More Beautiful Than Death

Bitter Rice

September 1949 •Italian

Francesca and Walter are two-bit criminals in Northern Italy, and, in an effort to avoid the police, Francesca joins a group of women rice workers. She meets the voluptuous peasant rice worker, Silvana, and the soon-to-be-discharged soldier, Marco. Walter follows her to the rice fields, and the four characters become involved in a complex plot involving robbery, love, and murder.

In an Old Manor House or The Independence of Triangles

April 1985 •Polish

In a country house at the turn of a century live a family of eccentrics. Anastasia, the beautiful mistress of the manor, enjoys the amorous attentions of her stepson Blarney so openly that her husband Diapanasius takes out his shotgun and shoots her. The rest of the family accepts her end as a matter-of-fact, and soon - her return as a voyeuristic ghost who interferes with their love lifes. Anastasia has a posthumous son Tadeusz, "born" by clambering out of the tree trunk. Anastasia seduces him too, and drives another men so crazy that they kill her another couple of times. Finally, Tadeusz, the arch-rebel, leads a mob on a raid of the old manor.

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

November 2002 •Danish

The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.

The Big Blue

May 1988 •French

Two men answer the call of the ocean in this romantic fantasy-adventure. Jacques and Enzo are a pair of friends who have been close since childhood, and who share a passion for the dangerous sport of free diving. Professional diver Jacques opted to follow in the footsteps of his father, who died at sea when Jacques was a boy; to the bewilderment of scientists, Jacques harbors a remarkable ability to adjust his heart rate and breathing pattern in the water, so that his vital signs more closely resemble that of dolphins than men. As Enzo persuades a reluctant Jacques to compete against him in a free diving contest -- determining who can dive deeper and longer without scuba gear -- Jacques meets Johana, a beautiful insurance investigator from America, and he finds that he must choose between his love for her and his love of the sea.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

August 1958 •English

An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

The Celebration

June 1998 •Danish

The family of a wealthy businessman gather to celebrate his 60th birthday. During the course of the party, his eldest son presents a speech that reveals a shocking secret.

Harold and Maude

December 1971 •English

The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of her life. When the two opposites meet they realize that their differences don’t matter and they become best friends and love each other.

Longing

February 2006 •German

An average, everyday metalworker and volunteer firefighter content in his marriage to his childhood sweetheart finds his emotions unexpectedly stirred when he falls for a pretty waitress from a nearby town.

The Hours

December 2002 •English

The story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.

Full Metal Jacket

June 1987 •English

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

The Ninth Gate

August 1999 •English

A rare book dealer finds himself at the heart of a string of paranormal events when he is hired to find the last two copies of a text, The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, capable of summoning the Devil.

Basquiat

August 1996 •English

The brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.

Karel Hynek Mácha

June 1983 •Czech

Whale Valley

October 2013 •Icelandic

The film shows a strong bond between two brothers that live in a remote fjord with their parents. We look into their world through the eyes of the younger brother and follow him on a journey that marks a turning point in the lives of the brothers.

Agatha, let the murdering be!

December 1960 •German

A black comedy about a female author of crime novels who becomes a victim of a macabre hoax.

My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown

April 1989 •English

No one expects much from Christy Brown, a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a miraculous event occurs when, at the age of 5, he demonstrates control of his left foot by using chalk to scrawl a word on the floor. With the help of his steely mother — and no shortage of grit and determination — Christy overcomes his infirmity to become a painter, poet and author.

The Caine Mutiny

June 1954 •English

When a US Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardize his ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny.

La Grande Bouffe

May 1973 •French

Four friends gather at a villa with the intention of eating themselves to death.

God Does Not Believe in Us Anymore

May 1982 •German

After his father is murdered by the Nazis in 1938, a young Viennese Jew named Ferry Tobler flees to Prague, where he joins forces with another expatriate and a sympathetic Czech relief worker. Together with other Jewish refugees, the three make their way to Paris, and, after spending time in a French prison camp, eventually escape to Marseille, from where they hope to sail to a safe port.

Trop c'est trop

June 1975 •French

Philippe, Didier, Georges and Edina were born on the same day. The three boys have always been in love with Edina, but she's always put them off. They set off in search of her and find her posing for a photographer. Seeing them, she flees and dies in the process. By mutual agreement, the three boys commit suicide to join her.