Rosa Romero Movies

Emily Bronte's classic romance is given an austere, naturalistic interpretation in this adaptation from filmmaker Andrea Arnold, which strips the story of much of its dialogue and adds a racial component to the tale of forbidden love. Yorkshire landowner Mr. Earnshaw (Paul Hilton) brings a West Indian boy (Solomon Glave) to live on his property and earn his keep working on Earnshaw's farm, naming the youth Heathcliff. While Heathcliff is regarded with deep suspicion by Earnshaw's son Hindley (Lee Shaw), he strikes up a friendship with Earnshaw's daughter Catherine (Shannon Beer) that grows stronger with time. After the death of Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley takes control of the farm, and Heathcliff chafes under Hindley's vicious treatment, running off to make his own way. In time, Catherine (now played by Kaya Scodelario) grows into a beautiful woman, and Edgar Linton (James Northcote), the son of a wealthy man, asks for her hand in marriage. Hindley approves of the match, but Catherine is torn when Heathcliff returns (now played by James Howson) as a self-made man. The affection Catherine and Heathcliff knew in their youth has grown into something deeper, but she isn't sure if she can defy her family in the name of love. Wuthering Heights received its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A woman wrestles with grief, betrayal and redemption in this psychological drama from director Sharon Maguire. One afternoon, a young woman (Michelle Williams) sends her husband and young son off to see a football game, and while they're gone for the afternoon she enjoys a tryst with her lover (Ewan McGregor), an opportunistic reporter. While the woman is making love to another man, she hears a news report that a suicide bomber made their way into the stadium, and that hundreds of people are dead. The woman is horrified to learn that her husband and child were among the victims, and as she struggles to sort out the pieces of her life, she begins having second thoughts about her illicit relationship while struggling with her feelings about Terrence Butcher (Matthew Macfadyen), a police officer looking into the attack. As the woman tries to come to terms with her grief, she befriends a young boy (Usman Khokhar) whose father happened to be involved in the attacks. Adapted from the acclaimed novel by Chris Cleave, Incendiary received its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Evelyn Waugh's classic novel of love and the British class system has been given a polished screen adaptation in this film version from director Julian Jarrold. The tale opens during WWII, when Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode), an English military officer, is stationed at a country estate that has been converted into a military base. Jarrold uses this time-frame and setting as a framing device, and then flashes back in time to Charles' days as a scholar in the 1920s. It becomes clear that he was raised in a middle-class household; though he was fortunate enough to have been accepted into Oxford, he doesn't belong to the British upper crust. At Oxford, Charles strikes up a friendship with twentysomething Lord Sebastian (Ben Whishaw). Charles is captivated by the splendor of Sebastian's life at his family's Brideshead Castle, and he finds himself drawn into a web of decadent comfort. For Sebastian, though, the familial estate represents a prison from which he longs to escape, and in desperation, he hits the bottle. Charles develops an infatuation with Sebastian's sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell), but also senses that his bond with Sebastian may be something far deeper than simple friendship. Also present at Brideshead is Sebastian and Julia's mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson), an ice water-veined woman still reeling from her abandonment some time prior at the hands of her husband. Though bitter, the matriarch perceives Charles as an emotional anchor for the increasingly unstable Sebastian, and therefore suggests that Charles join Sebastian and Julia on a trip to see their father (Michael Gambon) and his mistress (Greta Scacchi) in Venice. Unfortunately, the romantic bond between Charles and Julia deepens, which threatens to destroy Sebastian. This feature constitutes the second major version of Brideshead Revisited to reach viewers; an earlier, 11-hour miniseries adaptation ran on television in 1981. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An aging pair of veteran English actors whose success never quite took hold finds their quiet existence suddenly interrupted by the arrival of one of the men's precocious grandnieces in director Roger Michell's affectionate comedy drama. Maurice (Peter O'Toole) and Ian (Leslie Phillips) may still land the occasional paying gig -- Maurice has recently been cast as a corpse in a popular television drama -- but for the most part, their days are spent cataloging their ailments over meals at their favorite café. Though the arrival of Ian's grandniece Jessie doesn't immediately set so well with her curmudgeonly great uncle, Maurice takes an immediate liking to the girl, and makes it a mission to expose the youngster to some of the bustling capitol's best-known sights. As the newly invigorated septuagenarian does his best to teach the wide-eyed youngster a thing or two about life, he soon comes to realize just how little he truly knows about the subject at such a late point in life. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The feature debut from writer/director Dan Wilde this British drama centers on a family split apart in the wake of its patriarch's death. Jennifer Ehle stars as widowed Alice, who eventually moves on and remarries, a move that has a devastating effect on her son Jack, played by Mark Wells. Years later, the family reunites and long-supressed feelings are finally revealed. Alpha Male also stars Danny Huston. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Hanif Kureishi wrote this drama about a woman whose late-blooming romance causes a serious rift with her family. May (Anne Reid) and Toots (Peter Vaughan) are an elderly couple who travel to London to visit their two grown children, Bobby (Steven Mackintosh) and Paula (Cathryn Bradshaw). While Bobby tries to be attentive to his parents, he's busy with his two young children, a major project at work, and completing some renovations on his large and expensive house, while his wife, Helen (Anna Wilson-Jones), shows little interest in her in-laws. Meanwhile, Paula is unsatisfied with her work and carries on an affair with Darren (Daniel Craig), a builder who is working on Bobby's home. When Toots suddenly dies, May moves in with Paula, but with Paula at work all day, she has little to do. Darren stops by Paula's flat periodically, and soon he strikes up a friendship with May; their conversations soon develop into flirtation, and before long, the two have become lovers, meeting regularly for afternoon trysts in Paula's spare room. While May's relationship with Darren makes her feel happier and more alive than she has in years, it leads to an ugly confrontation when Paula learns about the affair. The Mother was screened as part of the Director's Fortnight series at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Michael Bray directed this British romantic comedy in which arrogant banker Rupert (Sean Chapman) doesn't know that his girlfriend Alison (Maryam D'Abo) is pregnant. Rupert promises to return on the same day from a Barcelona business trip, but the plane is re-routed to Madrid, where he's forced to share a room with a working-class chap, Charles (Ray Winstone). It's a tense twosome since he chose to chew out Charles on the plane. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Yoshio (Futoshi Kasagawa) is on his first trip outside of Japan, on the way to Spain. He takes a fancy to his stewardess, Rita (Emma Suarez), and has her pose with him for a photograph before picking up his luggage. It turns out that the luggage he and Rita carry is identical, and a mix-up happens immediately. Before he can straighten it out, he is hit by a car and loses his memory except for the name, Rita. He is taken in charge by a woman who proves to be Rita's mother, and circumstances conspire to bring him and Rita together again. That's quite an adventure for a mild man who won this trip as a contestant on a Japanese game show. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi