a man who claims he's her boyfriend. While trying to rekindle her memory, he tells Alexandra that somewhere she has hidden $100,000 stolen from a dangerous drug dealer.

Equinox Flower

September 1958 •Japanese

Wataru Hirayama's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares that she is in love with a musician and is adamant to live life her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.

Leopardi

October 2014 •Italian

In 19th-century Italy, Giacomo Leopardi channels his debilitating illness and isolation into poetry.

Bandyta

November 1997 •English

Shipped off to a Romanian orphanage to finish his sentence, a British criminal finds romance but also discovers corruption inside the facility.

Poseidon

May 2006 •English

A packed cruise ship traveling the Atlantic is hit and overturned by a massive wave, compelling the passengers to begin a dramatic fight for their lives.

Requiem

March 2006 •German

Michaela, an epileptic, enrolls in college to study education. She goes off her medication and soon begins hearing voices and seeing apparitions that tell her to avoid religious objects, although she is devoutly Roman Catholic. One priest scoffs at the idea that Michaela could be possessed by demons, but a younger pastor arranges an exorcism for the young woman.

Mirror

March 1975 •Russian

A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

September 2006 •English

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of 18th century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. However, his work takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.

Anna and the King

December 1999 •English

The story of the romance between the King of Siam (now Thailand) and the widowed British school teacher Anna Leonowens during the 1860s. Anna teaches the children and becomes romanced by the King. She convinces him that a man can be loved by just one woman.

Clean, Shaven

April 1995 •English

Peter Winter is a young schizophrenic who is desperately trying to get his daughter back from her adoptive family. He attempts to function in a world that, for him, is filled with strange voices, electrical noise, disconcerting images, and jarringly sudden emotional shifts. During his quest, he runs afoul of the law and an ongoing murder investigation.

Pieces of April

October 2003 •English

Quirky and rebellious April Burns lives with her boyfriend in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father struggles to drive her family into the city, April -- an inexperienced cook -- runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor for help.

Max Dugan Returns

March 1983 •English

An English teacher and struggling single mother has her life disrupted when the father who abandoned her as a child comes back into her life.

Crash

May 2005 •English

In post-Sept. 11 Los Angeles, tensions erupt when the lives of a Brentwood housewife, her district attorney husband, a Persian shopkeeper, two cops, a pair of carjackers and a Korean couple converge during a 36-hour period.

Freedom Writers

January 2007 •English

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

I Stand Alone

May 1998 •French

After completing jail time for beating up a man who tried to seduce his mentally-handicapped teenage daughter, The Butcher wants to start life anew. He institutionalizes his daughter and moves to the Lille suburbs with his mistress, who promises him a new butcher shop. Learning that she lied, The Butcher returns to Paris to find his daughter.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Him

April 2005 •German

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

Die Anruferin

March 2008 •German

A lonely woman's prank phone call leads to an unexpected friendship with a grieving widow.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

September 2007 •English

When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents' jewelry store, the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that send them and their family hurtling towards a shattering climax.

Zwei Herzen voller Seligkeit

March 1957 •German

The Weather Man

October 2005 •English

A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive.