During the 1950s, in a small isolated Mexican village, the local Roman Catholic priest, Father Gomez, is an older man with a broken spirit. During his tenure in the village of Quantano, he fought hard to keep his flock of parishioners, in spite of threats and intimidation from the part of local bandit Anacleto Comachi and his men. The atheistic bandit has imposed his tyrannical rule over the region for many years. The local Police cannot find any witnesses to come forward and testify to any wrongdoing from the part of Anacleto. Therefore, they cannot charge him or arrest him. The Catholic Church replaces Father Gomez with a younger, more energetic priest, Father Keogh from Ireland. Before departing the village, Father Gomez warns Father Keogh of the dangers of defying Anacleto Comachi’s authority. But Father Keogh openly defies the bandit and administers his daily priestly duties at the village church. He even manages to persuade some of the villagers to start attending church again.
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Drama
La rupture / The Breach (1970) Claude Chabrol, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Michel Bouquet, Thriller, Drama
Hélène Régnier walks out on her drug-addicted husband Charles after he brutally attacks their infant son. She stays in a run-down hotel whilst her son convalesces in hospital and she files for divorce. Charles’s wealthy bourgeois father is adamant that Hélène will lose custody of her child and, to that end, he engages a former business associate of Charles, Paul Thomas, to discredit her. When Paul fails to uncover any incriminating evidence against Hélène he concocts a scheme that will destroy her reputation. Things do not go quite as planned…
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Easy Money (1948) Bernard Knowles, Jack Warner, Marjorie Fielding, Yvonne Owen, Comedy, Crime, Drama
A win on the football pools in postwar Britain changes lives. A happy family is turned into an unhappy argumentative lot until it is discovered the coupon apparently didn’t get posted. A mild-mannered clerk worries about how to tell his overbearing boss he is quitting. A double-bass player finds life without the orchestra lacks something. The lure of the big money even turns some people into criminals, as when a coupon checker is tempted by his night-club singer girlfriend to cheat the company.
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MADO (1976) Claude Sautet, Michel Piccoli, Ottavia Piccolo, Jacques Dutronc, Drama
Middle-aged businessman Simon Léotard finds his future in jeopardy when his partner Julien commits suicide after having accumulated a mass of debts. Simon’s unscrupulous business rival Lépidon offers to save him from bankruptcy by buying his company, at a discount rate. Reluctant to fall into Lépidon’s trap, Simon decides to resolve the crisis himself. A prostitute, Mado, provides him with the solution to his problems…
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The Dark Angel (1935) Sidney Franklin, Fredric March, Merle Oberon, Herbert Marshall, Drama, Romance
Kitty Vane, Alan Trent, and Gerald Shannon have been inseparable friends since childhood. Kitty has always known she would marry one of them, but has waited until the beginning of World War I before finally choosing Alan. Gerald graciously gives them his blessing. Then, Gerald and Alan go to war. Angered over a misunderstanding involving Alan and Kitty, Gerald sends Alan on a dangerous mission that will change all their lives forever.
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Boys Don’t Cry (1999) Kimberly Peirce, Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Biography, Crime, Drama
In Falls City, Nebraska, Brandon Teena arrives to start a new future for himself. The local community falls for his charms and everyone becomes drawn to his innocence and wit. However, behind the charming persona is a totally different person – Brandon is actually a woman. After falling for a local karaoke singer, Brandon moves in with her family and wins them over. But when Brandon’s secret is finally out, the rest of the family all turn against him, branding him sick and evil.
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Murder, My Sweet (1944) Edward Dmytryk, Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
This adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel ‘Farewell, My Lovely’, renamed for the American market to prevent filmgoers mistaking it for a musical (for which Powell was already famous) has private eye Philip Marlowe hired by Moose Malloy, a petty crook just out of prison after a seven year stretch, to look for his former girlfriend, Velma, who has not been seen for the last six years. The case is tougher than Marlowe expected as his initially promising enquiries lead to a complex web of deceit involving bribery, perjury and theft, and where no one’s motivation is obvious, least of all Marlowe’s.
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The Farmer’s Daughter (1947) H.C. Potter, Loretta Young, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Drama, Romance
Swedish-American farmer’s daughter Katrin ‘Katie’ Holstrom leaves the farm to study nursing in the big, wicked city. Thanks to a chiseling acquaintance, her tuition and expense money disappears the first day, and she’s forced to get a job…as a domestic for congressman Glenn Morley. Impressed by her political awareness as well as her many charms and capabilities, Glenn is soon infatuated with Katie, and she with him, but their feelings remain unspoken…until Katie speaks up at a party rally and is abruptly thrust into politics herself.
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Fait d’hiver (1999) Robert Enrico, Charles Berling, Claude Brasseur, Jean-François Stévenin, Drama
A la fin d’un week-end, Louis Riquier, père divorcé refuse de rendre ses enfants à leur mère. Armé, barricadé dans sa maison, il tient tête à un escadron de gendarmerie. Les médias s’emparent de l’affaire, la tension monte et la situation s’envenime. Riquier menace de tuer ses enfants…
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That Cold Day in the Park (1969) Robert Altman, Sandy Dennis, Michael Burns, Susanne Benton, Drama
A rich but lonely woman, Frances Austen, one day invites a boy from a nearby park to her apartment and offers to let him live there.
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Guang yin de gu shi / In Our Time (1982) Yi Chang, I-Chen Ko, Te-chen Tao, Edward Yang, Emily Y. Chang, Sylvia Chang, Chi Chen, Sheng-wen Lan, Drama
Four short films from four different directors, spanning from the 1950s to the 1980s.
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Noche / Night (2013) Leonardo Brzezicki, Flavia Noguera, Jair Toledo, María Soldi, Drama
The six friends of suicide victim Miguel gather to clear out his things, guess his motives and celebrate his life. Uneasy and sultry atmosphere in this psychological drama whose soundtrack surrealistically erases the boundaries between past and present.
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EQUUS (1977) Sidney Lumet, Richard Burton, Peter Firth, Colin Blakely, Drama, Mystery
Sidney Lumet directed this film version of Peter Shaffer’s dramatic play, transforming theatrical symbolism into cinematic realism. Richard Burton received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance as Martin Dysert, a psychiatrist determined to unravel the disturbed mind of Alan Strang (Peter Firth), a young stableboy. In a fit of rage, Strang has blinded a stable of six horses. The court then assigns Dysert to probe the young man’s mind in order to understand why he committed such a violent act. But the doctor, who is battling demons of his own, wonders if he can save the boy–and whether saving him at all is the right thing to do. Joan Plowright stands out as Dora Strang, the young boy’s mother.
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Black Dog (1998) Kevin Hooks, Patrick Swayze, Randy Travis, Meat Loaf, Action, Crime, Drama
An ex-con takes a job driving a truck cross country. What he doesn’t know is that the truck is filled with illegal weapons and now he must fight to survive and save his family.
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Death Wish (1974) Michael Winner, Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia, Action, Crime, Drama
Once a mild-mannered liberal, New York City architect Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) snaps when intruders break into his home, murdering his wife (Hope Lange) and violently raping his daughter. A business trip to Tucson, Ariz., lands him a gift from a client, a revolver he uses to patrol the streets when he returns home. Frustrated that the police cannot find the intruders, he become a vigilante, gunning down any criminal that crosses his path. The public finds this vigilantism heroic.
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