Browse Movies : Released : 2003 : PG-13 : Drama (Page #2)

This ensemble drama portraits the life of several dancers of a Chicago troupe, focusing on a young dancer who's on the verge of becoming a principal dancer, but finds herself distracted by other interests.

September 1944. Several days before Finland, an ally of Nazi Germany, pulls out of World War II, Veiko, (Ville Haapasalo) a lone Finnish sniper, is turned on by his compatriots for a being a pacifist and, in their eyes, a reluctant fighter. As a punishment, the young man is placed in shackles, nailed to a heavy rock and forced to wear a German uniform, knowing full well that Russian soldiers have orders to shoot Germans on sight, without accepting surrender. Veiko is thus left to die in a remote Lapland forest, with nothing but a few supplies and his wits. Days pass, and after several failed attempts, he succeeds in freeing himself and heads for safety, shackles still attached. While trying to escape, Veiko witnesses the following through his rifle's telescope: Ivan, a captain in the Russian army accused of anti-Soviet correspondence, is being held prisoner by the Soviet Military secret police. En route to his court martial, Russian planes accidentally bomb the vehicle carrying the disgraced captain, killing the driver and his guard. Not far away is Anni (Anni-Kristiina Juuso), a Lapp reindeer farmer whose husband was drafted into the war by the Finnish authorities four years earlier, never to return. Hungry and alone, the young and resourceful widow locates the bodies of Ivan and his captors while foraging for food. As she begins to bury the dead, Anni discovers that Ivan is still alive, but seriously hurt. She carries him to her wooden hut and nurses him back to health. Meanwhile, Veiko, in search of tools to remove his shackles, stumbles upon Anni's farm. Thus World War II creates the unlikeliest of bonds (between three different people, from three different cultures, speaking three different languages.) Comic, and sometimes tragic, misunderstandings soon arise, resulting in a passionate, and very human, three-way relationship. Unable to communicate with the others and unaware that the war between the USSR and Finland is over, Ivan is convinced that Veiko is a German soldier gone astray; to Ivan, the German uniform the Finnish soldier was forced to wear is further proof. But Veiko is unaware of Ivan's hatred and just wants to cut off his shackles, return home and put the war behind him. Yet, to avoid falling into enemy hands, Veiko opts to stay on Anni's farm for temporary safety. The earthy and sensuous Anni, who has not been with a man in four years, could not be more delighted with her good fortune, language barrier be damned. For Anni, Veiko and Ivan are not enemies, but just men. An uncommon and touching bond develops, as the three unlikely souls begin a domestic routine of hunting and gathering in preparation for the long Lap winter. The two men do what they can to contribute to Anni's well being: Veiko builds a sauna and Ivan picks mushrooms... but their war is not over.

Based very loosely on the Alan Moore graphic novel epic of the same name, this is the story of a group of characters drawn from famous works of literature, including Captain Nemo, Allan Quatermain, The Invisible Man, Mina Murray and Dr. Jekyll, banding together to combat criminal undertakings of the highest order near the turn of the 19th century. Rather than remain true to the comic roots, the film also incorporates Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray, in an apparent effort to keep the cast from being entirely without Americans, and it is set in New York.

Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) is a 35-year-old San Francisco writer whose perfect life has just taken an unexpected detour. Her recent divorce has left her with terminal writer's block and extremely depressed, and her best friend, Patti (Sandra Oh), is beginning to think she might never recover. "Dr. Patti's" Rx: 10 days in Tuscany. And it's there that, on a whim, Frances purchases a villa named Bramasole - literally, "something that yearns for the sun." The home needs much restoration, but what better place for a new beginning than the home of the Renaissance? As she flings herself into her new life at the villa in the lush and beautiful Italian countryside, Frances makes new friends among her neighbors, but in the quiet moments, she is fearful that her ambitions for her new life - and a new family - may not be realized... until a chance encounter in Rome throws Frances into the arms of an intriguing Protobello antiquities dealer named Marcello (Raoul Bova). Can this be what she dreamed of? Can love last with Marcello? Will her new life flower under the Tuscan sun?

One young girl dared to confront the past, change the present and determine the future. On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people - or Whangara iwi - believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs - always the first-born, always male - have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.