Browse Movies : Sony Pictures Classics : 2005

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Breakfast on Pluto

Set in the 1960s and 1970s, "Breakfast on Pluto" follows Patrick "Kitten" Brady (Cillian Murphy), a kid who escapes from his foster home in Ireland and becomes a transvestite and performer in London.

Oliver Twist

A young boy, Oliver Twist, whose mother has passed away and whose father is estranged, lives a tough life in London, working under tough conditions just to survive. On the street Oliver meets Fagin, a thief. Fagin invites Oliver to live with him and join a crew of pick-pockets. But it's not long before Oliver is caught thieving by Mr. Brownlow, who, instead of punishing Oliver, decides to raise him.

The White Countess

Set in Shanghai in the late 1930s, it is the story of the relationship between a disillusioned former US diplomat and a refugee Russian countess reduced to a sordid life in the city's bars.

Todd Jackson (Ralph Feinnes), once an American diplomat filled with idealism, has become bitterly disillusioned by realpolitik and the seemingly unavoidable nature of war and conflict. Moreover, he is deeply bereaved by the deaths of his wife and children, who were victims of violent political events in 1930s China that also robbed Jackson of his sight.

Jackson is trying to retreat into a smaller, more controllable world by creating here, in one of the world's most licentious, glittering and sordid ports, the perfect bar. After countless hours spent critically examining dive after dive in the city's pleasure districts, Jackson has become a connoisseur of decadence. One day, after a chance meeting with Matsuda - a mysterious Japanese man who appears to share his refined eye for the beauty of low-life establishments - Jackson gambles his savings on a horse, wins, and sets about realizing his masterpiece: a bar that will achieve the exquisite balance of romance, tragedy, and political tension.

Matsuda is a decidedly shadowy figure, but that fails to worry Jackson, and they partner to create the perfect bar. When rumors circulate that Matsuda has come to Shanghai to oversee a Japanese invasion of the city, Jackson still willfully refuses to listen.

Sofia (Natasha Richardson) is a White Russian countess in her thirties who fled the Bolshevik Revolution as a child. Her immediate family have perished, and she now lives in a Shanghai slum with members of her late husband's aristocratic family and her ten-year-old daughter, Katya. The household's sole breadwinner, Sofia works as a taxi-dancer in dingy night spots, resorting to prostitution when times are hard. The rest of the household show their gratitude by endlessly ostracizing her for bringing disgrace to the family.

Jackson encounters Sofia one night working at her taxi-dance hall, decides she is the perfect blend of tragedy and sensuality and asks her to become the centerpiece of his perfect bar. Thus begins a relationship that will see Jackson - despite his best efforts - slowly coaxed out of his enclosed world. He gradually comes to concede that Sofia may be more than a beautiful picture, becomes drawn to the spirited young Katya, and ultimately, into the intrigues within the family to separate Sofia from her child.

The story ends as the Japanese invade Shanghai, with the entire world on the brink of World War II. Ironically, it is at this point that Jackson, in acknowledging his love for Sofia and her daughter, finds reawakened his own idealism for a world free from war.

Yes

Suffocating in a failed marriage with Anthony, She, an Irish-American scientist, sparks an affair with He, a Lebanese surgeon exiled in London where he now works as a cook. As their passion ignites, each will find themselves on their own personal journey as they try to come to terms with their lives and losses. The bittersweet affair will bring them on a global ride from London to New York, Beirut and Havana and force them to reevaluate their faiths, beliefs, and ultimately, each other.

Heights

On a summer night in New York City, five lives intertwine and unravel. Isabel, a beautiful twenty-five year old photographer, wavers on her commitment to her upcoming wedding. Her mother Diana, a legendary actress, discovers her husband is cheating. Jonathan, Isabel's fiance, tries to protect a secret that will endanger his marriage. Peter, a young writer, faces his lover's past while researching a story for "Vanity Fair" and Alec, an actor, wonders if his affections will ever be returned. Set in the nightspots, theaters, rooftops, and streets of Manhattan over one night, Heights is a contemporary story of young people in New York City that sparkles with the wit that is a trademark of Merchant Ivory films. At the center of the story is Isabel, a young woman trying to decide between her life in the city and the prospect of a quiet existence as a suburban wife. In a script full of unique New York City settings and characters the story takes us from downtown bars, to upscale roof gardens, to gay bars in Chelsea, to the geriatric participants at a Jewish wedding. Isabel, much like a modern day Jane Austen heroine, a woman on the verge of adulthood must decide in the course of a single night what kind of life she is going to lead. In a small Prague apartment, Franta (Jiri Machacek) and Mila (Natasa Burger) dream of having a child, but Franta—on probation because of his soccer hooliganism past—is not allowed to adopt, and Mila is unable to conceive. After cashing in on her savings, Mila decides to buy a baby from a pawnshop that fronts a den of thieves and pickpockets. Meanwhile, an unusual family reunion is taking place: Academy professor Otto (Jan Triska) collapses while teaching, prompting his estranged son Martin (Petr Forman, son of director Milos) to return to Prague from Australia to see his father and his mother, Vera (Emilia Vasaryova), long separated from Otto whom she still pines for. Otto is now living with the beautiful and much younger Hana (Ingrid Timkova), who works in a refugee aid center helping immigrants to adjust to their new lives.

Thumbsucker

Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci) is seventeen, and he still sucks his thumb. Even though it worries his mother (Tilda Swinton), irritates his father (Vincent D'Onofrio), and threatens his prospects with debate team crush Rebecca (Kelli Garner), he can't stop sucking until his "guru" orthodontist (Keanu Reeves) hypnotizes him. Hypnosis frees Justin from his thumbsucking problem, but he still doesn¹t feel "normal."

He experiments with Ritalin, pot, and sex as substitutes for his thumb but they only provide temporary solutions, as he remains unable to shake his feelings of alienation. Justin looks for guidance from his parents, his debate team coach (Vince Vaughn), and even TV star Matt Schramm (Benjamin Bratt), before he finally comes to understand that no one has an easy answer, everyone is struggling to

2046

He was a writer. He thought he wrote about the future but it really was the past. In his novel, a mysterious train left for 2046 every once in a while. Everyone who went there had the same intention—to recapture their lost memories. It was said that in 2046, nothing ever changed. Nobody knew for sure if it was true, because nobody who went there had ever come back—except for one. He was there. He chose to leave. He wanted to change.

3-Iron

A young drifter enters strangers' houses - and lives - while owners are away. He spends a night or a day squatting in, repaying their unwitting hospitality by doing laundry or small repairs. His life changes when he runs into a beautiful woman in an affluent mansion who is ready to escape her unhappy, abusive marriage.

Capote

On November 15, 1959, the brutal murder of a family in a small Kansas town sent shockwaves through the nation - and captured the attention of one of the most distinctive minds of our time. One-of-a-kind author Truman Capote was sent to Kansas to pen an article about the crimes for "The New Yorker" magazine. He ended up writing one of the most celebrated books of the century.

"Capote" follows Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) on his odyssey to create the landmark bestseller "In Cold Blood". With signature style and mordant wit—and his friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) in tow—Capote attempts to charm the locals and work his way into the story behind the murders. He's soon shocked, however, to find himself forming a friendship with one of the killers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins, Jr.). As the book nears completion and execution day approaches, Capote finds himself torn in directions he never anticipated and is forever changed by his experiences.

Country of My Skull

Langston Whitfield (Samuel L. Jackson) is a "Washington Post" journalist. His editor provocatively sends him to South Africa to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, in which the perpetrators of murder and torture on both sides during the Apartheid era are invited to come forward and confront their victims. By telling the unvarnished truth and expressing contrition, they may be granted amnesty. Can the deep wounds of Apartheid be healed through reconciliation? Langston is deeply sceptical. He tracks down Col. De Jager, the most notorious torturer in the SA Police and tries to penetrate the mind of a monster, an experience that obliges him to confront his own demons. Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche), is an Afrikaans poet who is covering the hearings for radio. As a white South African she is shattered by the accounts of the cruelty and depravity committed by her fellow countrymen. Anna and Langston must both question their sense of identity. Where do they each belong? How responsible are they for what is done in the name of their respective countries? The moving testimony of the victims affects them deeply. In different ways they are both estranged from their families, and their shared experience draws them ever closer to each other. It is a story charting the unfathomable depths of human cruelty and the redeeming power of forgiveness and love.

Imaginary Heroes

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels, Emile Hirsch, and Michelle Williams, "Imaginary Heroes" is a funny and poignant coming of age story in which the façade of an ordinary American family is peeled back to reveal that nothing is as it seems. Tim Travis (Hirsch) is walking through his life like it's a bad dream. His mother Sandy (Weaver) is the master of the Travis house - with a healthy drug habit, a decade long grudge, and a secret that is literally tearing her apart. His father Ben (Daniels) is a shell of the man he once was, crippled by circumstance and blind to the mistakes of his past. But in typical American style, the Travises aren't depressed - they're living their lives in a forlorn haze. As painful revelations are made that threaten to divide the family, moments of laughter and truth provide the salve that ultimately bring them closer together.

Junebug

A Chicago art dealer marries a Southerner from an uptight North Carolina family. When she attempts to track down a reclusive back-woods artist, her in-laws get their petticoats in a twist in various and sundry ways.

Layer Cake

Based upon JJ Connelly's London crime novel, "Layer Cake" is about a successful cocaine dealer (Daniel Craig) who has earned a respected place among England's Mafia elite and plans an early retirement from the business. However, big boss Jimmy Price hands down a tough assignment: find Charlotte Ryder, the missing rich princess daughter of Jimmy's old pal Edward, a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite. Complicating matters are two million pounds' worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal neo-Nazi sect and a whole series of double crossings. The title "Layer Cake" refers to the layers or levels the dealer has to go through as he painstakingly plots his own escape. What is revealed is a modern underworld where the rules have changed. There are no 'codes', or 'families' and respect lasts as long as a line. Not knowing who he can trust, he has to use all his 'savvy', 'telling' and skills which make him one of the best, to escape his own. The ultimate last job, a love interest called Tammy and an international drugs ring, threaten to draw him back into the 'cake mix'. But, time is running out and the penalty will endure a lifetime.

November

After a dinner out, photographer Sophie Jacobs and her boyfriend, Hugh, stop at a corner store for a late night snack. While Sophie waits unaware in the car, Hugh is murdered in a violent robbery. Haunted by guilt, Sophie goes on with her life as best she can: teaching photography at a local art college, meeting her mother for lunch, and visiting her therapist. But one day at school, a slide mysteriously appears in the projector's carousel—an image of what looks like her car in front of the corner store the night of the shooting. Are these paranoid visions stemming from her grief and guilt, or does someone know something about the murder? As her investigation deepens, more strange events start to occur, drawing into question exactly what happened the night of Hugh's death.

Saraband

In "Saraband", Marianne and Johan (the couple in "Scenes from a Marriage") meet again after thirty years without contact, when Marianne suddenly feels a need to see her exhusband again. She decides to visit Johan at his old summer house in the western province of Dalarna. And so, one beautiful autumn day, there she is, beside his reclining chair, waking him with a light kiss.

Also living at the summer house are Johan's son Henrik and Henrik's daughter Karin. Henrik is giving his daughter cello lessons and already sees her future as staked out. Relations between father and son are very strained, but both are protective of Karin. They are all still mourning Anna, Henrik's much-loved wife, who died two years ago, yet who, in many ways, remains present among them. Marianne soon realizes that things are not all as they should be, and she finds

Saving Face

A romantic comedy-of-manners where the single mother of a young Chinese-American woman arrives on her doorstep unannounced... and pregnant.

The Beautiful Country

"Beautiful Country" follows the story of Binh, a shy Vietnamese man in his 20s who embarks on a personal journey with a young beautiful woman, Ling, aboard a refugee ship to America in search of a better life and Binh's estranged American father.