Ashamed of her heritage, Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner) — the light-skinned daughter of Annie (Juanita Moore), a live-in housemaid employed by a vainglorious actress (Lana Turner) — tries to pass for white. John Stahl’s magnanimous adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s best-selling sudser had proven successful enough in 1934 for Universal to …
Felipe is a man who has spent his life migrating, “Like the doves, like the seagulls.” But his isn’t a stereotypical tale of emigrating to a land where the streets are paved with gold. The 8-month-old son he left behind will soon turn 16, and Felipe has worked hard to …
Michael Mohan delivers a fun if flawed twist on the old argument between faith and science — specifically, which one gets to save the world, and what exactly salvation looks like, anyway. It helps that it’s lovely to look at, and not just because of big-eyed star Sydney Sweeney. (If …
Cecilia a woman of devout faith is warm welcomed to the picture-perfect Italian countryside where she is offered a new role at an illustrious convent. But it becomes clearer to Cecilia that her new home harbors dark and horrifying secrets. Directed by Michael Mohan, starring Sydney Sweeney.
The topic of Open Adoption (that's where the adoptive parents meet the biological mother during pregnancy, and each side gets to approve the other), considered from as many angles as possible in one single case, or anyhow from as many angles as necessary when all parties are as honorable and …
Marion Cotillard stars as a Polish immigrant in turn-of-the-(20th)-century New York who encounters hardships upon her arrival in the land of the free. With Jeremy Renner and Joaquin Phoenix.
In the course of four erotic short stories, Walerian Borowczyk travels over a mountain range of bare bosoms and through a forest of pubic hair. The first, and best, of the four has a wonderful feel for climate and topography. And in general, Borowczyk exhibits a careful, selective, still-photographer's eye …
A cast of abundant charm and talent, whether or not one agrees to count Giancarlo Giannini, can do little with this dim romantic comedy in which a slap in the face acts as an infallible aphrodisiac, and goodness in bed is an excuse for anything. Monica Vitti, Claudia Cardinale, and …
An historical Unsolved Mystery worthy of Robert Stack and his trenchcoat. Among the papers of the deceased Ludwig van Beethoven is found a document bequeathing his entire estate to somebody identified solely as his Immortal Beloved. Who was she? Writer and director Bernard Rose (The Paperhouse, Candyman), utilizing a Citizen …
Director Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell) has been called a visionary, which presumably means he has an eye for interesting visuals. And that’s almost enough to carry you through this bit of buff, burnished bloodshed, a mashup of 300 (invading barbarian army against civilized Greeks), Troy (immortality through deeds …
Cary Grant comes up to see Mae West some time in this pre-code hoot.
Brian Baugh directs this feature based on the first victim of the Columbine shootings, who reportedly affirmed her faith immediately before being killed.
Sun-drenched Italian thriller from the sunstruck director of Mediterraneo, Gabriele Salvatores, concerning a ten-year-old boy who discovers another boy his own age chained in a dungeon-like hole in the ground, and further discovers that his parents are co-conspirators in a kidnapping scheme. Tidy yet tedious, it's a situation that doesn't …