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The Defiant Ones (1958)

USA

Directed by Stanley Kramer

Starring: Sidney Poitier, Tony Curtis

Two convicts—a white racist and an angry Black man—escape while chained to each other.

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Pride & Prejudice (2005)

United Kingdom

Directed by Joe Wright

Starring: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfayden

A story of love and life among the landed English gentry during the Georgian era. Mr. Bennet is a gentleman living in Hertfordshire with his overbearing wife and five daughters, but if he dies their house will be inherited by a distant cousin whom they have never met, so the family’s future happiness and security is dependent on the daughters making good marriages.

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Brief Encounter (1945)

United Kingdom

Directed by David Lean

Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.

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The Teachers' Lounge (2023)

Germany

Directed by Ilker Catak

Starring: Leonie Benesch, Eva Lobau

When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her.

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The Watermelon Woman (1996)

USA

Directed by Cheryl Dunye

Starring: Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker, Lisa Marie Bronson

A young Black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s Black actress who played ‘mammy’ archetypes.

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Polyester (1981)

USA

Directed by John Waters

Starring: Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey

Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine Fishpaw turns to the bottle as her life falls apart – until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow.

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Perfect Days (2023)

Japan/Germany

Directed by Wim Wenders

Starring: Koji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano

Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.

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Giant (1956)

USA

Directed by George Stevens

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean

Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict’s disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.

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Cabaret (1972)

Germany/USA

Directed by Bob Fosse

Starring: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Joel Grey

Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles and an impish emcee sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.

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Moonstruck (1987)

USA

Directed by Norman Jewison

Starring: Cher, Nicolas Cage

37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Johnny, even though she doesn’t love him. When she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, an emotional and passionate man, she finds herself drawn to him. She tries to resist, but Ronny, who blames his brother for the loss of his hand, has no scruples about aggressively pursuing her while Johnny is out of the country. As Loretta falls for Ronny, she learns that she’s not the only one in her family with a secret romance.

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Sherlock Jr. (1924)

USA

Directed by Buster Keaton

Starring: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend’s father’s pocketwatch.

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Shiva Baby (2020)

USA

Directed by Emma Seligman

Starring: Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, Polly Draper

College student Danielle must cover her tracks when she unexpectedly runs into her sugar daddy at a shiva - with her parents, ex-girlfriend and family friends also in attendance.

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Gilda (1946)

USA

Directed by Charles Vidor

Starring: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George MacReady

A gambler discovers an old flame while in Argentina, but she’s married to his new boss.

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Current Listening: David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)

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Come and See (1985)

Soviet Union

Directed by Elem Klimov

Starring: Aleksei Kravchenko, Olga Mironova

The invasion of a village in Byelorussia by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family’s wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Florya finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.

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Inglorious Basterds (2009)

USA/Germany

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds” are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

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Say Anything (1989)

USA

Directed by Cameron Crowe

Starring: John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney

Lloyd, an eternal optimist, seeks to capture the heart of Diane, an unattainable high school beauty and straight-A student. He surprises just about everyone-including himself-when she returns the sentiment. But Diane’s over-possessive, divorced Dad disapproves and it’s going to take more than just the power of love to conquer all.