When Cinema Reflects the Times: Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang(1993)

A(en)

A young alcoholic ambient musician locks himself in his apartment on a dangerous seven day bender as he attempts to finish his upcoming album.

Killer of Men(en)

A man lurks the night alleys, killing people at random, he feels nothing, no emotion, and no pain; when he meets a graceful widow he must confront what it means to be human.

Noryang: Deadly Sea(ko)

The Imjin War reaches its seventh year in December of 1598. Admiral Yi Sun-shin learns that the Wa invaders in Joseon are preparing for a swift withdrawal following the deathbed orders of their leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Determined to destroy the enemy once and for all, Admiral Yi leads an allied fleet of Joseon and Ming ships to mount a blockade and annihilate the Wa army. However, once Ming commander Chen Lin is bribed into lifting the blockade, Wa lord Shimazu Yoshihiro and his Satsuma army sail to the Wa army's rescue at Noryang Strait.

Kingdom 2: Far and Away(ja)

It follows a young man who dreams of becoming a general and Ying Zheng, whose goal is unification.

Cash Out(en)

Criminal mastermind Mason is about to execute the score of a lifetime when his lover and key member of his crew, Decker, takes the team down and reveals she’s an undercover Interpol agent. Heartbroken, Mason escapes and retires from the life of crime until his younger brother Shawn is out of his league taking on a big bank heist all on his own. Mason has no choice left but to come to the rescue, while Interpol brings Decker in hoping to unnerve him. Before the SWAT teams storm the bank, Mason must use every tool in his arsenal to not only escape with the prize, but also the love of his life.

An Ideal Father(fr)

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.

A Tale of Two Guns(en)

In the lawless West, The Cowboys, a notorious brotherhood of killers and thieves, reigned over the land with brutal fists and fast guns. Fate had finally caught up with them and now the merciless gang has but a single surviving member. When a deputized gunslinger takes up the call to hunt down the last Cowboy, the chase is on and the bullets fly, and only one of these hardened men can survive.

The Best Man(en)

Mercenaries seize control of a remote resort hotel during a wedding and it's up to the best man, the groom and their drunken best friend to stop the terrorists and save the hostages.

The Black Book(en)

After his son is wrongly accused of kidnapping, a deacon who has just lost his wife takes matters into his own hands and fights a crooked police gang to clear him.

X(en)

A veteran call girl and a runaway prostitute witness a murder which sends them on an out-of-control roller coaster ride through the twilight zone of sex-for-sale.

A(ja)

Roughly chronological, from 3/96 to 11/96, with a coda in spring of 1997: inside compounds of Aum Shinrikyo, a Buddhist sect led by Shoko Asahara. (Members confessed to a murderous sarin attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995.) We see what they eat, where they sleep, and how they respond to media scrutiny, on-going trials, the shrinking of their fortunes, and the criticism of society. Central focus is placed on Hiroshi Araki, a young man who finds himself elevated to chief spokesman for Aum after its leaders are arrested. Araki faces extreme hostility from the Japanese public, who find it hard to believe that most followers of the cult had no idea of the attacks and even harder to understand why these followers remain devoted to the religion, if not the violence.

Kingdom III: The Flame of Destiny(ja)

To defend their kingdom against a sudden invasion, a mighty general returns to the battlefield alongside a war orphan, now grown up, who dreams of glory.

13 Exorcisms(es)

After participating in a séance, young Laura begins to behave strangely. Alarmed, her parents ask Father Olmedo, one of the few exorcists authorized by the Vatican to intervene in cases of demonic possession, for help.

Stopmotion(en)

Ella Blake, a stop-motion animator struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother, embarks upon the creation of a film that becomes the battleground for her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her project take on a life of their own.

A(kn)

A film director fades away from the industry after the failed love with the heroine of his movie. After being rehabilitated, he learns that some people conspired his fall and decides to take revenge.

J(it)

Panda(es)

Antonio and Beba are a pair of panda bears besieged by the classic obstacles of a young couple. Their life together is defined by routine, until one day they are forced to live with their favorite singer.

Q(en)

New York police are bemused by reports of a giant flying lizard that has been spotted around the rooftops of New York, until the lizard starts to eat people. An out-of-work ex-con is the only person who knows the location of the monster's nest and is determined to turn the knowledge to his advantage, but will his gamble pay off or will he end up as lizard food?

1(en)

Early morning silence is broken by screeching tires as a helicopter bears down on a speeding vehicle. Taking a quick corner, the team tumbles out into the woods as their car pulls away. Now they must make their way through the thick of nature and thick gunfire to accomplish their mission. Not a single word of dialogue is spoken throughout the entire film. Instead, the music, sounds, images and deeply truthful acting turn a simple plot into an intense experience. Passion and intrigue keep building to the very end.