**An iconic, culturally significant film that helped immortalize James Dean.** This is one of those classic films when the theme is teenage rebellion and generational clash. It is undoubtedly good, with a good story and good actors – it is the film that marked James Dean's short career – and continues to be a regular presence in classics cycles and specialty TV channels. The film explores quite well the difficult relationship between parents and their children within the wealthiest families, and the way in which this tension has a decisive influence on the latter's delinquent behavior. Living in homes where there is truly no love, but rather a well-organized routine, and where parental care is limited to material goods and the act of giving things, these young people accumulate a revolt that they need to express through pranks and mischief that parents choose to ignore or consider that they are the consequences of harmful influences. The fact that they are children of rich parents only makes their devilry more elaborate: this is the case of racing with stolen cars. How many angry teenagers with rich dads continue to do similar things? Expertly directed by Nicholas Ray, the film had a high budget that allowed for quality production values. The cinematography is excellent, the sets and costumes couldn't be better (I especially liked Dean's parents' house and the abandoned mansion where part of the final scenes take place) and the cars used are beautiful. James Dean's hair and costume were decisive in youth fashion at that time, and the soundtrack accompanies everything with distinction and discretion. However, what decisively marks this film is the excellent quality of the cast and their work, particularly the excellent performance achieved by James Dean. He is absolutely credible in the role he was given, despite being a little older than his character. The opening scene is worthy of an anthology, but also that fight with razors that takes place near the Griffith Observatory. Natalie Wood is also not far behind: she was then more or less the right age and had the necessary talent, as well as being very beautiful and charismatic. Sal Mineo plays a highly dramatic role, and his participation in this film is one of the highlights of his career. Finally, a note of praise for Jim Backus and Marietta Canty, who made good contributions to the film in slightly less valued roles. A curious note that I just noticed: the three main actors in this film have in common the fact that they died before the age of forty-five, and each had a mysterious and violent death. Everyone knows that James Dean saw his life taken as a result of an unfortunate car accident, a few months after this film was made. However, in 1976, Sal Mineo followed, stabbed to death during a robbery at his home. A few years later, in 1981, it was the turn of Natalie Wood, who drowned in more than strange circumstances, during a yacht trip off the Californian coast.
Cash Bentley and his wife Louise lead an average upper-middle-class life in suburbia, with a nice home and two fine children. But Cash grows increasingly unsettled in his life, yearning for the glories of his athletic youth and watching them fade further in the distance with accumulating age. Louise worries about him as his difficulties with mid-life pull him further away from happiness and comfort with his family.
Andrew returns to his hometown for the funeral of his mother, a journey that reconnects him with past friends. The trip coincides with his decision to stop taking his powerful antidepressants. A chance meeting with Sam - a girl also suffering from various maladies - opens up the possibility of rekindling emotional attachments, confronting his psychologist father, and perhaps beginning a new life.
Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned, a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane, a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor.
Guido Anselmi, a film director, finds himself creatively barren at the peak of his career. Urged by his doctors to rest, Anselmi heads for a luxurious resort, but a sorry group gathers—his producer, staff, actors, wife, mistress, and relatives—each one begging him to get on with the show. In retreat from their dependency, he fantasizes about past women and dreams of his childhood.
From the youth directed novel of the same name by Greogor Tressnow comes a film by Detlev Buck that is a realistic portrait of life in the section of Berlin called Neukölln. It’s about power and weakness, delinquents and victims, and the difficulties a 15-year-old faces in a poor and criminal environment.
A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately needed money for her family.
Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.
Obsessive scientist Nathan and his lover, the naturalist Lila, discover Puff: a man born and raised in the wild. As Nathan trains the wild man in the civilized ways of the world, Lila fights to preserve the man’s natural state. In the power struggle that ensues, an unusual love triangle emerges.
Matti and Niila, growing up in the mid-sixties in the harsh and conservative environment of a Finnish-speaking part of Tornedalen in Swedish Laponia, close to the Finnish border. Their big dream is to become rock stars. In the present the now grown-up Matti feels guilt for the death of his drug-addicted rock star friend Niila.
Lichter is an episodic tale from Hans-Christian Schmid about the life on the border between Germany and Poland. The film sheds light on the everyday stories of escape and desperateness.
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.