4 Meses, 3 Semanas e 2 Dias

 

Original title:  4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile

Director: Cristian Mungiu

Year: 2007

Awards: Won the Palme d'Or, Cannes Film Festival

Plot Summary: 

 

Drama about a woman who assists her friend to arrange an illegal abortion in 1980's Romania.

Os Tempos de Harvey Milk

Original title: The Times of Harvey Milk

Director: Rob Epstein

Year: 1984
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Documentary

Plot Summary:

A documentary of the successful career and assassination of San Francisco's first elected gay councilor.

See also:
Milk

A Delicadeza

 

Original title: La délicatesse

Director: David Foenkinos

Stars: Audrey Tautou

Year: 2011

Plot Summary:

A French woman mourning over the death of her husband three years prior is courted by a Swedish co-worker.

Assim é o Amor

Original title: Beginners

Director: Mike Mills

Stars: Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor

Year: 2010

Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Christopher Plummer)

Plot Summary:

 It's 2003. Thirty-eight year old graphic artist Oliver Fields has just lost his father Hal Fields to cancer, after Oliver's mother Georgia Fields passed away five years earlier. Oliver is naturally a sullen man due to his growing up relationship with his parents (his mother who had a unique view on life) and watching his parents' cordial but somewhat distant relationship with each other, but is more so now because of his personal family loss. Oliver embarks on a relationship with Anna, a French actress. Oliver is hoping that his re-energized relationship with Hal following Georgia's death and Hal's new outlook on life during that time will show Oliver how to act in a loving relationship. After Georgia's death, Hal came out of the closet and began to live with a joie de vivre that did not exist before, which included an open relationship with a much younger man named Andy. Oliver's relationship with Anna has other obstacles, including Anna's own vagabond lifestyle and Oliver needing to...

Da Rússia com Amor

Original title: Birthday Girl

Director: Jez Butterworth

Stars: Nicole Kidman

Year: 2001

Plot Summary:

Internet love connections and mail-order brides rarely ever work out, and John should have known. Having never been lucky in the game of love and tired of waiting for the perfect woman to come along, John decides to take his chances and orders a mail-order bride from Russia online. At first, things seem perfect: his new bride Nadia is a gorgeous woman, and although she may not speak much English, her skills in the bedroom more than make up for any communication problems. When Nadia's 'cousins' unexpectedly arrive to celebrate her birthday, John is drawn into their web of corruption and crime.

A Gaiola Dourada

Original title: La Cage Dorée

Director: Ruben Alves

Stars: Rita Blanco, Joaquim de Almeida, Maria Vieira

Year: 2013

Plot Summary:

For thirty years now Maria and José Ribeiro have been living on the ground floor of a building in one of the most exclusive districts of Paris. Everybody loves this nice couple of Portuguese immigrants, Maria for being a topnotch caretaker, José, a construction site supervisor by trade, for helping to do all kinds of jobs in the house. So, the day Maria and José announce their wish to return to Portugal, everybody is crushed. No, they just can't let them do a thing like that...!

• - Written by Guy Bellinger

Casablanca

Original title: Casablanca

Director: Michael Curtiz

Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman

Year: 1942
Awards: Won 3 Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay

Plot Summary:

In World War II Casablanca, Rick Blaine, exiled American and former freedom fighter, runs the most popular nightspot in town. The cynical lone wolf Blaine comes into the possession of two valuable letters of transit. When Nazi Major Strasser arrives in Casablanca, the sycophantic police Captain Renault does what he can to please him, including detaining a Czechoslovak underground leader Victor Laszlo. Much to Rick's surprise, Lazslo arrives with Ilsa, Rick's one time love. Rick is very bitter towards Ilsa, who ran out on him in Paris, but when he learns she had good reason to, they plan to run off together again using the letters of transit. Well, that was their original plan....

• - Written by Gary Jackson

11 de Setembro: a Grande Farsa

Original title: Loose Change: 9/11 An American Coup

Director: Dylan Avery

Year: 2005

Plot Summary: 

An exploration of the viewpoint that the September 11, 2001 attacks were planned by the United States government. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYTX3Kpvt20

Guia para um Final Feliz

Original title: Silver Linings Playbook

Director: David Russell

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert de Niro

Year: 2012
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jennifer Lawrence)

Plot Summary:

After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own. 

Jennifer Lawrence at the 2013 Academy Awards, wearing Dior

Amor

Original title: Amour

Director: Michael Haneke

Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Rita Blanco

Year: 2012

Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Foreign Language Film; Won the Palme d'Or, Cannes Film Festival

Plot Summary:

Georges and Anne are an octogenarian couple. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, also a musician, lives in Britain with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.

Amigos Improváveis

Original title: Intouchables

Director: Olivier Nakache

Stars: François Cluzet, Omar Sy

Year: 2011

Plot Summary:

In Paris, the aristocratic and intellectual Philippe is a quadriplegic millionaire who is interviewing candidates for the position of his carer, with his red-haired secretary Magalie. Out of the blue, the rude African Driss cuts the line of candidates and brings a document from the Social Security and asks Phillipe to sign it to prove that he is seeking a job position so he can receive his unemployment benefit. Philippe challenges Driss, offering him a trial period of one month to gain experience helping him. Then Driss can decide whether he would like to stay with him or not. Driss accepts the challenge and moves to the mansion, changing the boring life of Phillipe and his employees.

• - Written by Claudio Carvalho

127 Horas

Original title: 127 Hours

Director: Danny Boyle

Stars: James Franco

Year: 2010

Plot Summary:

A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive. 

Perseguidas

Original title: If These Walls Could Talk

Director: Cher

Stars: Cher, Demi Moore, Sissi Spacek

Year: 1996

Plot Summary:

A trilogy of stories set in the same house, but with different occupants and spanning over 40 years, deals with various women and moral crisis over unexpected pregnancies and their choice of abortion. In 1952, when abortion was illegal, a nurse deals with her unexpected pregnancy and takes drastic measures to get one. In 1974 a family housewife with four children discovers that she's pregnant and decides she can't handle another child to raise. In 1996, a pregnant college student decides on an abortion, but doesn't realize the means to go through to get one.

Longe do Paraíso

Original title: Far From Heaven

Director: Todd Haynes

Stars: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid

Year: 2002

Plot Summary:

Cathy is the perfect 50s housewife, living the perfect 50s life: healthy kids, successful husband, social prominence. Then one night she surprises her husband Frank kissing another man, and her tidy world starts spinning out of control. In her confusion and grief, she finds consolation in the friendship of their African-American gardener, Raymond - a socially taboo relationship that leads to the further disintegration of life as she knew it. Despite Cathy and Frank's struggle to keep their marriage afloat, the reality of his homosexuality and her feelings for Raymond open a painful, if more honest, chapter in their lives.

• - Written by Jonas A. Reinartz

Os Miúdos Estão Bem

Original title: The Kids Are All Right

Director: Lisa Cholodenko

Stars: Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo

Year: 2010

Plot Summary:

In LA, Nic and Jules are a couple with a daughter, Joni, on her way to college and a son, Laser, at 15 a good athlete but maybe hanging out with the wrong pal. Laser wants Joni, who's now 18, to find out who their biological father is - a sperm donor. Without initially telling their moms, they meet him. He's Paul, a cool guy with a motorcycle, a restaurant, and an organic garden. Although Nic doesn't like the idea, the five of them get together a few times and the kids spend time with Paul. He hires Jules, who's had many brief vocations, to landscape his back yard, and Nic, who's an OB/GYN, decides to be a good sport and get to know Paul better. Can a family add a new member?

The Cove - A Baía da Vergonha

Original title: The Cove

Director: Louie Psihoyos

Year: 2009
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Documentary

Plot Summary:

Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health. 

O Visitante

Original title: The Visitor

Director: Thomas McCarthy

Stars: Richard Jenkins

Year: 2007

Plot Summary:

In Connecticut, lonely widowed Professor Walter Vale has a boring life. He teaches only one class at the local college and is trying to learn how to play the piano, despite not having the necessary musical talent. Walter is assigned to attend a conference about Global Policy and Development at New York University, where he is to give a lecture about a paper on which he is co-author. When he arrives at his apartment in New York, he finds Tarek Khalil, a Syrian musician, and Zainab, a Senegalese street vendor, living there. He sympathizes with the situation of the illegal immigrants and invites the couple to stay with him. Tarek invites him to go to his gig at Jules Live Jazz. Walter is fascinated with his African drum and Tarek offers to teach Walter to play the drum. However, after an incident in the subway, Tarek is arrested by the police and sent to a detention center for illegal immigrants. Walter has just hired a lawyer to defend Tarek when, out of the blue, Tarek's mother Mouna arrives at the apartment from Michigan. He invites her to stay in Tarek's room and while trying to get Tarek released, Walter and Mouna get close to each other and he finds reasons to feel life can be exciting and worth living again.

• - Written by Claudio Carvalho

O Leitor

Original title: The Reader

Director: Stephen Daldry

Stars: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes

Year: 2008
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Actress in a Leading Role (Kate Winslet)

Plot Summary:

Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.

Kate Winslet at the 2009 Academy Awards, wearing Yves Saint Laurent

Milk

Original title: Milk

Director: Gus Van Sant

Stars: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco

Year: 2008

Awards: Won 2 Oscars - Best Actor in a Leading Role (Sean Penn), Best Screenplay

Plot Summary:

The story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official. 

See also:

The Times of Harvey Milk (Documentary)

Departures

Original title: Okuribito

Director: Yojiro Takita

Year: 2008
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Foreign Language Film

Plot Summary:

Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of "Nokanshi," acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living.

O Complexo Baader Meinhof

Original title: Der Baader Meinhof Komplex

Director: Uli Edel

Year: 2008

Plot Summary:

A look at Germany's terrorist group, The Red Army Faction (RAF), which organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings and assassinations in the late 1960s and '70s. 

O Lado Selvagem

Original title: Into the Wild

Director: Sean Penn

Stars: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook

Year: 2007

Plot Summary:

Based on a true story. After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters who shape his life.

• - Written by Lisa Kelley

Os Falsificadores

Original title: Die Falscher

Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky

Year: 2007
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Foreign Language Film

Plot Summary:

The Counterfeiters is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. 

Juno

Original title: Juno

Director: Jason Reitman

Stars: Ellen Page, Jennifer Garner

Year: 2007
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Screenplay

Plot Summary:

A tale told over four seasons, starting in autumn when Juno, a 16-year-old high-school junior in Minnesota, discovers she's pregnant after one event in a chair with her best friend, Bleeker. In the waiting room of an abortion clinic, the quirky and whip-sharp Juno decides to give birth and to place the child with an adoptive couple. She finds one in the PennySaver personals, contacts them, tells her dad and step-mother, and carries on with school. The chosen parents, upscale yuppies (one of whom is cool and laid back, the other meticulous and uptight), meet Juno, sign papers, and the year unfolds. Will Juno's plan work, can she improvise, and what about Bleeker?

Sicko

Original title: Sicko

Director: Michael Moore

Year: 2007

Plot Summary:

Writer/producer Michael Moore interviews Americans who have been denied treatment by our health care insurance companies -- companies who sacrifice essential health services in order to maximize profits...

Venus

Original title: Venus

Director: Roger Michell

Stars: Peter O'Toole, Vanessa Redgrave

Year: 2006

Plot Summary:

Maurice Russell, once a great actor, is now living in London in the twilight of his life. Those of his generation remember him fondly, while those in the younger generations have no idea who he is. He spends most of his time hanging out with his friends Ian, also an actor, and Donald, or visiting with his wife Valerie for who he has great affection but with who he no longer lives. His acting career is virtually over, he only taking roles on the odd occasion when he needs the money. Ian has decided to invite his young great-niece Jessie from the provinces to come and stay with him, basically to act as his caregiver in case he falls ill, but also to be his companion. He envisions listening to Bach with her and her cooking him food to which he is accustomed. Jessie's stay is nothing as he envisions. She doesn't know how to cook, she drinks all his alcohol, and she has unrealistic visions of what she will accomplish in her life. Maurice, however, sees in Jessie, a person who can help him recapture part of his youth and vigor, including more fully realizing his thoughts of sex. Maurice calls her Venus, after one of his favorite paintings. As Maurice and Jessie spend more time together, they use each other to get what they want. But it isn't until Maurice approaches the end of his life will either understand if what they have is true friendship.

As Vidas dos Outros

Original title: Das Leben der Anderen

Director: Florian Henckel

Year: 2006
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Foreign Language Film

Plot Summary:

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. 

Uma Verdade Inconveniente

Original title: An Inconvenient Truth

Director: Davis Guggenheim

Stars: Al Gore

Year: 2006

Awards: Won 2 Oscars - Best Documentary, Best Music

Plot Summary:

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

Earthlings

Original title: Earthlings

Director: Shaun Monson

Stars: Joaquin Phoenix (voz)

Year: 2005

Plot Summary:

Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, EARTHLINGS chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. 

A Marcha dos Pinguins

Original title: La Marche de l'Empereur

Director: Luc Jacquet

Stars: Morgan Freeman (voz)

Year: 2005
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Documentary

Plot Summary:

A look at the annual journey of Emperor penguins as they march -- single file -- to their traditional breeding ground.

À Procura da Terra do Nunca

Original title: Finding Neverland

Director: Marc Forster

Stars: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman

Year: 2004
Awards: Won 1 Oscar - Best Music

Plot Summary:

London, 1903: four lads, three women, and J.M. Barrie in the year he writes "Peter Pan." After one of his plays flops, Barrie meets four boys and their widowed mother in the park. During the next months, the child-like Barrie plays with the boys daily, and their imaginative games give him ideas for a play. Simultaneously, a friendship deepens with Sylvia, the lads' mother, to the chagrin of his wife Mary, with whom he spends little time (separate bedrooms); the widow's mother; and high society, which gossips about his attraction to the widow and to her sons. As Sylvia's health worsens, Barrie's ties to the boys strengthen and he must find a way to take his muse to Neverland.

Maria Cheia de Graça

Original title: Maria Full of Grace

Director: Joshua Marston

Stars: Catalina Sandino Moreno

Year: 2004

Plot Summary:

In a small village in Colombia, the pregnant seventeen years old Maria supports her family with her salary working in a floriculture. She is fired and with a total lack of perspective of finding a new job, she decides to accept the offer to work as a drug mule, flying to USA with sixty-two pellets of cocaine in her stomach. Once in New York, things do not happen as planned.

• - Written by Stephen Bowen

Vera Drake

Original title: Vera Drake

Director: Mike Leigh

Stars: Imelda Staunton

Year: 2004

Plot Summary:

Vera Drake is a selfless woman who is completely devoted to, and loved by, her working class family. She spends her days doting on them and caring for her sick neighbor and elderly mother. However, she also secretly visits women and helps them induce miscarriages for unwanted pregnancies. While the practice itself was illegal in 1950s England, Vera sees herself as simply helping women in need, and always does so with a smile and kind words of encouragement. When the authorities finally find her out, Vera's world and family life rapidly unravel.

• - Written by Sujit R. Varma

Hotel Ruanda

Original title: Hotel Rwanda

Director: Terry George

Stars: Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix

Year: 2004

Plot Summary:

Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.

• - Written by Sujit R. Varma