Nearest to Heaven (2002)
Genre : Drama, Romance
Runtime : 1H 30M
Director : Tonie Marshall
Synopsis
People and life can be cruel, and in their face, Fannette is cool: toward an old acquaintance, to her daughter, to colleagues. Beneath the surface, she roils with passion for a lost love, Philippe. She watches "An Affair to Remember" again and again, and when she receives a letter from Philippe asking her to meet him atop the Empire State Building, she swoons. She's writing a book on an aged painter, so she organizes a trip to New York ostensibly to secure photographs of some of his pieces. The publisher assigns her a photographer, Matt, on the surface spontaneous and flip, but also aggressive about his attraction to her. Will she be with the one she loves? Will she smile? Written by
After discovering his wife's infidelities, Gerry leaves London to look after his deceased brother's business and family in Singapore. Discovering a foreign world of opportunity that had not existed before gives Gerry a chance at starting over by slipping into his brother's life - both emotionally and physically. However, leaving his wife and child behind in the UK is not so easy as Gerry must choose between becoming his brother's alter ego 'Mister John' or returning to London to face his failing relationship.
Three siblings ingeniously avoid being sent off to a children's home while their solo-mother serves a short sentence in a prison for shoplifting. Rather than have the news leak out and have to be escorted off with the eccentric welfare officer, they invent a 'never present' dad who is looking after them.
Diane is a mysterious and lonely teenager. Sharing special bonds with her father Christian, she takes care of the education of her brother Marc. The arrival of Julia in the neighborhood, a charismatic and liberated young British woman, is going to disturb Diane’s daily life. Desperately willing to become an adult, Diane is going to live, for a semester, the most shattering experiences of her life. The more she gets close to Julia, the more she gets irresponsible, ignoring consequences and limits to her desires.
Once a vibrant part of American culture, drive-ins reached their peak in the late 1950s with almost 5,000 dotting the nation. Although drive-ins are experiencing a resurgence, today less than 400 remain. In a nation that loves cars and movies, why haven't they survived? April Wright's lovingly made documentary--filled with archival images of hundreds of open and closed drive-in theaters and interviews with theater owners and cinema luminaries such as Roger Corman--attempts to answer that question.
Claire (Bulle Ogier) returns to France following the death of her actress friend Agathe (Loleh Bellon). She attends an auction of her friend's possessions, provoking memories of the past. As her camera glides across the auction house bric-a-brac, Yanick Bellon mixes past, present and future to create a delicate piece of cinematic poetry. Set to the music of Georges Delerue.
Field recordings of religious services in a South Carolina Gullah community. Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort South Carolina, May 1940 is a 1940 short documentary film which shows religious services taking place in a South Carolina Gullah community. In 2005, Commandment Keeper Church was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The Curse of Quon Gwon is the oldest known Chinese-American film and one of the earliest American silent features made by a woman. Only two reels of the film survive, and no intertitles are known to exist, making it difficult to parse out the exact plot. An article in the July 17, 1917 issue of The Moving Picture World states that the film "deals with the curse of a Chinese god that follows his people because of the influence of western civilization." The film also touches on themes of Chinese assimilation into American society. Formally premiering in 1917, no distributor was willing to purchase a Chinese-American film without racial stereotypes. Considered a devastating financial failure, the film was only screened two more times until its rediscovery in 2004.
An elliptical, pictographic animated film that uses flat, painted figures and collage elements in both two and three dimensional settings to explore the realms of memory, language and identity from the point of view of a woman amnesiac.
After Coralie was found dead in a vacant lot, her mother Catherine - who thinks that her daughter was murdered - conducts her own investigation.
Maria Garcia (Carmen Maura) is a television journalist and she's about to be a single mother. Her career foremost in her mind, she doesn't slow down even for a minute, despite her pregnancy. She is, however, taking Lamaze classes and is quite competently coping with the romantic attentions of a man she's not very interested in. It's not at all irrelevant that her news beat includes stories on terrorism, the greenhouse effect, pollution and genetic engineering, because when her baby's due date comes and goes, she starts hearing from her infant from in the womb. It is telling her that it and many other babies are refusing to be born into such a horrible world. She learns that this is true, and that the children born through induced labor are dying.
One Night Stand is a funny, intimate, behind-the-scenes journey as top Broadway and Hollywood artists take the challenge to produce four original short musicals in 24 hours. The film provides a personal glimpse of some of America's favorite actors as they step out of their comfort zones--from Cheyenne Jackson's "fear, sweat, adrenaline and Red Bull" to Rachel Dratch's mounting dread at the prospect of singing alongside Broadway's finest voices. Richard Kind sums it up: "It's like a roller-coaster. You're terrified, but it's fun!" Watching this insane theatrical challenge keeps you on the edge of your seat and laughing.
The great cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar will end on December 21st, 2012. How does the story end? The remote homelands of the present day Maya in Mexico and Guatemala present a perfect microcosm to show how unhindered globalization is already destroying the Earth and indigenous cultures now under attack for their natural resources from all sides. This film presents another worldview, following six young Mayas into their daily and ceremonial life, revealing their determination to resist the destruction of their culture and environment
A South African plastic surgeon, Dr, Tertius Venter, wants to leave his private practice to join a hospital ship providing free surgeries to the poor - but at a personal cost his wife Trudi may not be willing to pay. She is devastated at the realization she would only see him three months a year. While Tertius wrestles between being with the woman he has always loved and his destiny, the documentary closely follows Ambroise (32), Hyacinthe (10) and Fadila (11) who are three West Africans in need of life-changing surgery but without access to health care
China is the first country in the world to classify Internet addiction as a clinical disorder. Caught in the Net features a Beijing treatment center where Chinese teenagers are being "deprogrammed," and follows the story of three boys from the day they arrive at the center, to their three-month treatment period, and their long awaited return home. The film provides a microcosm of modern Chinese life and investigates one of the symptoms of the Internet age. It examines inter-generational pressures and the disregard of the human rights of minors who get caught in the net.
A story from the lost town of Koza - a silver paradise.
AFTER THE STORM is a feature-length documentary film that follows a group of New York Broadway actors who were inspired to help the youth of New Orleans. They stage a musical theater production of the Broadway play "Once on this Island" with local teenagers at the St. Marks Community Center located at the edge of the French Quarter. The film follows the crew and the kids from auditions through performances and also includes the story of each young actor's life in the wake of Katrina.' The story of the musical reflects very much so the life in New Orleans post Katrina.
A frog is driving his alligator-shaped car when he is stopped by a shapely she-frog who steps into the road. She tells him that her house is haunted, so he goes along to assist.
Shy, sensitive April is the class virgin, torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach Mr. B and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy. Emily, meanwhile, offers sexual favors to every boy to cross her path — including both Teddy and his best friend Fred, a live wire without filters or boundaries. As one high school party bleeds into the next — and April and Teddy struggle to admit their mutual affection — Fred's escalating recklessness starts to spiral into chaos.
This film is from the point of view of a cameraman following a young woman through the streets of a city. He chases her down an alley and knocks her over, in a symbolic form of video assault. No dialogue.