A young man walks into a meticulously clean and sterile bathroom and proceeds to shave away hair, then skin, in an increasingly bloody and graphic bathroom scene. Many film critics have interpreted the young man's process of self-mutilation as a metaphor for the self-destructive involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War.
Now middle-aged, mobster Murray looks back at his humble beginnings as a bootlegger and his rise to becoming wealthy and highly influential. Through it he talks about how much of his success and happiness is due to the support of his "friend" Joe. Unfortunately the only one who blindly believes Joe is anything close to a friend is Murray, because it's obvious to everyone that Joe back-stabs him at every chance and is sleeping with his wife.
A writer named Algernon (but called Harry by his friends) buys a picture of a boat on a lake, and his obsession with it renders normal life impossible.
At a shiva with her parents, a college student runs into her sugar daddy.
Isaac and Vivi, two adventurous young New Yorkers, go on a surreal first date to a mysterious Brooklyn art gallery where things are not as they seem. After consuming LSD-infused olives, their perceptions of reality – and each other – begin to unravel.
On the day Maria commands her six-year-old son never to scream, John begins to perceive his mother's suppressed pain, as well as her intolerance for weakness. Ten years later, John's shameful secret will cause Maria to break her own rule.
It’s just another ordinary day in 1930s Los Angeles for private investigator Clyde Umney, until a new client walks into his office. Umney soon learns that his client is the crime-fiction writer who not only created him, but now needs to switch places with him.
Senegalese documentary about the country's most famous film-maker - Ousmane Sembène. The groundbreaking director explains his philosophy, politics and hopes for the future of African cinema.
An Olympic platform diver struggles to return to the pool after a horrific training accident.
This visually ravishing and thought-provoking work portrays one of the USA’s great shames—the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till by two white men in Mississippi—and movingly reminds us of this dark episode’s enduring relevance.
Based her grandfather’s boyhood in St. Louis, Yasmin Gorenberg tells a story of the pain passed from refugee parents to their children and the hope that can overcome it. “40 Nickels” captures the image of a generation of immigrants to the United States in the 1920’s and 1930’s and through that spotlights the effects of the 1919 pogroms in Eastern Europe. This is a film about parents and children: how trauma never leaves a family, and how hope and resilience is also passed down. It asks the question: Can a new generation look at the world with wonder rather than fear?
Zack Homer takes over managing the barbershop after Joe is killed for trying to rip off his "investor", Mr. Lovejoy. All Zack wants to do is run a traditional barbershop giving traditional haircuts, but modern styles have passed him by and business is slow. One evening, Mr. Lovejoy shows up to offer Zack the same deal he gave to Joe. It could turn his business around, but what will he have to give in return?
Old memories and ghosts from the past resurface when a man reluctantly agrees to help his now-alcoholic childhood friend sober up over the course of a weekend.
A forbidden relationship and a religious ritual enlighten a man's inability to orgasm in his mid-twenties.
One of the early short films of director Brett Ratner.
A young man's livelihood is put to the test when he gets profiled and stopped by the police on his way home from practice.
Prom nears and things seem to be spiraling out of control for the typically composed Isatu. In this coming of age story, West African tradition conflicts with American idealism as Isatu is forced to reassess her idea of the perfect dress.
A talkative man finds Mr. Right in the men's room.
When the Birch brothers inherit a failing funeral home from their decaying father, they must resort to unsavory means to save the family legacy.
A down-on-his-luck photographer determined to capture visual magic and fame. He concocts an intricate plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty and sets his camera to record the exact moment of its destruction.
