It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988)

964 Pinocchio

A memory-wiped and defective cyborg sex slave is tossed onto the streets and taken in by a homeless woman while his corporate creators hunt him down.

She's Having a Baby

Jake and Kristy Briggs are newlyweds. Being young, they are perhaps a bit unprepared for the full reality of marriage and all that it (and their parents) expect from them. Do they want babies? Their parents certainly want them to. Is married life all that there is? Things certainly aren't helped by Jake's friend Davis, who always seems to turn up just in time to put a spanner in the works.

El Mariachi

El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town he tries to find work in has another visitor, a killer who carries his guns in a guitar case. The drug lord and his henchmen mistake el Mariachi for the killer, Azul, and chase him around town trying to kill him and get his guitar case.

Los

Los Angeles is depicted in 35 stationary shots, each 2½ minutes long, in this non-narrative film, part 2 of Benning's "California Trilogy".

Anger

A married woman with a mute daughter has a forbidden relationship with the single father of a teenage boy.

Antichrist

A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.

Late Spring

Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice

The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet and rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.

Rumble Through the Dark

In the dark landscape of the Mississippi Delta, a former bare-knuckle fighter must win one last fight to pay off his debts to the local mob boss and save his childhood home—the stakes nothing less than life or death.

My Name Is Joe

Two thirtysomethings, unemployed former alcoholic Joe and community health worker Sarah, start a romantic relationship in one of the toughest Glasgow neighbourhoods.

Black Sabbath

Three short tales of supernatural horror. In “The Telephone,” a woman is plagued by threatening phone calls. In "The Wurdalak,” a family is preyed upon by vampiric monsters. In “The Drop of Water,” a deceased medium wreaks havoc on the living.

Chimes at Midnight

Henry IV usurps the English throne, sets in motion the factious War of the Roses and now faces a rebellion led by Northumberland scion Hotspur. Henry's heir, Prince Hal, is a ne'er-do-well carouser who drinks and causes mischief with his low-class friends, especially his rotund father figure, John Falstaff. To redeem his title, Hal may have to choose between allegiance to his real father and loyalty to his friend.

Cyclo

Follows a young cyclo driver on his poverty-driven descent into criminality in modern-day Ho Chi Minh City. The boy's struggles to scratch out a living for his two sisters and grandfather in the mean streets of the city lead to petty crime on behalf of a mysterious Madame from whom he rents his cyclo.

Lux Æterna

Two actresses, Béatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg, are on a film set telling stories about witches.

An Ideal Father

Michel, the jovial owner of the only café in a small Normandy town, sees his life turned upside down when his teenage daughter is murdered. The community has his back but soon rumor spreads and Michel is singled out. From the ideal father, he becomes the ideal culprit.

Drunken Angel

Doctor Sanada treats gangster Matsunaga after he is wounded in a gunfight, and discovers that he is suffering from tuberculosis. Sanada tries to convince Matsunaga to stay for treatment, which would drastically change his lifestyle. They form an uneasy friendship until Matsunaga's old boss Okada returns from prison.

Apartment 7A

A struggling young dancer finds herself drawn in by dark forces when a peculiar, well-connected older couple promise her a shot at fame.

One from the Heart

The five-year romance of a window dresser and her boyfriend breaks up, as each of them finds a more interesting partner.

Misericordia

Jérémie returns to his hometown for the funeral of his former boss, the village baker. He decides to stay for a few days with Martine, the man's widow. A mysterious disappearance, a threatening neighbor and a priest with strange intentions make Jérémie's short stay in the village take an unexpected turn.

L'Esprit de famille

A writer must face the sudden death of his father, but after the burial, the latter reappears to him. He will have to learn to live with this facetious companion, but difficult to explain the situation to his family, because he is the only one who can see him. This disturbing presence will create an earthquake in the family.

Chopping Mall

High-tech robots equipped with state-of-the-art security devices have been recruited as the new mechanical "night watchmen" for the Park Plaza Mall. When a jolting bolt of lightning short-circuits the main computer control, the robots turn into "killbots" on the loose after unsuspecting shoppers!

Becoming Led Zeppelin

The individual journeys of the four members of the band, as they move through the music scene of the 1960s, playing small clubs throughout Britain and performing some of the biggest hits of the era, until their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that changes their lives forever.

Eileen

During a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by Rebecca, the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.

Joy

A young nurse, a visionary scientist and an innovative surgeon face opposition from the church, state, media and medical establishment, in their pursuit of the world’s first ‘test tube baby’, Louise Joy Brown.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble.

All We Imagine as Light

In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha's routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest.

The Osterman Weekend

The host of an investigative news show is convinced by the CIA that the friends he has invited to a weekend in the country are engaged in a conspiracy that threatens national security.

Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell

The evil Djinn is back at it again, this time wreaking havoc on the students of Illinois' Baxter University. His victim is a beautiful, innocent and studious teenage girl named Diana Collins who accidentally opened up the Djinn's tomb and released him.

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.

In a Lonely Place

A violent screenwriter and a female neighbor fall in love after she clears him of murder, but she begins to have second thoughts.

Death Rides a Horse

Bill Meceita, a boy whose family was murdered in front of him by a gang, sets out 15 years later to exact revenge. On his journey, he finds himself continually sparring and occasionally cooperating with Ryan, a gunfighter on his own quest for vengeance, who knows more than he says about Bill's tragedy.

Isolation

On a remote Irish farm, five people become unwilling participants in an experiment that goes nightmarishly wrong.

Bread, Love and Dreams

When a veteran marshal is sent to a small town, he quickly falls for two women: a midwife and an earthy young woman nicknamed "Frisky".

Winner

Winner is a brilliant young misfit from Texas who finds her morals challenged while serving in the U.S. Air Force and working as an NSA contractor. A fresh take on the traditional whistleblower thriller, the coming-of-age story follows an idealistic young woman persecuted for standing by her principles.

The Last Stop in Yuma County

While awaiting the next fuel truck at a middle-of-nowhere Arizona rest stop, a traveling young knife salesman is thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two similarly stranded bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty—or cold, hard steel—to protect their bloodstained, ill-gotten fortune.

Sunset

In 1913, an orphaned young woman arrives in Budapest to take up employment as a milliner at the hat store that belonged to her late parents but becomes mired in a search for a brother she had never known of.

Paranoid Park

A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".

Barren Lives

In vivid images, the documentary-like story of a drover and his family in the northern badlands of Brazil during the drought. A family in the search of new hope and destiny.

Sweet and Lowdown

In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.

Pumpkin

Carolyn's sorority sisters set their sights on the Sorority of the Year award and coaching challenged athletes is their ticket to the trophy. But when the queen of formals finds herself mentoring Pumpkin, a disabled athlete, their two worlds collide.

The King Is Alive

Stranded in the heat of a barren African desert, eleven bus-passengers shelter in the remnants of an abandoned town. As rescue grows more remote by the day and anxiety deepens, an idea emerges: why not stage a play. However the choice of King Lear only manages to plunge this disparate group of travelers into turmoil as they struggle to overcome both nature's wrath and their own morality.

Red Rock West

When a promised job for Texan Michael fails to materialize in Wyoming, Mike is mistaken by Wayne to be the hitman he hired to kill his unfaithful wife, Suzanne. Mike takes full advantage of the situation, collects the money, and runs. During his getaway, things go wrong, and soon get worse when he runs into the real hitman, Lyle.

Smoking Guns

A young gambler makes a large, risky bet on a horse race. When the odds turn in his favour, more than one party has sudden interest in the winning betting slip, and they'll do anything to get their hands on it.

War Baby

Meet Duewand Collier Jr.-Male, 68 years old, American Citizen, a child conceived in the backdrop of the Philippines-American Mutual Defense Treaty, born and raised with Catholic guilt. He has made peace with his past and now tells his story-a story of love.

Hindi Tao Hindi Hayop

The lives of a matriarch, her two sons, and her niece are never the same again as they come to terms with an indiscretion in the family. A pivotal decision is made and a downward spiral ensues wherein the outcome can be no less than earth-shattering.

Celebrity

The career and personal life of writer Lee are at a standstill, so he divorces his bashful wife, Robin, and dives into a new job as an entertainment journalist. His assignments take him to the swankiest corners of Manhattan, but as he jumps from one lavish party to another and engages in numerous empty romances, he starts to doubt the worth of his work. Meanwhile, top TV producer Tony falls for Robin and introduces her to the world of celebrity.

He Got Game

A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter prison sentence.

The Matador

The life of Danny Wright, a salesman forever on the road, veers into dangerous and surreal territory when he wanders into a Mexican bar and meets a mysterious stranger, Julian, who's very likely a hit man. Their meeting sets off a chain of events that will change their lives forever, as Wright is suddenly thrust into a far-from-mundane existence that he takes to surprisingly well … once he gets acclimated to it.

Chopper

The true and infamous story of Australia's notorious criminal Mark 'Chopper' Read and his years of crime, interest in violence, drugs and prostitutes.

Hamlet

Modern day adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal story about Hamlet's plight to avenge his father's murder in New York City.

Out of the Blue

Ordinary people find extraordinary courage in the face of madness. On 13–14 November 1990 that madness came to Aramoana, a small New Zealand seaside town, in the form of a lone gunman with a high-powered semi-automatic rifle. As he stalked his victims the terrified and confused residents were trapped for 24 hours while a handful of under-resourced and under-armed local policemen risked their lives trying to find him and save the survivors. Based on true events.

Disco Fever

Jaded night club owner stages the comeback of an ex-teen idol for revenge.

Edge of Seventeen

1984, Sandusky, Ohio. A naive 17-year-old navigates heartbreak and self-expression as he explores his sexuality.

Between Friends

An ex-con, his daughter and her two friends plan the elaborate heist of a nickel mine in Northern Ontario.

Transamerica

A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.

Human Nature

Obsessive scientist Nathan and his lover, the naturalist Lila, discover Puff: a man born and raised in the wild. As Nathan trains the wild man in the civilized ways of the world, Lila fights to preserve the man’s natural state. In the power struggle that ensues, an unusual love triangle emerges.

Once Were Warriors

A drama about a Maori family living in Auckland, New Zealand. Lee Tamahori tells the story of Beth Heke’s strong will to keep her family together during times of unemployment and abuse from her violent and alcoholic husband.

Claire of the Moon

Claire of the Moon is set in the 1990s in the Pacific Northwest. Claire Jabrowski, a famous heterosexual author, decides to attend a retreat for all-female writers. Claire's rommate at the retreat is Dr. Noel Benedict, author of a book called The Naked Truth. The movie culminates in a sexual encounter between the two authors.

Left Luggage

While escaping from Nazis during the WWII, a Jewish man dug suitcases full of things dear to his heart in the ground two. The war deprived him of his family, and afterwards he endlessly turns over the soil of Antwerp to find the suitcases, which makes him look obsessed. He keeps checking old maps and keeps digging, trying to find, in fact, those he lost. His daughter Chaya is a beautiful modern girl looking for a part-time job. She finds a place as a nanny in the strictly observant Chassidic family with many children, although her secular manners clearly fly in the face of many commandments. One of the reasons she is accepted is that mother of the family is absolutely overburdened by the household, so she stays despite the resistance of the father, normally - an indisputable authority in the family. She develops a special bond with the youngest of the boys, four-year old Simcha, so far incapable of speaking.

Barking Water

Frankie is dying. Irene hasn't forgiven him. And they are racing against time to find their way home. Frankie needs help and Irene is the one he turns to. He must go home one last time. And, like so many times before, Irene is extending herself beyond her common sense. The two set out on a journey that becomes more than getting home; confronting the past, love, understanding, and self discovery. Barking Water is a tale of great love that looks at what brings us all together. It's a tale of home...and what it takes to get there.

Joe the King

A destitute 14-year-old struggles to keep his life together despite harsh abuse at his mother's hands, harsher abuse at his father's, and a growing separation from his slightly older brother.

Turn the River

A pool shark takes the ultimate gamble when she kidnaps her own son and flees her ex-husband.

Margot at the Wedding

Margot Zeller is a short story writer with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue. On the eve of her estranged sister Pauline's wedding to unemployed musician/artist/depressive Malcolm at the family seaside home, Margot shows up unexpectedly to rekindle the sisterly bond and offer her own brand of support. What ensues is a nakedly honest and subversively funny look at family dynamics.

Trust the Man

Overachieving actress Rebecca must come to grips with her failing marriage to stay-at-home dad Tom. While Rebecca's slacker brother Tobey can't seem to commit to his aspiring-novelist girlfriend, Elaine. As both relationships spin out of control, the two couples embark on a quest to rediscover the magic and romance of falling in love in New York.

Adrift in Manhattan

The lives of three lonely strangers intersect while commuting on New York's 1 and 9 subway lines.

The Magician

Following the dealings of Melbourne-based hitman Ray as seen through the eyes of his ex-neighbour and friend Max, an Italian film student. Max and his camera witness Ray's work life as it unfolds from day to day, giving an insight into a world we rarely see, and at the same time developing an unusual friendship with his subject.

Bart Got a Room

High school loser Danny Stein needs a prom date. As a cause of anxiety for Danny, Bart Beeber, the nerdiest guy in school, has already found a date. At the same time, Danny's divorced parents are both seeking relationships again.

Cowboys & Angels

This story concerns a hapless civil servant who gets more than he bargains for when he moves into an apartment in Limerick with a gay fashion student and becomes a star on the catwalk. A contemporary story embracing the essence of what it is to be young in today's Ireland.

Explicit Ills

The film follows four inter-connecting stories revolving around love, drugs and poverty in Philadelphia

Paraiso Travel

Marlon Cruz, a young Colombian man who motivated by his girlfriend Reina, leaves his comfortable life in Medellin and flees with her through Guatemala and Mexico, across the borders, illegally into the United States.

An American Affair

In the early 1960s, teenager Adam Stafford (Cameron Bright) becomes obsessed with his new neighbor, Catherine Caswell (Gretchen Mol), a divorcée and free spirit. Stafford spies on Caswell as she meets with strange men, and, despite the warnings of his conservative parents, he begins working for her as a gardener. Amid rumors of her affair with President Kennedy, the two become close, but political intrigue surrounding her acquaintances soon infringes on their friendship.

The Prodigy

"The Prodigy" tells the story of small-time enforcer Truman Fisher's vicious conflict with a sadistic assassin who has chosen the unwilling Truman to be his successor. The assassin, who goes by the alias Rains and whose exploits have become the source of legend among Truman's underworld colleagues, drives Truman, through the pressure of constant violence and grief, to understand his own capacity for both bloodshed and compassion. Ultimately this reveals to Truman that he as with all of us, must find our place in this world or as Rains would say "our place in this grand design." This action begins quickly as Truman meets with a turncoat from a rival gang. This tense showdown erupts quickly into mayhem, when Rains makes his unexpected entrance. In the wake of the ensuing bloodbath, Truman is forced to reevaluate his own role in the small, violent world he inhabits, suddenly aware that there are larger powers at work which he does not understand...

Flame & Citron

Gunman Flame and his partner Citron assassinate Nazi collaborators for the Danish resistance. Assigned targets by their Allies-connected leader, Aksel Winther, they relish the opportunity to begin targeting the Nazis themselves. When they begin to doubt the validity of their assignments, their morally complicated task becomes even more labyrinthine.

Palermo Shooting

After the wild lifestyle of a famous young German photographer almost gets him killed, he goes to Palermo, Sicily to take a break. Can the beautiful city and a beautiful local woman calm him down?

City of Men

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

Katzelmacher

A group of young slackers spend most of their time hanging out in front of a Munich apartment building. When a Greek immigrant named Jorgos moves in, however, their aimless lives are shaken up. Soon, new tensions arise both within the group and with Jorgos.

The Road to Guantanamo

Part drama, part documentary, The Road to Guantánamo focuses on the Tipton Three, a trio of British Muslims who were held in Guantanamo Bay for two years until they were released without charge.

The Wedding Banquet

A Taiwanese-American man is happily settled in New York with his American boyfriend. He plans a marriage of convenience to a Chinese woman in order to keep his parents off his back and to get the woman a green card. Chaos follows when his parents arrive in New York for the wedding.

Little Voice

After the death of her father, Little Voice or LV becomes a virtual recluse, never going out and hardly ever saying a word. She just sits in her bedroom listening to her father's collection of old records of Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe and various other famous female singers. But at night time, LV sings, imitating these great singers with surprising accuracy. One night she is overheard by one of her mother's boyfriends, who happens to be a talent agent. He manages to convince her that her talent is special and arranges for her to perform at the local night club, but several problems arise.

Finder's Fee

Friends Tepper, Quigley, Fishman, and Bolan get together for a weekly poker night with two simple rules: Everyone contributes a lottery ticket to the pot, and no one checks the numbers until the game ends. But this particular, stormy night is different: Tepper plans to propose to his girlfriend, and just before the weekly game, he finds a wallet outside his apartment with a winning lottery ticket worth $6 million. Tepper calls the wallet's owner, Avery, to come collect what's his, but keeps the winning ticket for himself...only for Avery to show up and ask to play a hand.

Great Great Great

Lauren simultaneously starts an affair with her boss, rents a bachelor apartment, and asks her boyfriend Tom to marry her.

A Night In Heaven

Faye Hanlon is a community-college professor with an emotionally depressed husband and an abundance of sexual frustration. Her sister drags her to a male strip-club for a girls-night out, where she discovers that one of the dancers is her failing student Rick Monroe, a.k.a. "Ricky the Rocket". A heated affair between teacher & student ensues, as Faye struggles to reconcile her emotions and make consequential life choices: Continue her lustful sessions with the studly-but-shallow teen stripper? Or break it off with Ricky & work to salvage her marriage to the loving-but-distant husband?

Hannah Takes the Stairs

Hannah is a recent college graduate interning at a Chicago production company. She is crushing on two writers at work, Matt and Paul, who share an office and keep her entertained. Will a relationship with one of them disrupt the delicate balance of their friendship?

SLC Punk

Two former geeks become 1980s punks, then party and go to concerts while deciding what to do with their lives.

Dreamland

A young woman who lives in a desert trailer park must choose between caring for her hapless father and sick friend or fulfilling her own destiny.

Cockfighter

A man who trains fighting cocks vows to remain silent until one of his birds wins a championship.

Spice It Up

A film student at Ryerson University struggles to complete her thesis project.

First Man into Space

The first pilot to leave Earth's atmosphere lands, then vanishes; but something with a craving for blood prowls the countryside...

Amreeka

Eager to provide a better future for her son, Fadi, divorcée Muna Farah leaves her Palestinian homeland and takes up residence in rural Illinois -- just in time to encounter the domestic repercussions of America's disastrous war in Iraq. Now, the duo must reinvent their lives with some help from Muna's sister, Raghda, and brother-in-law, Nabeel.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

After her boyfriend mysteriously leaves her with little explanation, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at a prestigious East Coast university is left looking for answers as to what went wrong.

How About You...

A young woman, struggling with the direction of her life, spends Christmas watching over a retirement home filled with demanding residents.

Methodic

Possessed by an ominous presence known as "The Dollman", a young boy murders his parents in cold blood. Sentenced to a life under a microscope at the state mental hospital, "The Dollman" simply bides his time, dwelling within the boy, waiting for the day when he will become powerful enough to completely take over his human host and escape!

A Very Serious Person

Jan, an itinerant male nurse from Denmark, takes a new job with Mrs. A, a terminally ill Manhattan woman raising her parentless thirteen-year-old grandson, Gil. Spending the summer by the shore, the emotionally reserved Jan finds himself oddly cast as a mentor to Gil in having to prepare the sensitive boy for life with his cousins in Florida after his grandmother's death.

Tony Takitani

A reclusive illustrator falls in love with a young woman who addictively shops for clothing.

The Elder Son

A thief on the run convinces a single father that he is his long-lost son. Complications ensue when he falls in love with his newfound "sister".

Zombie Death House

A renegade federal agent uses a new drug to create an army of unbeatable warriors.

Walker

William Walker and his mercenary corps enter Nicaragua in the middle of the 19th century in order to install a new government by a coup d'etat.

Uncertainty

Every choice has a consequence. But what if the flip of a coin could trigger two separate but parallel destinies? Bobby and Kate are a young New York couple at a crossroads whose lives are about to take very different directions. A seemingly ordinary July 4th is cleaved in two by the flip of a coin. One path leads them to gentle discoveries about family, loss and each other on a visit to Brooklyn, and the other plunges them into an urban nightmare of pursuit, suspense and murder in Manhattan.

Habit

It's autumn in New York. Sam has broken up with his girlfriend and his father has recently died. World-weary and sloppy drunk, he finds temporary solace in the arms of Anna, a mysterious vampire who draws him away from his friends and into a web of addiction and madness.

Diminished Capacity

A Chicago journalist suffering from memory loss takes leaves from his job and returns to his rural hometown, where he bonds with his Alzheimer's impaired uncle Rollie and his old flame.

Staying Together

After their father abruptly sells the beloved family-owned restaurant that has employed them for years, the charismatic McDermott boys - hot-tempered Brian (Quill), lovelorn Kit (Mulroney) and jokester Duncan (Astin) - find themselves at odds with their parents and each other.

Fall Time

Three young men decide to plan a mock kidnapping, but everything goes wrong because a real bank robbery was already planned by two other guys.

Communion

A novelist's wife and son see him changed by an apparent encounter with aliens in the mountains.