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The true story of one woman's effort to keep her family afloat under difficult circumstances comes to the screen in this bittersweet comedy drama. Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore) was a woman of intelligence, talent, and pluck living in the small town of Defiance, OH, in the 1950s. Evelyn was married to Kelly Ryan (Woody Harrelson), a man who gave her ten children but not much else; Kelly had a severe drinking problem, struggled to hold on to a job, and tended to spend his money as soon as he earned it. It was seemingly up to Evelyn to support the family, but with ten kids to look after, taking a job outside the home hardly seemed practical. But the resourceful Evelyn discovered a way to bring some extra money into the household -- at a time when a number of companies held contests to find new advertising jingles for their products, Evelyn had a genius for coming up with slogans and winning contests, and for the better part of a decade Evelyn kept food on the table and a roof over her head by dreaming up jingles, tag lines, and ad headlines and winning contests with her handiwork, often selling the merchandise she won to pay the bills. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio was based on the best-selling memoir by Terry Ryan, who was the sixth of Evelyn Ryan's ten kids. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Terror takes on both human and mechanical form in this independent horror film from Japanese director Takashi Shimizu. Masuoka (Shinya Tsukamoto) is a freelance photographer who has become malignly obsessed with fear. Masuoka believes there is a physical component to terror, and he is determined to find it. While his rattrap apartment has become a shrine to documents of fear, he's particularly fascinated with a videotape of Furoki (Kazuhiro Nakahara), a disturbed man committing suicide in a Tokyo subway tunnel by stabbing himself in the face. Masuoka think if he can recreate Furoki's experience, he might be able to find out what he saw at the edge of panic, and after throwing away his antidepressants he makes his way down to the place where the suicide was recorded. Masuoka finds a mysterious passageway in the tunnel, and discovers Furoki is alive and unwell underground. Masuoka also learns of a strange breed of robots who terrify people both beneath the Earth and on the surface; he also finds a strange feral woman and attempts to rescue her, but someone else has already claimed her, and wants her back immediately. Marebito (aka The Stranger From Afar) stars Shinya Tsukamoto, himself a noted Japanese horror filmmaker, best known for his experimental feature Tetsuo (aka Ironman). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Piper Perabo (Cheaper by the Dozen) plays Jen Marshall, a young girl in her mid-twenties who has more than a few skeletons in her closet, in Irving Schwartz's bittersweet drama release from Empire Pictures. Though she initially appears to be nothing short of a saint - leaving L.A. for Brooklyn to care for her ailing parents as the story opens - Jen, it turns out, has been a bit of a bad girl in Los Angeles and has upset more than a few people thanks to her wild and unrestrained lifestyle and careless attitude. It is a problem that only follows her and risks complicating her life again when she resettles with her parents in the Big Apple - until a tragic accident confines her to a wheelchair and forces her to reexamine her self-centeredness. Mary Beth Hurt The World According to Garpand David Rasche Barbarians at the Gate co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

As one of the most cutting-edge Japanese filmmakers, Kiyoshi Kurosawa once again wraps a lowbrow, much-maligned genre -- in this case horror flicks (which were the rage in Japan at the time of this release) -- around some decidedly highbrow philosophical concepts. At the film's outset, Michi (Kumiko Aso) and her cohorts at a rooftop nursery cannot get ahold of their co-worker, Taguchi (Kenji Mizuhashi), who has an important floppy disk. When she ventures over to his apartment, she finds him pale, listless, and unusually quiet -- that is until he suddenly hangs himself. While the suicide is disconcerting, what really freaks Michi out is that Taguchi's body seems to dissolve into the wall, leaving a sickly black stain. Meanwhile, college slacker Ryosuke Kawashima (Haruhiko Kato) logs onto the Internet for the first time even though he is not particularly fond of computers. Instead of stumbling into a porn site or a chat room, he finds himself in a most peculiar site -- he just sees ghostly images of other people going about their everyday life. Then the computer prompts him, asking, "Would you like to meet ghosts?" Even though he eventually pulls the plug, the machine still on occasion springs to life. He eventually consults a comely computer maven named Harue (Koyuki), who is also utterly baffled. As more and more Internet users seal themselves into their rooms with red duct tape and melt into black splotches, Kawashima and Michi independently come to discover that the Internet has become portal for an increasingly crowded afterlife. As Tokyo becomes increasingly depopulated, Kawashima and Michi cross paths. This film -- which also features cameos by Kurosawa regulars Koji Yakusho, Jun Fubuki, and Sho Aikawa -- was screened at the 2001 Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Last Victory concerns the Palio horse race, an Italian tradition for hundreds of years. The film tells the story of how one particular district, Civetta, attempts to break the extended losing streak they are experiencing at the event. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

British writer/director/actress Lisa Gornick makes her feature debut with the microbudget romantic comedy Do I Love You? Shot with digital video, the film involves struggling writer Marina (Gornick) riding her bike around London while her voice-over narration ponders all matters of life and love. She thinks that having kids will solve her problems with girlfriend Romy (Raquel Cassidy). Meanwhile, straight girl Louise (Sarah Patterson) writes a magazine article about the hip quotient of being a lesbian. Do I Love You? was shown at the 2003 San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Love, death, and troubling secrets lurk beneath the surface of a quiet Iowa farming community in this independent drama. Ellen Biddle (Melora Walters) is a Iowa housewife who has reached the breaking point -- a drought is devastating the family farm, creditors threaten to foreclose on the property, and Ellen learns her husband, Paul (Tahmus Rounds), has been sleeping with Patsy (Jo Anderson), the unsatisfied wife of the town sheriff, Tom Gibson (Jamey Sheridan). One night, Paul comes home late from spending the evening with Patsy, and Ellen murders him with a shotgun. After cleaning up the scene of the crime and disposing of Paul's body, Ellen tries to go on with her life, but Tom -- with whom Ellen had a fling many years before -- begins poking around, seemingly interested in starting up with her again, though Ellen's mother (Diane Ladd) warns her daughter to keep her distance. Meanwhile, Tom is also running for mayor, but the behavior of his loose-cannon son, Richard (Kris Park), is quickly becoming a liability, while Richard finds an unlikely ally in his private war against his father in Ellen. Katherine Lindberg's debut feature was one of two films called Rain which was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

While North Korea is slowly growing into a world power, thanks in part to the controversial actions of its leader, Kim Jong II, it is also a nation cut off from the world, keeping little contact with its neighbors China and Russia and separated from South Korea. North Korea is one of the few nations where hard-line adherence to Communist ideals is still the order of the day, and British filmmaker Daniel Gordon traveled to North Korea to document an unusual annual event, the Mass Games, a massive performance featuring literally thousands of dancers, gymnasts, athletes and musicians staged as a celebration of patriotism and the socialist ideal. Pak Hyon Sun and Kim Song Yon are two girls who were selected to perform in the Mass Games as part of a gymnastics program, and A State of Mind follows them as they prepare for the show, hoping against hope their efforts please Kim Jong II; along the way, the film offers a perspective on their daily lives and the lives of those around them in a land largely unknown and little understood in the West. Director Daniel Gordon has examined sports and politics in North Korea before with his acclaimed documentary The Game of Their Lives. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In Philip Kaufman's surprisingly successful film adaptation of Czech author Milan Kundera's demanding 1984 best-seller, Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Tomas, an overly amorous Prague surgeon, while Juliette Binoche plays Tereza, the waiflike beauty whom he marries. Even though he's supposedly committed, Tomas continues his wanton womanizing, notably with his silken mistress Sabina (Lena Olin). Escaping the 1968 Russian invasion of Prague by heading for Geneva, Sabina takes up with another man and unexpectedly develops a friendship with Tereza. Meanwhile, Tomas, who previously was interested only in sex, becomes politicized by the collapse of Czechoslovakia's Dubcek regime. The Unbearable Lightness of Being may be too leisurely for some viewers, but other viewers may feel the same warm sense of inner satisfaction that is felt after finishing a good, long novel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A man who has lived a life of emotional isolation discovers the dark side of falling in love in this drama from Japanese filmmaker Jun Ichikawa. Tony Takitani (Issey Ogata) is the son of a Japanese musician with a passion for jazz who spent most of World War II in Shanghai, and was later sentenced to a stretch in prison following the war. Tony was named in honor of an American serviceman who befriended his father, but his name also earned him the suspicion of his classmates, and he had few close friends as a child, a situation aggravated by the death of his mother. While Tony displayed great technical skill as an artist, his work lacked feeling, and he ended up pursuing a successful career as a technical illustrator. One day, Tony meets Eiko Konuma (Rie Miyazawa), a beautiful woman working with one of his clients, and he is immediately entranced. Feeling as if he's found his soul mate, Tony becomes fully inspired for the first time in his life, and soon asks Eiko for her hand in marriage. Eiko accepts, but before long Tony discovers she has a financially ruinous fondness for expensive designer clothes. When Tony asks Eiko to cut back on her shopping sprees, it triggers a series of events which show Eiko isn't all Tony imagined her to be, and throws his new satisfaction with life into turmoil. Tony Takitani received its North American premiere at the 2004 Vancouver Film Festival, and was also screened as part of the World Cinema series at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Director Roman Polanski gives one of Charles Dickens' best-loved stories a new and dynamic interpretation in this period drama. Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) is a young orphan in Victorian England who has been sent to a dank workhouse run by the miserly Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) when it is learned there is no one to care for him. When Oliver dares to ask for more gruel, he is sent away to live with an undertaker, who treats him poorly. Preferring life on the streets to the treatment he's been receiving, Oliver runs away to London, where he falls in with the Artful Dodger (Harry Eden), a youthful pickpocket. The Artful Dodger is one of a gang of young thieves overseen by Fagin (Ben Kingsley), a paternal but sinister criminal mastermind. While Oliver finds a home of sorts with Fagin and his young cohorts, he also falls into a dangerous life made all the more threatening by the presence of Fagin's menacing overlord, Bill Sykes (Jamie Foreman). Oliver Twist was Polanski's first feature film after enjoying a major career resurgence following the international success of his Oscar-winning World War II drama The Pianist. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An aspiring musician looking to break big finds the singer who may finally be able to make his dreams come true in director Renee Chabria's musical drama starring John Leguizamo and Elizabeth Peña. There's nothing that Antonio (Leguizamo) wants more out of life than to be standing on the stage with the spotlight shining down on him. Soon after purchasing a bus ticket to Los Angeles and leaving his Mexican border town behind, Antonio falls for aspiring young doctor Nina (Ana Claudia Talancon). When Antonio discovers that his new neighbor Mirabella is a gifted former singer who has fallen on hard times, he convinces the struggling single mother to put her faith in her abilities and prepare for the upcoming talent contest that may just lead the pair to a future full of prosperity and creative freedom. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A con man finds himself up against an adversary he hasn't the strength to challenge in this crime drama from Spain. Ernesto (Ernesto Alterio) is a man who grew up learning the easier way to get out of trouble was to lie, and over the years, he's built a career out of his gift for twisting the truth as a con man. Teaming up with two experienced grifters, Manco (Manuel Alexandre) and Federico (Federico Luppi), Ernesto is able to pull off a major scam involving the Spanish Army that scores the three a major payday. This should put Ernesto and his partners on Easy Street, but things begin to go sour when Ernesto is reunited with a former girlfriend, Pilar (Victoria Abril). Ernesto is a soft touch for anything that Pilar might suggest, and when she plots a big con for him and his partners, he offers no objections. However, when Manco dies under hazy circumstances and Ernesto's childhood pal Gipsy (Alejandro Casaseca) conveniently appears wanting to take his place, Ernesto begins to suspect that he may be the one being scammed. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi