Jeremy Podeswa Movies

Band of Brothers producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg re-team to produce this ten-hour World War II miniseries based on the books With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge and Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie. Additional interviews conducted by the filmmakers in collaboration with Hugh Ambrose (son of late Band of Brothers author Stephen E. Ambrose) detail the arduous odysseys of U.S. Marines Sledge, Leckie, and John Basilone from their first skirmishes in Guadalcanal to their eventual return to American soil following V-J Day. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Author Anne Michaels's poetic novel comes to the screen courtesy of director Jeremy Podeswa in this period drama concerning a Holocaust survivor who remains eternally haunted by the uncertain fate of his beloved sister. Athos (Rade Sherbedgia) is an archeologist conducting a dig in Nazi-occupied Poland. When Athos discovers a seven-year-old boy named Jakob (Robbie Kay) hiding near the work site, he smuggles the frightened boy back to Greece and promises to shelter him when the Nazis come knocking there as well. Having previously witnessed the brutal massacre of his family at the hands of Hitler's henchmen, Jakob longs to find out what fate befell his sister, Bella (Nina Dobrev) -- who wasn't executed with the majority of his other relatives but subsequently disappeared without a trace. After the war, Athos and Jakob emigrate to Toronto in hopes of starting a new life. But even after all these years, Jakob (Stephen Dillane) can't seem to shake the grief of losing his family and not knowing what ever became of Bella. Later, when Jakob marries the radiant Alex (Rosamund Pike), the bright-eyed beauty does her best to illuminate the dark corners within her husband's soul. To maintain one's connection to ghosts requires a certain shunning of the living, however, and only when Jakob discovers the strength to let go of his painful past will he finally be able to move forward into the future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Cato (Karl Johnson) and Scipio (Paul Jesson) have just suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Thapsus in Africa. They retreat to Utica, where Cato quietly commits suicide. After the funeral ceremony, Scipio has a soldier take his life as well. Caesar (Ciarán Hinds) returns home and begins preparing a celebration of his triumph. Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Pullo (Ray Stevenson) retire from soldiering. On his return, Pullo is delighted to find that the slave girl he rescued, Eirene (Chiara Mastalli), now speaks his language. Soon, at a loss for how to earn a living, the two former soldiers join Niobe (Indira Varma) and her sister in the butcher business. Vorenus breaks up a confrontation in the street, and a ruffian mocks his military service to Rome, for which he gets slapped. The thug makes it known that he works for Erastes (Lorcan Cranitch), who runs the neighborhood, and makes quick work of his enemies. (Erastes is the man for whom Vorenus briefly and unhappily worked as a bodyguard.) Erastes later goes to Vorenus' home and threatens to rape and kill his wife and daughters if Vorenus does not publicly apologize and kiss his feet. Vorenus and Pullo send the children away and prepare for a fight, but Caesar arrives before Erastes can get there, and asks Vorenus to run for the local magistrate position. Meanwhile, bent on revenge against Atia (Polly Walker) and Caesar, Servilia (Lindsay Duncan) tells Octavia (Kerry Condon) that Atia had Glabius killed, and convinces her to seduce her own brother, Octavian (Max Pirkis), in order to get information about Caesar's mysterious affliction. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

When Rhea Reynolds is discovered dead after an apparent Carver attack and Christian is singled out as the prime suspect, the surgeon struggles to prove his innocence while preparing to work on an HIV-infected man whose medication has given his face an unsettlingly hollow appearance. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Nate (Peter Krause) continues his descent into quiet desperation as Fisher & Diaz prepares to bury the recently unearthed remains of a young husband and father who disappeared without a trace decades earlier. Adding to Nate's just-married angst, Lisa (Lili Taylor) spends her time micromanaging his finances instead of finding a new job of her own. She also goes ballistic when Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) turns up to make amends with Nate as part of a 12-step recovery program for sex addicts. Nate and Brenda share a few drinks, but he keeps his guard up and expresses none of his doubts about his sudden matrimony. David (Michael C. Hall), too, is haunted by an old lover: Terry (Matt Winston), a fellow singer in the gay men's chorus, who reminds David of their brief and frenzied encounter years ago in a department-store men's room. Ashamed of his own past repression, David is relieved to realize he's finally at peace with his sexual identity. Speaking of which, Claire (Lauren Ambrose) finds her feelings in disarray when Russell (Ben Foster), her supposedly gay best friend, declares that he's actually straight and wants to date her. She considers it -- until Olivier (Peter MacDissi), her manipulative art professor, advises her to shun emotional intimacy if she wants to become a great artist. Blowing Russell off, Claire focuses on her new job as Olivier's assistant. Federico (Freddy Rodriguez), too, hires a new sidekick: Arthur (Rainn Wilson), a mortuary school student who agrees to work for nothing but room and board at the Fisher house. As for Keith (Mathew St. Patrick), he's still stuck in the same terrible job as a rent-a-cop. A disturbing altercation with a fellow security guard, however, convinces him it's time to look for other employment. Originally broadcast March 30, 2003, on HBO, "The Trap" marked season three, episode five of the made-for-cable drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

The death of an apparently friendless woman hits home with Ruth (Frances Conroy) in this episode of HBO's Six Feet Under. When Emily Previn (Christine Estabrook) chokes to death, Fisher & Sons can't find anyone to attend the funeral, but Ruth takes it upon herself to make the event special anyway. David (Michael C. Hall) tries to forge a special friendship with blind date Ben Cooper (Adam Scott), but the nascent romance is interrupted by David's cop ex-boyfriend, Keith (Mathew St. Patrick). Distraught over having accidentally killed a suspect, Keith finds solace of a decidedly carnal nature with David, then, in a fit of guilt about his unsuspecting boyfriend, announces that he doesn't want to see David anymore. Meanwhile, Claire (Lauren Ambrose) prepares for the SAT, freaks out when her friend Parker (Marina Black) cheats on the exam, and is surprised to learn that her school counselor, Gary (David Norona), senses sexual tension between himself and Claire. Nate (Peter Krause) experiences some sexual tension of his own when Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) continues her sexual dry spell. Ironically, though, she befriends one of her shiatsu clients (Kellie Waymire) -- who just happens to be a prostitute -- and volunteers to play the voyeur role in the fantasy of one of the woman's clients. This accomplished, she stages a dramatic about-face regarding her ambivalence to Nate: She proposes. "The Invisible Women" marked season two, episode five of the made-for-cable drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

The made-for-cable drama After the Harvest was based on Martha Ostenso's 1927 novel Wild Geese, and was first broadcast in Canada under that title on March 4, 2001. Sam Shepard heads the cast as ill-tempered Canadian farmer Caleb Gare, who tyrannically treats his family like slaves, forcing them to work sunup to sundown and live in dire poverty so he can selfishly fulfill his dream to grab up all the land surrounding his farm. The only person who might have been able to stand up to Caleb was his long-suffering wife Jude (Nadia Litz), who has long since been cowed into quiet desperation lest her children bear the brunt of her husband's cruelty. But the reign of Caleb Gare is soon to end ignominiously -- that is, if Linda Archer (Liane Balaban), the attractive new schoolteacher in town, has anything to say about it. In the U.S., After the Harvest was first seen May 29, 2001, on the Lifetime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Five characters serve as metaphors for the five senses in this drama about human relationships from Canadian filmmaker Jeremy Podeswa. Ruth (Gabrielle Rose) works as a massage therapist; one day while giving a rubdown to Anna (Molly Parker), Ruth's teenage daughter Rachel (Nadia Litz) takes Anna's toddler daughter for a stroll in the park. However, Rachel loses track of the child and she's soon lost. While searching for her, Rachel meets Rupert (Brendan Fletcher), a voyeur who teaches her about the pleasures of observing others. Meanwhile, Robert (Daniel MacIvor) is a professional house cleaner with an unusually keen sense of smell. Convinced he can smell love, he starts to set up meetings with all of his former lovers to see if he can sniff out any feelings for him -- and, if not, find out why they stopped caring for him. Robert's friend Rona (Mary-Louise Parker) works as a baker but has no sense of taste, a severe occupational hazard. She also has romantic problems, thanks to the arrival of Roberto (Marco Leonardi), a man she met on a recent vacation in Italy. Finally, Richard (Philippe Volter) is an eye doctor who is losing his hearing. While this situation has left him horribly depressed, he meets a woman who helps him feel better about life. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi