The Last Showgirl (2024)

To Sleep with Anger

An enigmatic drifter from the South comes to visit an old acquaintance who now lives in South-Central LA.

The Big Sleep

Private eye Philip Marlowe investigates a case of blackmail involving the two wild daughters of a rich general, a pornographer and a gangster.

Buck and the Preacher

A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.

Man with No Past

Waking up in an unfamiliar city, a man with no memory must confront the mysteries of his own identity. However, his desperate search to uncover the past pits him against a powerful enemy, leading to a showdown that ultimately reveals the truth.

Next to Normal

A mother struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that managing her illness has on her family. The PBS Great Performances recording of the West End Transfer (from Donmar Warehouse) in 2024.

37 : L'Ombre et la Proie

Vincent, a truck driver, picks up a young pregnant woman. She turns out to have an unstable temper… and an automatic pistol. She orders Vincent to continue driving, without stopping. When he's out of gas, she'll kill him.

Scream Queen Hot Tub Party

Five of Hollywood's leading scream queens get together in a creepy mansion and decide to get in the hot tub (as true scream queens would). They talk in the tub and exchange secrets on the do's and don'ts of being a scream queen.

Carol for Another Christmas

Daniel Grudge, a wealthy industrialist and fierce isolationist long embittered by the loss of his son in World War II, is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve who lead him to reconsider his attitude toward his fellow man.

Christmas in Alaska

Rival journalists competing for the same lucrative promotion get stuck together in snowy Alaska after their plane is forced to make an emergency landing. They find themselves caught up in a totally unexpected Christmas romance.

Before Him All Rome Trembled

An opera singer hides an American soldier in his house in Nazi-occupied Rome.

The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead

From Lemmy filmmaker Wes Orshoski comes the story of the long-ignored pioneers of punk: The Damned, the first U.K. punks on wax and the first to cross the Atlantic. This authorized film includes appearances from Chrissie Hynde, Mick Jones (The Clash), Lemmy and members of Pink Floyd, Black Flag, GNR, the Sex Pistols, Blondie, Buzzcocks, and more. Shot around the globe over three years, the film charts the band's complex history and infighting, as it celebrated its 35th anniversary and found its estranged former members striking out on their own anniversary tour, while still others battle cancer.

The Bearded Mermaid

The drag queens of the La Sirène à Barbe cabaret put on a grandiose show of song, circus and dance, the likes of which Dieppe has never seen before. Erwan, a local fisherman, is spellbound. He ventures into their world of joy and celebration and discovers, behind the costumes of the stage characters, tormented, lonely, over-sensitive human beings ready to do anything to carry this project as far as possible. It's a portrait of a small port town inhabited as much by gloomy daily lives as by extraordinary destinies.

La vita da grandi

Irene lives in Rome. When her mother ask to, she go back to Rimini, her hometown, to take care of her autistic brother, Omar. She soon discover that Omar knows very well what to expect from the future, but in order to achieve his dreams, he need to be independent, which is why Irene begins a tender crash course to teach him adult life.

The We and the I

The We and the I is the heartfelt and comical story of the final bus ride home for a group of young high school students and graduates.

Gacy

Based on a true story of serial killer a model citizen, loving father and husband and serial killer John Wayne Gacy, a man with over 30 dead men and boys entombed in the crawl space underneath his house which he shared with his family.

Shiva Baby

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.

No Other Land

This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.

American Gigolo

Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.

One of Them Days

Best friends and roommates Dreux and Alyssa are about to have One of Them Days. When they discover Alyssa’s boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a comical race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.

Love Hurts

A realtor is pulled back into the life he left behind after his former partner-in-crime resurfaces with an ominous message. With his crime-lord brother also on his trail, he must confront his past and the history he never fully buried.

The Alto Knights

Two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, vie for control of the city's streets. Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a deadly collision course that will reshape the Mafia (and America) forever.

Jim's Story

Aymeric runs into Florence, a former coworker, one evening in Saint-Claude in the Haut-Jura. She is six months pregnant and single. When she gives birth to Jim, Aymeric is there. They spend happy years together until Christophe, Jim's biological father, shows up... It could be the start of a melodrama, it's also the start of an odyssey into fatherhood.

My Old Ass

An 18th birthday mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self. But when Elliott’s "old ass" starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn't do, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what's becoming a transformative summer.

Caligula

After the death of the paranoid emperor Tiberius, Caligula, his heir, seizes power and plunges the empire into a bloody spiral of madness and depravity.

Presence

A couple and their children move into a seemingly normal suburban home. When strange events occur, they begin to believe there is something else in the house with them. The presence is about to disrupt their lives in unimaginable ways.

September 5

During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes.

Young Woman and the Sea

This is the extraordinary true story of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel. Through the steadfast support of her older sister and supportive trainers, she overcame adversity and the animosity of a patriarchal society to rise through the ranks of the Olympic swimming team and complete the 21-mile trek from France to England.

The Lost Daughter

A woman's seaside vacation takes a dark turn when her obsession with a young mother forces her to confront secrets from her past.

Queer

1950. William Lee, an American expat in Mexico City, spends his days almost entirely alone, except for a few contacts with other members of the small American community. His encounter with Eugene Allerton, an expat former soldier, new to the city, shows him, for the first time, that it might be finally possible to establish an intimate connection with somebody.

Mank

1930s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane.

The Life List

When her mother sends her on a quest to complete a teenage bucket list, a young woman uncovers family secrets, finds romance — and rediscovers herself.

Here

An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New England where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.

Cliffhanger

A year after losing his friend in a tragic 4,000-foot fall, former ranger Gabe Walker and his partner, Hal, are called to return to the same peak to rescue a group of stranded climbers, only to learn the climbers are actually thieving hijackers who are looking for boxes full of money.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera

Big Nick is back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie, who is embroiled in the treacherous and unpredictable world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world's largest diamond exchange.

Dazed and Confused

The adventures of a group of Texas teens on their last day of school in 1976, centering on student Randall Floyd, who moves easily among stoners, jocks and geeks. Floyd is a star athlete, but he also likes smoking weed, which presents a conundrum when his football coach demands he sign a "no drugs" pledge.

In the Lost Lands

A queen sends the powerful and feared sorceress Gray Alys to the ghostly wilderness of the Lost Lands in search of a magical power, where she and her guide, the drifter Boyce, must outwit and outfight both man and demon.

The Order

A string of violent robberies in the Pacific Northwest leads veteran FBI agent Terry Husk into a white supremacist plot to overthrow the federal government.

I'm Still Here

A woman married to a former politician during the 1971 military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.

Lost in Translation

Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.

The Party

A thirteen-year-old French girl deals with moving to a new city and school in Paris, while at the same time her parents are getting a divorce.

The Party 2

A young French teenage girl after moving to a new city falls in love with a boy and is thinking of having sex with him because her girlfriends have already done it.

Boys Don't Cry

A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.

Pocketful of Miracles

A New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying royalty.

Someone You Love

Someone You Love is a story about world famous singer-songwriter Thomas Jacob who lives in Los Angeles. He is a successful man with a lot of burned bridges. After years abroad Thomas travels back to Denmark to record a new album. There his estranged daughter Julie suddenly turns up with his 11-year-old grandson, Noa. Soon, Thomas is forced to take care of the boy. Against all odds the two of them slowly begin to connect through music. But disaster strikes, forcing Thomas to realize he has to make a choice that will change his life forever.

A Second Chance

Detectives and best friends Andreas and Simon lead vastly different lives; Andreas has settled down with his beautiful wife and son; while Simon, recently divorced, spends most of his waking hours getting drunk at the local strip club. But all that changes when the two of them are called out to a domestic dispute between a junkie couple, caught in a vicious cycle of violence and drugs. It all looks very routine – until Andreas finds the couple's infant son, crying in a closet. The usually collected policeman finds himself confronted with his own powerlessness and is shaken to his core. As Andreas slowly loses his grip on justice, it suddenly becomes up to the unruly Simon to restore the balance between right and wrong.

Call Center Girl

In her bouts to help her daughter, Teresa accidently lands on a call center job where Regina is employed, giving her a chance (or is it really?) to rekindle her relationship with her daughter. In the call center, she meets people coming from different walks of life; fun-loving Richie, young-living Lolay, prim and proper Martin, and their monster Team Leader Vince.

Enough!

Set amidst the civil war of Algeria in the 1990s, Enough! is the story of two women. Emel is a Westerner whose husband, a journalist, is missing - perhaps kidnapped or even killed for articles he's written.

Jamila and the President

Jamila is a prostitute serving a life sentence behind bars. She surrenders herself to the authorities after admitting she killed a high-ranking minister, and refuses to be represented by any lawyer or request a plea to ease her sentence.

36 Fillette

Lili, a pouty and voluptuous 14-year-old, is caravan camping with her family in Biarritz. She's self-aware and holds her own in a café conversation with a concert pianist she meets, but she has a wild streak and she's testing her powers over men, finding that she doesn't always control her moods or actions, and she's impatient with being a virgin. She sets off with her brother to a disco, latching onto an aging playboy who is himself hot and cold to her. She is ambivalent about losing her virginity that night, willing the next, and determined by the third.

Girltrash: All Night Long

The story of five girls and one epic night. The girls will find love, lust, girl-fights, rock and roll, and a whole lot of stoned sorority girls.

Seaburners

Denise, a botanist, is working in the swamps in a part of Turkey, planting and researching local flora. In her evenings she sometimes meets with her lover Hamit, a simple man at first glance. But he is making his living with human trafficking which he keeps a secret from Denise. When Hamit learns that Denise is being sent back to her home country soon, one final trafficking job takes a dark outcome.

From Saturday to Sunday

Two secretaries go out on a double date, but the inexperienced Mary flees when offered money for sexual favors. She takes refuge in a cafe and encounters a plebeian Prince Charming. The film recounts the simple progress of their romance after they go home together.

The Woodsman

After twelve years in prison, Walter returns home. His family has abandoned him, save for his brother-in-law. Few know he's a sex offender and pedophile. Walter finds an apartment and is regularly visited by his parole officer. He gets a job at a lumber mill and starts seeing a coworker. Then his new world begins to unravel; as his past becomes known, he strikes up a high-risk friendship with a young girl and realizes that a man loitering near a schoolyard is a child molester prowling for his next victim.

North Country

A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States — Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.

My Summer of Love

In the Yorkshire countryside, working-class tomboy Mona meets the exotic, pampered Tamsin. To seal their friendship, Mona introduces Tamsin to her born-again Christian brother and helps her spy on her adulterous father. Bound together by their secrets, the two girls see their friendship deepen and enter into dangerous waters.

The Mistress of Spices

Tilo is an Indian shopkeeper in America with an ability to see the future and a magical connection to powerful spices, which she uses to help her customers satisfy their various needs and desires. One day she falls in love with an American man. But the spices forbid it.

Avenue Montaigne

A young woman arrives in Paris where she finds a job as a waitress in bar next on Avenue Montaigne that caters to the surrounding theaters and the wealthy inhabitants of the area. She will meet a pianist, a famous actress and a great art collector, and become acquainted with the "luxurious" world her grandmother has told her about since her childhood.

Blood and Chocolate

A young teenage werewolf is torn between honoring her family's secret and her love for a man.

Nobody's Child

Fact-based drama about the life of Marie Balter, who spent most of her young life in mental institutions. At age 16, she first attempted suicide and the next 20 years she spent in and out of the institutions. At last, a caring doctor started treating her for extreme depression and panic disorder. Weened from strong medications she had taken all her life, at age 36, she emerged for the last time and started a rehabilitation program in the home of a volunteer married couple. There she met a fellow patient with whom she developed a romantic relationship. She also started a college degree. This followed with a long-term professional success in the field of mental health.

Nadia and Sarra

Nadia is a 45 year old female professor at the University of Tunis. She is married and has a daughter of 18, Sarra. For some time, Nadia has problems in her marriage also symptoms of menopause are inseparable. The physical and psychological state deteriorates inexorably Nadia.

Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter

A woman, who had left home 20 years previously under acrimonious circumstances, finds out that she is terminally ill. She returns home and tries to rebuild her relationship with her embittered mother before she dies.

The Belt

Vittorio, an American novelist teaching in Rome, meets the beautiful but damaged Bianca and they rapidly fall into an urgent, tempestuous affair. He's hesitant over their relationship since she seems to thrive on conflict and is constantly baiting him into physical altercation. Bianca gives Vittorio an exquisite leather belt as a gift; he knows immediately that she wants him to whip her with it. Driven by his craving for her, Vittorio complies to Bianca's desire. Their relationship escalates into a dark realm of S&M which becomes more and more self-destructive.

Party Girl

Angélique is a 60-year-old bar hostess. She still likes to party, she still likes men. At night, she makes them drink, in a cabaret by the French-German border. As time goes by, clients become rare. But Michel, her regular client, is still in love with her. One day, he asks Angélique to marry him.

Misunderstood

Rome, 1984, Aria is nine-year-old girl. On the verge of divorce, Aria's infantile and selfish parents are too preoccupied with their careers and extra-marital affairs to properly tend to any of Aria's needs. While her two older sisters are pampered, Aria is treated with cold indifference. Yet she yearns to love and to be loved. At school, Aria excels academically but is considered a misfit by everyone. She is misunderstood. Aria finds comfort in her cat - Dac and in her best friend - Angelica. Thrown out of both parents' homes, abandoned by all, even her best friend, Aria finally reaches the limit of what she can bear. She makes an unexpected decision in her life.

Bird People

An overstressed American businessman and a French chambermaid make a connection at an airport hotel in Paris.

Amour Fou

Heinrich wishes to conquer death through love, and when he meets Henriette, the wife of a business acquaintance, she expresses interest in a suicide pact when she learns she has a terminal illness.

A Girl at My Door

Sent from Seoul to serve in a remote coastal village, a policewoman gets involved in the life of a mysterious teenage girl who is abused by both her father and her grandmother.

Girlhood

Oppressed by her family setting, dead-end school prospects and the boys law in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her dress code, and quits school to be accepted in the gang, hoping that this will be a way to freedom.

Elli

Elli works as a techno DJ and loves electronic music. She has a daughter named Toni, who mostly grows up with her father. The 9-year-old girl is only with her on weekends. They have planned a mother-daughter weekend, but suddenly Elli is offered an important gig at an electronic music festival. Finally playing in front of a big audience again, feeling the ecstasy and intoxication of the night. Through the music she escapes the stagnation, the desolation, the role model of the conventional mother and the narrowness of the provincial town. Torn between maternal missing her and asserting herself in her life, Elli tries to be there for Toni and at the same time to live her dreams without restrictions.

Lake of Death

A small group of friends battle to survive in the middle of the forests and fjords of Norway. The story is based on Norwegian legend thought to be innocent folklore.

The Divine Order

Nora is a young housewife and mother, living in a quaint little village with her husband and their two sons. The Swiss countryside is untouched by the major social upheavals the movement of 1968 has brought about. Nora’s life is not affected either; she is a quiet person who is liked by everybody – until she starts to publicly fight for women’s suffrage, which the men are due to vote on in a ballot on February 7, 1971.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

With her life crashing down around her, Linda attempts to navigate her child's mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist.

Sealed Cargo

In 1995, several cargo containers are discovered high in the Bolivian Andes. Inside are potentially toxic chemicals, and local policeman Mariscal soon becomes charged with the task of smuggling the containers into neighboring Chile. He recommissions an old train to haul the toxic waste out of Bolivia, but encounters one mishap after another, beginning with the local townspeople who know what's inside, halting the train's path.

The Doldrums or How to Cure Sadness

The tiricia is an illness of the soul when the heart is saddened. A story of three generations afflicted with being tiricientas: Ita, Justa and Alicia – grandmother, mother and daughter – who have at different times suffered, tolerated and allowed abuse, dragging on the disease. Alicia decides to break the cycle, eradicating it for future generations.

Come Swim

COME SWIM is a diptych of one man's day; half impressionist and half realist portraits.

Wuthering Heights

Yorkshire moorlands, northern England, in the late 18th century. Young Heathcliff, rescued from the streets of Liverpool by Mr. Earnshaw, the owner of Wuthering Heights, an isolated farm, develops over the years an insane passion for Cathy, his foster sister, a sick obsession destined to end tragically.

Boys on the Side

After breaking up with her girlfriend, a nightclub singer, Jane, answers a personal ad from Robin, a real estate agent with AIDS, seeking a cross-country travel partner. On their journey from New York City to Los Angeles, the two stop by Pittsburgh to pick up Jane's friend Holly, who is trying to escape an abusive relationship. With three distinct personalities, the women must overcome their differences to help one another.

Private Parts

The life and career of shock-jock superstar Howard Stern is recounted from his humble beginnings to his view from the top. Possessing a desire to be an on-air personality since childhood, Stern meanders through the radio world, always with his supportive wife, Alison, by his side. Landing a gig in Washington, D.C., Stern meets Robin Quivers, who will become his long-time partner in crime. When the two move to New York, they face the wrath of NBC executives.

The Secret Garden

A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.

A League of Their Own

As America's stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey. Competitive sisters Dottie Hinson and Kit Keller spar with each other, scout Ernie Capadino and grumpy has-been coach Jimmy Dugan on their way to fame.

Engel & Joe

A love story of a 17 year old punk-rocker and a 15 year old runaway girl.

Look at Me

Talented 20-year-old Lolita dreams of a singing career. But her self-esteem is low due to her weight problem and her narcissistic father, Étienne, a literary star with scant interest in his daughter's life. Lolita finds little comfort in the attentions of her vocal coach, suspecting the woman is using her to meet her influential father. Étienne's second wife proves to be Lolita's only trustworthy ally in her private battle to find a sense of worth.

Susi Susanti: Love All

Susi Susanti rises to become Indonesia’s beloved athlete. In time of turmoil, she showed her country & the world that heroism is measured by one’s sacrifice.

Copying Beethoven

A fictionalised exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on his Ninth Symphony. It is 1824. Beethoven is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness, loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist is urgently needed to help the composer. A fictional character is introduced in the form of a young conservatory student and aspiring composer named Anna Holtz. The mercurial Beethoven is skeptical that a woman might become involved in his masterpiece but slowly comes to trust in Anna's assistance and in the end becomes quite fond of her. By the time the piece is performed, her presence in his life is an absolute necessity. Her deep understanding of his work is such that she even corrects mistakes he has made, while her passionate personality opens a door into his private world.

Nowhere in Africa

A Jewish woman named Jettel Redlich flees Nazi Germany with her daughter Regina, to join her husband, Walter, on a farm in Kenya. At first, Jettel refuses to adjust to her new circumstances, bringing with her a set of china dishes and an evening gown. While Regina adapts readily to this new world, forming a strong bond with her father's cook, an African named Owuor.

When Saturday Comes

Jimmy Muir comes from a typical gritty, northern town where there are only two options: working down the pit or in a factory. But Jimmy has other ideas - he dreams of becoming a professional footballer. Confronted by a bitter and unsupportive father, hard drinking friends and a lifetime of bad habits...has Jimmy the will to achieve his ultimate goal?

Vivre Sa Vie

Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.

A Real Young Girl

Bored and restless, Alice spends much of her time lusting after Jim, a local sawmill worker. When not lusting after him, Alice fills the hours with such pursuits as writing her name on a mirror with vaginal secretions and wandering the fields with her underwear around her ankles. And, in true teenaged tradition, she spends a lot of time writing in her diary.

Swept from the Sea

The film tells the story of Russian emigree and the only survivor from ship crash Yanko Goorall and servant Amy Foster in the end of 19th century. When Yanko enters a farm sick and hungry after the shipwreck, everyone is afraid of him, except for Amy, who is very kind and helps him. Soon he becomes like a son for Dr. James Kennedy and romance between Yanko and Amy follows.

Jezebel

In 1850s Louisiana, the willfulness of a tempestuous Southern belle threatens to destroy all who care for her.

My Blueberry Nights

Elizabeth has just been through a particularly nasty breakup, and now she's ready to leave her friends and memories behind as she chases her dreams across the country. In order to support herself on her journey, Elizabeth picks up a series of waitress jobs along the way. As Elizabeth crosses paths with a series of lost souls whose yearnings are even greater than her own, their emotional turmoil ultimately helps her gain a greater understanding of her own problems...

The Last Mistress

Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.

Anatomy of Hell

A woman employs a gay man to spend four nights at her house to watch her when she's "unwatchable".

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.

The Mourning Forest

A young woman working at a retirement home takes an elderly man living there on an excursion into the countryside, but the two wind up stranded in the titular forest.

Persepolis

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.

The Python

An absurdist farce centering around a school in post-Soviet Latvia. After a rather disgusting prank (someone defecates in the school attic), the tyrannical headmistress deems that no one can leave until the culprit is caught. When the photographer's pet python escapes, havok breaks loose.

Heat

An idealistic high school graduate goes to work on a state farm on the Kazakh steppe, only to clash with its authoritarian leader.