Rita Wolf Movies

Documentary filmmaker Freida Lee Mock explores the rich life of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner in a film that traces Kushner's career from his 2001 play Homebody/Kabul through his 2004 collaboration with Maurice Sendak on a revised version of Brundibar. A trip to Kushner's hometown of Lake Charles, LA, provides a personal touch as the playwright attends his father's birthday party, with quiet scenes in his Hudson River Valley retreat offering moments of thoughtful meditation that stand in stark contrast to his harried Manhattan business dealings. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Second Generation stars Parminder Nagra as the free-thinking daughter in a traditional Indian family who has torn herself away from the restrictive traditions of her parents. A family emergency brings her back into the fold, where the entire family must contend with how their world sometimes is at odds with the modern London world they inhabit. In addition to the struggles with her family, the daughter is caught in a love triangle involving her British fiancé and her old flame. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Spike Lee directed this comedy-drama about a woman who falls into a career in phone sex. An African-American woman (Theresa Randle) who aspires to a career as an actress endures a number of dispiriting jobs (handing out leaflets and working as a coat check girl) before reaching the end of her rope at an audition with Q.T. (Quentin Tarantino), a sleazy movie director. Q.T. claims that he wants to offer her a role in his next film -- but since the role requires nudity, she will have to show him her breasts first. After firing her agent, the actress is strapped for cash and is offered a job enacting sexual fantasies for men over the phone. Dubbed "Girl 6" by her employers, the actress is treated with respect by her boss (Jennifer Lewis) and is well-liked by her co-workers. However, she has a hard time emotionally distancing herself from her work, and she finds herself becoming infatuated with Bob (Peter Berg), one of her regular callers, going so far as to set up a meeting with him. As she deals in other people's fantasies for a living, Girl 6 begins retreating into her own world of make-believe, where she can be a sexy screen siren or a butt-kicking blaxploitation star. Meanwhile, her former fiancé (Isaiah Washington), who scrapes by as a shoplifter, desperately wants her to give him another chance, and her next door neighbor, a baseball card collector named Jimmy (Spike Lee), keeps pestering her that she ought to be doing something more positive with her life. Girl 6's supporting cast includes Madonna as one of Girl 6's supervisors, John Turturro as her agent, and Debi Mazar as one of the other phone-sex girls; the film also features an original song score by Prince. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

After the death of his wife and his subsequent descent into alcoholic near-agoraphobia, a crotchety Pakistani intellectual convinces his shady entrepreneur brother to provide work for his son in this multi-layered portrait of the immigrant experience in Great Britain. Young Londoner Omar (Gordon Warnecke) isn't sure what he wants out of life, but his uncle Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey) provides a corrupt, capitalist role model as Omar graduates from washing cars for the old crook to running his run-down laundromat. After a chance meeting with Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), an old school chum whose flirtation with fascism deeply wounded Omar's principled Papa (Roshan Seth), Omar hires the young thug to work for him. Soon, the pair begin a romantic relationship that remains as under wraps as the illicit drug-running and enforcement work they perform for Nasser's associate, Salim (Derrick Branche). On the domestic front, Omar must balance his knowledge of Nasser's long-running affair with posh Brit Rachel (Shirley Ann Field) with his own loyalty and attraction to Nasser's westernized daughter, Tania (Rita Wolf). After successfully transforming his laundrette into a vision of resplendent pastel suds and providing a bright spot in his otherwise squalid London neighborhood, Omar seems to have a bright future in Nasser's organization. The spectre of Johnny's past, however, combines with Omar's conflicted immigrant loyalties to threaten the sense of identity the young man has managed to stake out for himself. British-born, half-Pakistani playwright and novelist Hanif Kureishi won an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for My Beautiful Laundrette, which was originally filmed for BBC television. Kureishi collaborated again with director Stephen Frears on Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

In this drama, a Pakistani girl travels to England to marry her betrothed, who moved there several years before. During that time he has accustomed himself to Western customs and is impatient with the very traditional woman. Eventually he abandons her in favor of a white woman. He thinks his bride will go home, but her friends encourage her to stay. She listens and then begins trying to Westernize herself. She dresses in their clothing, gets an abortion, and begins an affair with an Englishman. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi