Thomas and Alfred were born around the same time; a fire in the nursery had nurses scrambling to save the newborns. Because he felt that he deserved Alfred's good fortune at being born into a wealthy family, Thomas conceives the idea that he and Alfred were switched at birth, and he can't help seeing that his unhappiness should be Alfred's, from the loss of his sister to his inability to have a relationship with women. So, as his life is ending, he formulates a plan of revenge against his bitter enemy, his lifetime adversary, the man who stole his existence.

A man leaves the life he's known behind to support his family as an undocumented worker in this realistic drama. Freddy (Freddie Flores) was born and raised in Bolivia, but when the intervention of American drug enforcement agents led to the destruction of the coca fields where he worked, he finds himself with no way to support his family.

Dark Horse. Volksne mennesker is the second feature from Icelandic director Dagur Kári, after his much praised debut Nói Albinói (2003). For this film, he relocated the story from the icy coasts of Iceland to the Danish capital of Copenhagen, where we meet Daniel (Jacob Cedergren), a graffiti artist who sprays some stylish love declarations on the wall. Not his own love interests, but from others who want to surprise their girlfriends and pay him some under the counter money for it. In many ways Daniel is the working definition of the term loser. He has no money, no work, he's lazy and hasn't got a clue what going on around him ('How am I gonna be a father? I don't even know the name of the prime minister?'). He doesn't really care about anything and doesn't bother to pay the rent until he's kicked out. Above all, his social skills (more clumsy than impolite) leave a lot to be desired, but by sheer luck, charm and good looks he seems to be passing by just well.

You haven't met her but she hates you already
Tatie Danielle is a spoiled old lady who has become expert, after long years of study, at the art of imposing on other people. It is a welcome departure from the formula comedy-dramas focusing on the elderly members of our society. We're not dealing with another "Who will take care of Grandma" story, but are confronted with a real problem: This old lady is NOT the dear little Granny we know from story books. She isn't the type anyone would hate to ship off to a nursing home. She's the devil in disguise of a sweet old woman, who manipulates people around her to cause general unpleasantness.

Vous ne la connaissez pas encore mais elle vous déteste déjà

Jungle Freaks The film is about a native Brazilian born fully grown, a dark black baby to a white mother and all white siblings. Macunaima faces the harsh reality of his color, as he picks out the scraps of a pig's entrails while his brothers eat the succulent flesh. He then finds a well which spurts water and turns him white; in a fantastically colorful sequence, Macunaima revels in his new color, as it changes his life and opens doors of opportunity to metropolitan Sao Paulo, where he meets a guerrilla assassin femme fatale with whom he bears a black child. She is killed, he seeks to avenge her death and realizes being white isn't all its cracked up to be. Despite its serious subject matter, Macunaima creates a carnivalesque atmosphere, light hearted wit and sexy mystique that defines Brazil

Splendor is the name of an old movie theater managed by Jordan (Mastroianni), who inherited it from his father. The theater is in decay and only generates debts and trouble, but Jordan gets aid in his almost quixotian quest from projectionist Luigi (Troisi) and ushurette Chantale (Vlady). However, Jordan is finally forced to sell the Splendor to businessman Lo Fazio (Piperno), who plans to transform it in some kind of furniture store. When Jordan leaves the theater for the last time (the very first scene), he recalls the glorious days of Splendor and movies in general.

Certainly not for all tastes, Richard Elfman’s delirious and highly surreal little gem is one of the few cult classics to actually live up to its reputation. The loosely structured “narrative” concerns a household of rejects, who one by one, find a doorway in their basement that whisks them off to the 6th Dimension--a far out world of frog headed butlers, topless maids, human chandeliers, and various other misfits, all of whom are lorded over by a sex crazed midget.

Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise looks as if it had been left on the windowsill too long. Shot in 16- millimeter black-and-white, and blown up to 35 millimeter, its images appear to have been aged by the sun and by general neglect until they've faded into a uniform shade of gray. When, occasionally, there's a splotch of comparatively pure black or white, the effect is disorienting until you recognize what Mr. Jarmusch is up to - that is, discovering the ludicrously sublime in the supremely tacky. The film, a prize-winner at the Cannes festival, is something quite special.

Scenes from a Marriage was originally conceived as a six-part TV mini-series. Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson play Marianne and Josef, an upper-middle-class married couple. At first glance, their lives appear to be devoid of marital conflict, but soon after the opening sequence, it becomes clear that tension is mounting just below the surface. The movie consists almost entirely of dramatic exchanges between Marianne and Josef and eventually evolves into an agonizing account of the deterioration of their marriage. But throughout it all, a deep, underlying love keeps the couple from breaking off all ties--in spite of the mutual aggression, cruelty, and even violence that forms part of their relationship.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is a sadly funny film that tells the story of an old man whom no one really knows or cares about. When he falls ill and needs medical treatment, he faces a team of busy doctors who are concerned because they have to be, not because they really care. This Romanian film allows the viewer to visualize how suffocatingly slow time must seem for Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu), who isn't expecting the best treatment--just any treatment would be nice. With the exception of a conscientious paramedic, there doesn't seem to be much concern whether he lives or dies.

Noi the Albino
Is he the village idiot or a genius in disguise? 17 year old Noi drifts through life on a remote fjord in the north of Iceland. In winter, the fjord is cut off from the outside world, surrounded by ominous mountains and buried under a shroud of snow. Noi dreams of escaping from this white-walled prison with Iris, a city girl who works in a local gas staion. But his clumsy attempts at escape spiral out of control and end in complete failure. Only a natural disaster will shatter Noi's universe and offer him a window into a better world.

Yoru no Onnatachi (Women of the Night) was one of three Kenji Mizoguchi films entered into competition at the 1957 Venice Film Festival. Like the other two Mizoguchi efforts (Uwasa no Onna, Mushashino Ujin), the film was several years old; in this case, it was completed in 1948. Like many of the director's best films, Yoru no Onnatachi is a pro-feminist tract, set principally in a Japanese "bagnio", or legalized brothel. The story centers around two sisters who are forced into prostitution to survive. The film's climax takes place in a "kangaroo court" presided over by whores, wherein the two women are accused of being traitors to their class.

An army cadet accompanies an irascible, blind captain on a week-long trip from Turin to Naples. The captain, Fausto, who wants no pity, brooks no disagreement, and charges into every situation, nicknames the youth Ciccio , and spends the next few days ordering him about and generally behaving badly in public. In Rome, Fausto summons a priest to ask for his blessing; in Naples, where Fausto joins a blind lieutenant for drinking and revelry, the two soldiers talk quietly and seriously about "going through with it." Also in Naples is Sara, in love with Fausto, but treated cruelly by him. What do the blind soldiers plan? Can Sara soften Fausto's hardened heart?

A masterpiece of postwar Japanese cinema, Okasan is the story of a poor, working class mother with a sick husband who sacrifices herself to support her family in suburban Tokyo. The film defines "Shomin Geki," a Japanese film genre that features realistic depiction of the economic underclass, told with elements of light comedy and melodrama. Okasan is the best-known work of director Mikio Naruse, hailed by Japanese film historians as an equal of Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi, but underappreciated in the West.

Director Kenji Mizoguchi again employs the repertoire of bunraku in this tale of lovers thwarted by the constricting feudal hierarchy of 17th-century Japan. Kyôko Kagawa and Kazuo Hasegawa star as, respectively, the wife, Osan, and clerk, Mohei, of Ishun (Eitarô Shindô), a wealthy and corrupt scrollmaker. When Osan's brother asks her for help in paying a debt, she turns to Mohei, who agrees to use his master's seal to dispense the money she needs. Although he refuses to implicate Osan, Mohei is forced to confess his actions to Ishun, who publicly humiliates the clerk and locks him in a storeroom. Through a series of complications, Ishun arrives at the mistaken belief that Osan and Mohei are lovers. Mohei is instantly dismissed and forced into exile. But when Ishun offers a seppuku knife to Osan, she refuses ritual suicide, knowing that she's committed no crime, and escapes from her husband's house. The director counterposes the high-angle shots, vertical architecture, and entrapping shadows of Ishun's establishment--visual metaphors for the rigidity of this feudal society--with the simple grandeur of nature--a visual metaphor for love--in a compelling denunciation of destructive social mores.