Venice Film Festival

After making a striking directorial debut with her screen adaptation of The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola offers a story of love and friendship blooming under unlikely circumstances in this comedy drama. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a well-known American actor whose career has gone into a tailspin; needing work, he takes a very large fee to appear in a commercial for Japanese whiskey to be shot in Tokyo. Feeling no small degree of culture shock in Japan, Bob spends most of his non-working hours at his hotel, where he meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) at the bar. Twentysomething Charlotte is married to John (Giovanni Ribisi), a successful photographer who is in Tokyo on an assignment, leaving her to while away her time while he works. Beyond their shared bemusement and confusion with the sights and sounds of contemporary Tokyo, Bob and Charlotte share a similar dissatisfaction with their lives; the spark has gone out of Bob's marriage, and he's become disillusioned with his career. Meanwhile, Charlotte is puzzled with how much John has changed in their two years of marriage, while she's been unable to launch a creative career of her own. Bob and Charlotte become fast friends, and as they explore Tokyo, they begin to wonder if their sudden friendship might be growing into something more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A frenetic, bloody look at mass murder and the mass media, director Oliver Stone's extremely controversial film divided critics and audiences with its mixture of over-the-top violence and bitter cultural satire. At the center of the film, written by Stone and Quentin Tarantino, among others, are Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis), a young couple united by their desire for each other and their common love of violence. Together, they embark on a record-breaking, exceptionally gory killing spree that captivates the sensation-hungry tabloid media. Their fame is ensured by one newsman, Wayne Gale (Robert Downey, Jr.), who reports on Mickey and Mallory for his show, American Maniacs. Even the duo's eventual capture by the police only increases their notoriety, as Gale develops a plan for a Super Bowl Sunday interview that Mickey and Mallory twist to their own advantage. Visually overwhelming, Robert Richardson's hyperkinetic cinematography switches between documentary-style black-and-white, surveillance video, garishly colored psychedelia, and even animation in a rapid-fire fashion that mirrors the psychosis of the killers and the media-saturated culture that makes them popular heroes. The film's extreme violence -- numerous edits were required to win an R rating -- became a subject of debate, as some critics asserted that the film irresponsibly glorified its murderers and blamed the filmmakers for potentially inciting copy-cat killings. Defenders argued that the film attacks media obsession with violence and satirizes a sensationalistic, celebrity-obsessed society. Certain to provoke discussion, Natural Born Killers will thoroughly alienate many viewers with its shock tactics, chaotic approach, and disturbing subject matter, while others will value the combination of technical virtuosity and dark commentary on the modern American landscape. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This Spanish/French film presents a loving ode to a woman's breasts and the three men who love them. The fairy tale is told from the viewpoint of 9-year old Tete, who jealous of his new brother's access to his mother's breasts, implores the moon to give him a nurturing breast of his own. French cabaret performers Estrellita, the Queen of Stuttgart, and her jealous husband Maurice, come to town with their surprisingly vulgar act. When Tete sees Estrellita, he knows his wish has been granted. Trailer-park electrician Miquel is also very attracted to Estrellita's charming chest and begins serenade her. Tete gets to sample her charms after he brings her a frog. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The mysterious and unexpected death of an iconic Hollywood star may be just the tip of an iceberg of scandal in this show biz drama based on a true story. George Reeves (played by Ben Affleck) was a journeyman actor who had played a small role in Gone With The Wind and appeared on screen with the likes of James Cagney, Rita Hayworth and Marlene Dietrich, but his career was not exactly booming when he was cast as comic book hero Superman in a 1951 B-movie, Superman and the Mole Men. A year later, the producers of the movie launched a syndicated Superman television series with Reeves returning as the Man of Steel. The show became a major hit, and Reeves was a star at last. However, on June 16, 1959, to the shock of many, Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound. Police soon declared Reeves' death a suicide and closed the case, but his mother (Lois Smith) refused to believe her son took his own life, and hired Louis Simo (Adrian Brody), a private detective, to find out the truth about her son's passing. Simo found many Hollywood insiders did not care to cooperate as he researched the Reeves case, but his digging uncovered plenty of evidence suggesting the actor did not take his own life, and he also revealed one of Reeves's deepest secrets -- while he was engaged to marry a pretty young starlet, Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney), Reeves was also carrying on an affair with the beautiful Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), the wife of Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), a powerful and ill-tempered executive at MGM. While the producers of Hollywoodland based their story on factual accounts of the investigation into the death of George Reeves, they were denied permission to use the Superman logo and the familiar introduction to the Adventures of Superman television show by the respective copyright holders. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

George Clooney pays homage to one of the icons of American broadcast journalism, Edward R. Murrow, in this fact-based drama, which was Clooney's second feature film as a director. In 1953, Edward R. Murrow (played by David Strathairn) was one of the best-known newsmen on television as host of both the talk show Person to Person and the pioneering investigate series See It Now. Joseph McCarthy, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, was generating no small amount of controversy in the public and private sectors with his allegations that Communists had risen to positions of power and influence in America, and an Air Force pilot, Milo Radulovich, had been drummed out of the service due to McCarthy's charges that he was a Communist agent. However, Radulovich had been dismissed without a formal hearing of the charges, and he protested that he was innocent of any wrongdoing. Murrow decided to do a story on Radulovich's case questioning the legitimacy of his dismissal, which was seen by McCarthy and his supporters as an open challenge to his campaign. McCarthy responded by accusing Murrow of being a Communist, leading to a legendary installment of See It Now in which both Murrow and McCarthy presented their sides of the story, which was seen by many as the first step toward McCarthy's downfall. Meanwhile, Murrow had to deal with CBS head William Paley (Frank Langella), who was supportive of Murrow but extremely wary of his controversial positions, while Murrow was also trying to support fellow newsman Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise), battling charges against his own political views, and working alongside Fred Friendly (George Clooney), the daring head of CBS News. Good Night, and Good Luck also stars Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, and Robert John Burke; the film won Best Film honors after its world premiere at the 2005 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Following up on his prize-winning short The Picnic, Song Il Gon spins this metaphysical fairy tale about three women struggling with the human condition. The film shows 17-year-old Hye-Na giving birth in a filthy public restroom and then dumping the unwanted child in the toilet. She sets out on a journey to find her own birth mother. Along the way, she meets Ok-Nam, a dedicated, if misguided, mother who prostituted herself in order to raise money to buy her daughter a piano. Yet once her activities were discovered, she was kicked out the house. Later, the two women save Yoo-jin from suicide. A former singer, Yoo-jin is also a cancer patient who had to have her tongue removed. Each suffering from their own existential pain, the trio decides to find the mythical flower island, which reportedly heals all wounds. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

For his sophomore feature film effort, visual artist Julian Schnabel chronicles the life of one of Cuba's most charismatic literary voices, the late Reinaldo Arenas. Working with Arenas' friends and family, Schnabel recounts the author's impoverished rural upbringing and the intense love and support he receives from his mother (played by the director's wife, Olatz Lopez Garmendia). As a young man, Arenas (Javier Bardem) is singled out by his teachers and encouraged to further his skills as a writer -- no easy task, considering the Castro regime's censorship of any work considered to be subversive or anti-authoritarian. Still, the author manages to smuggle his work out of the country through friends, who arrange for one of his novels to be published in France. Not only persecuted for his creative beliefs, the openly gay Arenas is jailed on a bogus sex charge; he escapes internment only to be captured and persecuted later for his contraband dispatches. In 1980, Arenas is finally allowed to leave Cuba for the United States, where he achieves freedom of expression but not prosperity. Schnabel's first film was another portrait of an artist, 1996's Basquiat; Bardem made his name in several of director Pedro Almodovar's Spanish-language productions. Before Night Falls premiered at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, where it received the Best Actor and Grand Special Jury prizes, and made its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Bardem would go on to receive a host of accolades, including an eventual Best Actor nomination at the 2001 Academy Awards. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Acclaimed filmmaker Ken Loach follows up on his 2000 opus Bread and Roses about a Los Angeles janitors' strike with this drama about the privatization of British Rail. Set in South Yorkshire, the film opens with familiar British Rail sign being replaced with a shiny new one reading "East Midland Infrastructure." For a group of men working at a local train station, this subtle change ends up meaning that their lives have irrevocably changed. When they learn the grim details of this privatization, their chummy sense of community begins to splinter and fall apart. Under the new regime, the customer comes first. While on paper this sounds great, in reality this new arrangement is implemented haphazardly, resulting in bitter fighting and political backstabbing. Some from the old group take the company's severance package while others soldier on. This film was screened in the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Much as he would later do with Shakespeare in Love (1998), writer Tom Stoppard delivered a tale of Shakespearean origin from a skewed and unexpected perspective. In this case, it's the perspective of two relatively minor characters from Hamlet, Rosencrantz (Gary Oldman) and Guildenstern (Tim Roth), courtiers who, in the original play, were dispatched offstage before the narrative's conclusion. In Stoppard's script (which he also directed), the two supporting players take center stage as the events unfold in Elsinore Castle. Unable to determine the source of the prince's tortured despair, the duo ponders the question of fate as their predetermined roles are played out. Meanwhile, they dabble in a little verbal tennis and some ill-advised science experiments, and endure the puzzling attentions of mysterious wandering thespians led by (Richard Dreyfuss). Ordered to accompany Hamlet (Iain Glen) to England, the pair learn that the letter they carry instructs that nation's king to decapitate their mentally unbalanced and irksome charge, a revelation that Hamlet overhears. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In 1985 the exquisitely-wrought Argentine comedy-drama King and his Movie earned international awards including the Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion for "First Film." It is the story of an obsessed filmmaker's attempts to make his long-dreamed of epic account of the King of Patagonia and Araraucania. Unfortunately, the director meets major obstacles at every turn. First of all, word leaked out to the press that the director, Chaves, was making his magnum opus and he must constantly dodge them while feverishly attempting to execute his preproduction tasks. His biggest headache comes from his search for the perfect actor to portray his king. When all of the professional auditions are rejected, Chaves turns to the street. Unfortunately, he chooses a street-dwelling hippie, who mistake Chaves and his assistants for cops and flees. He later shaves his head to help hide. Still the determined Chaves manages to catch up and convince him to play the part. Finally Chaves assembles cast and crew and prepares to go south to shoot the film. Unfortunately, his backer suddenly withdraws with all the film's finances and flees abroad leaving Chavez with no money with which to pay his production people. Many of the actors immediately abandon ship and once again Chaves hits the streets to find his players. He must also pare his crew down to the bare minimum. After an arduous journey, the group make it to the locale. By this time they are so broke that they cannot afford lodging and end up staying at an orphanage until an actor makes untoward advances towards a youngster and gets them booted out. About this time, the crew, not wanting to sleep in tents, take off. The cast joins them. Despite this final crushing blow, Chaves will not abandon the film and so portrays the king himself, using mannequins for extras to create some of the films most haunting and surreal scenes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on stories by Raymond Carver, Short Cuts follows 22 Los Angeles residents whose lives intersect over the course of a few days. Ann and Howard Finnegan (Andie MacDowell and Bruce Davison) are preparing for their son Casey's birthday party when the boy is injured in an auto accident and falls into a coma. Meanwhile, Andy (Lyle Lovett), a baker, seethes with anger over the birthday cake that wasn't claimed, and Howard's father, Paul (Jack Lemmon), decides that a visit with his ailing grandson is a good time to discuss his infidelities. Lois (Jennifer Jas