Blind (2014)

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.

Cub

Over-imaginative 12 year-old Sam heads off to the woods to summer scout camp with his pack convinced that he will encounter a monster...

Zero Motivation

Filmmaker Talya Lavie steps into the spotlight with a dark comedy about everyday life for a unit of young female Israeli soldiers. The human resources office at a remote desert base serves as the setting for this cast of characters, who bide their time pushing paper, battling for the top score in Minesweeper, and counting down the minutes until they can return to civilian life. Amidst their boredom and clashing personalities, issues of commitment—from friendship to love and country—are handled with humor and sharp-edged wit.

Submarino

As children, Nick and his little brother take care of their baby brother while their mother drinks herself senseless. But the baby dies, and both brothers blame themselves. Many years later, Nick is out of prison after serving time for an assault. He drinks, lives in a shelter and tries to help an old friend. When their mother dies, Nick meets his brother at the funeral. The brother, who remains nameless, is a single father to a young boy, but also supports a drug habit that is spiraling out of control. When an opportunity presents itself, he becomes a drug dealer to secure his son's future. Eventually, the two brothers meet again.

Out of Nature

Out of Nature is a journey inside Martins head. A family father in his 30s living in a small town of Norway. He feels alienated in his own life and longs to get away. Away from his job, away from his family, into the woods, up to the mountains. While spending a weekend alone on a hiking trip, he is forced to confront the way he lives his life. Out of Nature is an original, funny and tender film about how to take part in your own life as a husband, father and son.

The Fan

The hero-worship that Simone has for a pop singer is built to a crescendo until she passes out when she finally sees him up-close in a crowd of fans. She is later shocked when he lets her know that he does not love her.

Henri

The meeting of two lonely, marginal souls. There is Henri, a man in his 50s, limp, resigned, somewhat alcoholic. And Rosette, a woman who dreams of love, sexuality, normality

Blind Chance

Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.

Black

Mavela, 15 years old, is a Black Bronx. She falls madly in love with Marwan, an extremely charismatic member of a rival gang, the 1080s. The young couple is forced to make a brutal choice between gang loyalty and the love they have for one another. An impossible dilemma.

The Mandela Effect

A man becomes obsessed with facts and events that have been collectively misremembered by thousands of people. Believing the phenomena to be the symptom of something larger, his obsession eventually leads him to question reality itself.

Good People

Tom and Anna Wright, a young American couple, fall into severe debt while renovating Tom's family home in London. As the couple faces the loss of their dream to have a house and start a family, they discover that the tenant in the apartment below them is dead, and he's left behind a stash of cash—$400,000 worth. Though initially hesitant, Tom and Anna decide that the plan is simple: all they have to do is quietly take the money and use only what's necessary to get them out of debt. But when they start spending the money and can't seem to stop, they find themselves the target of a deadly adversary—the thief who stole it—and that's when very bad things start happening to good people.

Queen: Days of Our Lives

In 1971, four college students got together to form a rock band. Since then, that certain band called Queen have released 26 albums and sold over 300 million records worldwide. The popularity of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon is stronger than ever 40 years on. But it was no bed of roses. No pleasure cruise. Queen had their share of kicks in the face, but they came through and this is how they did it, set against the backdrop of brilliant music and stunning live performances from every corner of the globe. In this film, for the first time, it is the band that tells their story. Featuring brand new interviews with the band and unseen archive footage (including their recently unearthed, first ever TV performance), it is a compelling story told with intelligence, wit, plenty of humor and painful honesty.

The Seventh Continent

Chronicles three years of a middle class family seemingly caught up in their daily routines, only troubled by minor incidents. Behind their apparent calm and repetitive existence however, they are actually planning something sinister.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

An absurdist, surrealistic and shocking pitch-black comedy, which moves freely from nightmare to fantasy to hilariously deadpan humour as it muses on man’s perpetual inhumanity to man.

Oslo, August 31st

One day in the life of Anders, a young recovering drug addict, who takes a brief leave from his treatment center to interview for a job and catch up with old friends in Oslo.

Clouds of Sils Maria

A veteran actress comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier.

White Bird in a Blizzard

In 1988, a teenage girl's life is thrown into chaos when her mother disappears.

Battle

Amalie is the girl who has everything, good looks, money, a boyfriend and a big talent of dancing. One day, her world falls apart and she moves from everything she knows. Then enter Mikael. He is dancing in the streets and Amalie joins him in dancing on the streets, dancing Battles.

Cashback

After a painful breakup, Ben develops insomnia. To kill time, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket, where his artistic imagination runs wild.

Munich

During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.

Hostel

Three backpackers head to a Slovakian city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.

Focus

Nicky, an accomplished con artist, gets romantically involved with his disciple Jess but later ends their relationship. Years later, she returns as a femme fatale to spoil his plans.

Thelma & Louise

Taking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women rediscover the strength of their bond and their newfound resilience.

Roma

In 1970s Mexico City, two domestic workers help a mother of four while her husband is away for an extended period of time.

Hotel Transylvania 2

When the old-old-old-fashioned vampire Vlad arrives at the hotel for an impromptu family get-together, Hotel Transylvania is in for a collision of supernatural old-school and modern day cool.

Bridge of Spies

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.

Creed

The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.

Saw

Two men wake up to find themselves shackled in a grimy, abandoned bathroom. As they struggle to comprehend their predicament, they discover a disturbing tape left behind by the sadistic mastermind known as Jigsaw. With a chilling voice and cryptic instructions, Jigsaw informs them that they must partake in a gruesome game in order to secure their freedom.

The Wild Robot

After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island's animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.

Us

Husband and wife Gabe and Adelaide Wilson take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends. But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.

Green Book

Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.

The Truman Show

Every second of every day, from the moment he was born, for the last thirty years, Truman Burbank has been the unwitting star of the longest running, most popular documentary-soap opera in history. The picture-perfect town of Seahaven that he calls home is actually a gigantic soundstage. Truman's friends and family - everyone he meets, in fact - are actors. He lives every moment under the unblinking gaze of thousands of hidden TV cameras.

The Shawshank Redemption

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

No Country for Old Men

Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.

Nosferatu

The mysterious Count Orlok summons Thomas Hutter to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen. After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok's servant, Knock, prepares for his master to arrive at his new home.

Rear Window

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.

Dune

Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Amélie

At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will she find the courage to become the star of her very own love story?

5 Flights Up

A long-time married couple who've spent their lives together in the same New York apartment become overwhelmed by personal and real estate-related issues when they plan to move away.

Emanuelle Around the World

Intrepid photojournalist Emanuelle arrives in San Francisco, where she briefly meets up with fellow journalist -- and fellow feminist -- Cora Norman, before being whisked off to India to investigate a guru con artist.

The Magician

Dr. Vogler's, a nineteenth-century traveling mesmerist and peddler of potions, magic is put to the test in Stockholm by the cruel, eminently rational royal medical adviser Dr. Vergérus.

Face to Face

Dr. Jenny Isaksson is a psychiatrist whose temporary position at a mental hospital offers only modest responsibilities. With her husband out of the country for a seminar and her daughter at camp, Jenny moves in with her grandparents, expecting a relaxing few months. But it isn't long before unpleasant memories of her childhood, the sudden appearance of strange apparitions, and a near-rape push this otherwise stable woman to the very edge of sanity.

A Raisin in the Sun

Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.

Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story

A young woman seeks vengeance and finds love when her parents are killed in the Amazon and she is taken prisoner by an indigenous tribe of headhunters.

Annie

Annie, the mistress of a middle-aged financier, accompanies him on a trip to Hong Kong. When his business interests collapse Annie ends up destitute. She is befriended by a group of socialites and begins her rite of passage in their world.

Emanuelle in America

In search of a good story, globe-trotting photojournalist Emanuelle meets up with an ex-prizefighter who tips her off about a rich pervert who recruits girls for his own private harem based on their astrological signs.

Barbed Wire Dolls

Maria, an unfortunate young woman, kills her rapist father in self-defense, and is later tried, sentenced, and shipped off to a woman's penitentiary where she and her fellow inmates are subjected to psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of a psychotic lesbian warden.

Hellhole

An unlucky woman’s mother is murdered by a scarf-wielding killer named Silk, leaving the woman injured, traumatised and suffering from amnesia. She’s committed to a mental institution, where Silk follows her, looking for the papers he was trying to get from her mother. And Silk’s only the beginning of her problems, since the asylum is run by a mad doctor, performing experiments in chemical lobotomies!

Hard Vice

A vice cop and her partner investigate a string of murders apparently tied to high-priced Las Vegas call girls.

The Seventh Lie

Lying is a universal language, spoken and understood by 7 billion people. none of us can evade the jinx of The Seventh Lie - Self Deception. Chauffeur Song claims to be a part-time killer. Or is he a womanizer, tries to get in the heart of his chum's wife Julianne? Julianne checks into a hotel with Song to discover his frightful plan. A sneaky Hotel Bellhop bumps into them. Could he come to Julianne's rescue? Or is he a brilliant con-artist who attempts to rip off moneyed guests of the hotel? In this hotel, he uncovers his darkest secret and comes across a Runaway Bride Gwen. The lives of these seemingly unassociated souls are interlaced together to face the appalling truth beneath their lies.

44 Inch Chest

Colin is in agony, shattered by his wife’s infidelity, so his friends kidnap the wife's lover so he can have his revenge.

Scarlet Innocence

A university professor gradually succumbing to blindness is entranced by an obsessive love, in this modern-day adaptation of a classic Korean fairy tale.

Trucker

Loner Diane Ford is a truck driver with an 11-year-old son, Peter, whom she never sees, and that's fine with her. But, when Peter's father, Len, falls ill, he asks Diane to take care of their son for a while. Eventually, Diane reluctantly agrees, but she quickly realizes that caring for a child interferes with her independent lifestyle - and Peter isn't all that thrilled with the arrangement, either.

Five Loose Women

Five inmates break out of a remote minimum security prison for women. Four are hardened convicts, the fifth was wrongfully convicted. As the authorities chase them down, the cons terrorize or kill anyone who gets in their way.

La mort petita

Adela is a single mother, hardworking and humble. While she works, her mother takes care of her son. Immersed in her obligations that don't allow her to think about her, she will be forced to open her eyes and face a new reality when, on an early morning, her mother runs away from home and begins to show the first signs of dementia.

Black Cobra

After a swift courtship, wealthy bachelor Judas Carmichael invites a topless dancer to live with him and his abundant collection of exotic snakes.

Carol

In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.

Bed and Board

Parisian everyman Antoine Doinel has married his sweetheart Christine Darbon, and the newlyweds have set up a cozy domestic life of selling flowers and giving violin lessons while Antoine fitfully works on his long-gestating novel. As Christine becomes pregnant with the couple's first child, Antoine finds himself enraptured with a young Japanese beauty. The complications change the course of their relationship forever.

Satan Said Dance

Satan Said Dance is an Instagram film in times of the selfie. A kaleidoscope of moments from life of Karolina – a scandalous writer obsessed with parties, drugs, sexuality and complex relationships, on her way to self-destruction.

Schirkoa

In the city of Bag-heads, a senate member faces a tough choice between political career, brothels and love for a mysterious woman. A choice that will transform his life and the city in unimaginable ways.

Caché

George, host of a television show focusing on literature, receives videos shot on the sly that feature his family, along with disturbing drawings that are difficult to interpret. He has no idea who has made and sent him the videos. Progressively, the contents of the videos become more personal, indicating that the sender has known George for a long time.

Erin Brockovich

A twice-divorced mother of three who sees an injustice, takes on the bad guy and wins -- with a little help from her push-up bra. Erin goes to work for an attorney and comes across medical records describing illnesses clustered in one nearby town. She starts investigating and soon exposes a monumental cover-up.

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.

Fire

In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.

The Edukators

Three activists cobble together a kidnapping plot after they encounter a businessman in his home.

Strange Days

Former policeman Lenny Nero has moved into a more lucrative trade: the illegal sale of virtual reality-like recordings that allow users to experience the emotions and past experiences of others. While they typically contain tawdry incidents, Nero is shocked when he receives one showing a murder.

The Science of Sleep

A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is lovestruck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.

The Celebration

The family of a wealthy businessman gather to celebrate his 60th birthday. During the course of the party, his eldest son presents a speech that reveals a shocking secret.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their marriage.

Capote

A biopic of writer Truman Capote and his assignment for The New Yorker to write the non-fiction book "In Cold Blood".

Cofradia

When brothers Yago and Janco reunite, their encounter removes the past and strengthens their love for each other. Both are willing to fight everything and everyone, but no one prepared them for the difficult test they will now face: the truth.

Hannah and Her Sisters

Between two Thanksgivings, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.

Little Red Riding Hood

The classic story of the Red Riding Hood spiced up by a couple of funny characters like the dog Duke, companion to the girl in her adventures, and the stinky Skunk, henchman to the Wolf.

Black Velvet

Crystal, a wealthy, scorned woman living in a massive Egyptian palace with her daughter Magda, finds commiseration in a dried-up Hollywood expat who surrounds himself with singing children.

Elsewhere

A teen girl disappears after trying to meet men online in order to escape her small town. Apparently, only her best friend worries enough to investigate the mystery.

Uprising

In the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, Jews rise against the Nazis.

Distant

A young man from rural Turkey arrives in Istanbul with dreams working on a ship and stays with a cousin while he searches for work. Over time, the former’s struggles to find employment and the latter’s troubles and disappointments strain their relationship and living situation.

The Business of Strangers

A dark thriller about a successful businesswoman and her young assistant who toy with a slow-witted businessman while stuck at an airport hotel.

On Dangerous Ground

A big-city cop is reassigned to the country after his superiors find him too angry to be an effective policeman. While on his temporary assignment he assists in a manhunt of a suspected murderer.

The Pleasure

Italy in the early 1930s. To the elderly aristocrat Gerard, all that is left of Leonora, the love of his life, are a number of erotic tape recordings. She led a double life as respectable wife and mother of two, and as a whore at the local brothel. Now, after her death, her children Ursula and Edmund pass under the tutelage of Gerard. Having not seen them for many years, he is utterly bewildered by Ursula's uncanny likeness to her mother. While Gerard's mistress Fiorella takes care of Edmund's sexual needs, Ursula follows the last instructions of her mother. In the process, she uses the legacy of her mother's recordings to get into the mindset of her relationship with Gerard. Is Gerard ready to find his lost love Leonora again... in the likeness of her very daughter?

Fire on the Amazon

When a well-known environmental researcher is murdered in the Amazon jungle, an arrogant photojournalist joins forces with a beautiful young activist to find out who is responsible. Along they way, they fall in love as they discover the men responsible for the killing would be more than willing to murder again if it will keep them quiet.

Kopf oder Zahl

Two young crooks steal fabric, which is of course sorely missed. In addition to the former owners, an investigative journalist and a bad cop who smells a windfall are also on their trail. Meanwhile, a newly released con is forced by his ex's pimp to go back to the deepest depths. There he meets a former doctor who smuggles drugs for the mafia in order to send money to his daughter, whom he thinks is at home in Grozny, but who is actually working for the mafia just a few houses away.

Flawless

An ultraconservative police officer suffers a debilitating stroke and is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons - with the drag queen next door.

The Marriage Fool

Recently widowed after 41 years of marriage, Frank Walsh meets the outgoing Florence, sparking joy back into his life again. However, there is clear disapproval of her from his grown children, especially his eldest son Robert. As Frank and Florence grow closer in their relationship, Robert begins to change his perspective on their commitment and devotion to one another.

Gas Food Lodging

Nora, a single mother raising two teenage daughters, Shade and Trudi, waits tables at a truck-stop diner in a small New Mexico town. The beautiful and rebellious Trudi drops out of school and gets a job alongside Nora, while the younger Shade whittles away her time at Spanish movie matinees. Their lives are turned upside down when Trudi becomes pregnant and the girls' absent father returns.

Magnificent Obsession

A playboy tries to redeem himself after his careless behavior causes a great man's death.

¿Con Quién Te Vas?

Power couple Sergio and Rina Dávila are headed for divorce and destruction. Can the love and prayers of their youngest son, Brenton, turn the tide? Based on a true story.

Green Eyes

Nicolas, a photographer in his 20's, very suddenly loses his girlfriend to a car accident she was driving in. Still overcoming the loss, he takes up a sudden and unexpected affair with a girl he barely knows who is addicted to ecstasy. Their relationship slowly comes apart at the seams through sex, drugs, and harping on past mistakes.

Proxima

Sarah is a French astronaut training at the European Space Agency in Cologne. She is the only woman in the arduous program. She lives alone with Stella, her seven year old daughter. Sarah feels guilty that she cannot spend more time with her child. Her love is overpowering, unsettling. When Sarah is chosen to join the crew of a year-long space mission called Proxima, it creates chaos in the mother-daughter relationship.

Burn All My Letters

The film’s story revolves around Karin Stolpe’s complex relationship with her husband Sven Stolpe and her passionate love affair with Olof Lagercrantz which starts in the 1930s. It shows the impact of passion, jealousy and anger across 70 years, involving different generations.

Antares

A deadly car crash sets off three parallel stories of women at crisis points, faltering behind the doors of the same, plain Vienna apartment block.

Lila Says

Based on a controversial French novel, Lila Says tells the story of a quiet young poet named Chimo who develops a crush on the pretty, blond Lila, a girl who recently moved into his Arab ghetto with her aunt. When the leader of a rival gang also falls for Lila, the ensuing love triangle initiates a journey of sexual discovery -- and sets off a chain of devastating events.

Living Out Loud

Judith Moore is suddenly single after discovering her husband of fifteen years, a successful doctor, has been having an affair with a younger woman. Judith stews, plans, plots and fantasizes, but she can't decide what to do with her life until she goes out to a night club to see singer Liz Bailey, who is full of advice on life and love. While out on the town, Judith is suddenly kissed by a total stranger, which opens her eyes to new possibilities... which is when she notices Pat, the elevator operator in her building.

Pleasure Factory

A series of intertwining tales involve "pleasure seekers and pleasure providers" during the course of one night in Geylang, Singapore's red-light district. There are three distinct stories, united only by the presence of characters from all the stories in a streetside eatery:

Mr. Nice

Biopic about 1970s Welsh marijuana trafficker Howard Marks, whose inventive smuggling schemes made him a huge success in the drug trade, as well as leading to dealings with both the IRA and British Intelligence. Based on Marks' biography with the same title.

Behind Blue Skies

It's 1975, and Martin is a teenager looking to break out of a stifling home environment ruled by his alcoholic father and long-suffering mother. When Martin's pal Micke suggests they get jobs together as waiters at a resort off the Swedish coast, Martin is all for it, but before long Micke finds better things to do and Martin is left on his own. The presence of pretty fellow server Jenny is a major consolation, but to his surprise, guileless Martin is soon chosen as the protégé of Gösta, the resort's short-tempered manager. Gösta clearly likes Martin and makes him his right hand man, which gives Martin a crash course in the seedy side of life when he discovers Gösta has a number of other business interests, not all of which are legal or ethical.

X2000

The day after New Year's Eve in 2000. A man groggily awakes from an apparently wild New Year's Eve party to find both slumbering partners and unexpected activity.

Intimate Affairs

Edgar organizes a salon on the topic of sexuality and arranges to use the lavish estate of Faldo as a venue. In light of the overwhelming brilliance of the luminaries in attendance, Edgar secures two comely stenographers to transcribe their intellectual discussion. But, as the conversation unfolds, the stenographers find it increasingly difficult to remain casual observers.

Our Shining Days

A youth inspirational film, about how a group of high school students try to revive Chinese orchestra ensemble. They face many challenges along the way to compete nationally, including a rivalry with the more popular Western orchestra club.

Light of My Eyes

Antonio is a fallen angel, a rootless chauffeur in Rome, who relates only to the lonely heroes in the science fiction novels he grew up with. Only through a chance meeting with Maria, a woman struggling to hold onto her daughter and her business, does he discover a hope that's been in his detached existence.