A guide to films that express social realism or escapism; and a guide to culturally important films that may reveal a character's thoughts, dreams, or motivations.
Image from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night from giphy.com at https://gph.is/1NMynCN
Bechdel Test
The Bechdel Test is a measurement used to determine if a film includes two or more female characters, their interaction, and if they discuss something other than a man.
Autumn SonataAn international concert pianist visits her grown daughter after a seven-year absence. Aching with the memory of her mother's neglect, the introverted daughter explodes into a rage and the reunion turns into a shattering confrontation.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE AUTUMN
ISBN: 9780780021112
Publication Date: 1978
Eighth GradeThirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school (the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year) before she begins high school.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE EIGHTH
ISBN: B07G1C687D
Publication Date: 2018
The FavouriteEarly eighteenth-century England is at war with the French. A frail Queen Anne occupies the throne, and her friend Lady Sarah tends to her ill health. When a new servant Abigail arrives, Sarah takes her under her wing, and Abigail sees a chance at a return to her aristocratic roots. As the politics of war become time-consuming for Sarah, Abigail steps in to fill in as the Queen's companion. Their growing friendship gives her a chance to fulfill her ambitions, and no one will stand in her way.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE FAVOURITE
ISBN: B07HSM5VQN
Publication Date: 2019
Get OutA young black man meets his white girlfriend's parents at their estate, only to find out that the situation is much more sinister than it appears.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE GET
ISBN: B06WWK4PT2
Publication Date: 2017
If Beale Street Could TalkA timeless love story set in early 1970s Harlem involving newly engaged nineteen-year- old Tish and her fiance Fonny who have a beautiful future ahead. But their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Now the pair and their families must fight for justice in the name of love and the promise of the American dream.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE IF
ISBN: 6317613230
Publication Date: 2019
Isle of DogsSet in Japan, this follows a boy's odyssey in search of his lost dog.
Call Number: DVD ANIMATED ISLE
ISBN: B07BF1Z36Z
Publication Date: 2018
Mulholland DriveA beautiful woman riding in a limousine along Los Angeles' Mulholland Drive is targeted by a would-be shooter, but before he can pull the trigger, she is injured when her limo is hit by another car. The woman stumbles away from the accident and meets up with a plucky ingénue new to L.A. But are things really as they seem?
Call Number: DVD MOVIE MULHOLLAND
ISBN: 9780783266824
Publication Date: 2001
Paper MoonA smooth-talking con man and a nine-year-old orphan are up to tricks in depression-era Kansas.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE PAPER
ISBN: 0032429283450
Publication Date: 1973
Portrait of a Lady on FireFrance, 1760. Marianne is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Because she is a reluctant bride-to-be, Marianne arrives under the guise of companionship, observing Héloïse by day and secretly painting her by firelight at night. As the two women orbit one another, intimacy and attraction grow as they share Héloïse first moments of freedom. Héloïse's portrait soon becomes a collaborative act of and a testament to their love.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE PORTRAIT
ISBN: 0715515247610
Publication Date: 2019
The Shape of WaterAn otherworldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of Cold War-era America circa 1962. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda discover a secret classified experiment.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE SHAPE
ISBN: B07894WXX6
Publication Date: 2018
ShopliftersOn the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft, and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE SHOPLIFTERS
ISBN: 0876964016582
Publication Date: 2018
SuspiraA darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.
Call Number: BLU-RAY MOVIE SUSPIRIA
ISBN: 6317570906
Publication Date: 2019
Image from Frances Ha from film-grab.com at https://film-grab.com/2014/01/09/frances-ha/
Image from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night from giphy.com at https://giphy.com/gifs/a-girl-walks-home-alone-at-night-the-arash-nQgJL0RaAEWti
Image from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night from giphy.com at https://giphy.com/gifs/a-girl-walks-home-alone-at-night-sheila-vand-smR9LMhUixkXe
Image from Sicario from evanerichards.com at https://www.evanerichards.com/2017/4720
Image from Sicario from evanerichards.com at https://www.evanerichards.com/wp-content/gallery/sicario/Sicario_402.jpg
Image from Mulholland Drive from film-grab.com at https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/60%20(639).jpg?bwg=1547237982
Image from Martha Marcy May Marlene from giphy.com at https://giphy.com/gifs/elizabeth-olsen-martha-marcy-may-marlene-ciL0DoMyR9Ere
Image from The Florida Project from giphy.com at https://giphy.com/gifs/a24-the-florida-project-l0IsHpdbT4EX8wOgU
Women in Society
Ameĺie From Montmartre / Le Fabuleux Destin D'Ameĺie PoulainAmélie is a young woman who had a decidedly unusual childhood; misdiagnosed with an unusual heart condition, Amélie didn't attend school with other children, but spent most of her time in her room, where she developed a keen imagination and an active fantasy life. Despite all this, Amélie has grown into a healthy and beautiful young woman who works in a cafe and has a whimsical, romantic nature. She decides to step into the lives of others around her to help them out.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE AMÉLIE
ISBN: 0788836218
Publication Date: 2001
Black SwanA psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet. An insecure ballet dancer wins the lead in Swan Lake but slowly loses her grip on sanity when a seductive newcomer is out to steal her role.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE BLACK
ISBN: B0041KKYEM
Publication Date: 2011
The Florida ProjectSet over one summer, the film follows precocious six-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Disney World.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE FLORIDA
ISBN: B0789TKQL3
Publication Date: 2018
Frances HaA woman in her late twenties living in contemporary New York tries to sort out her ambitions, finances, and above all, her tight but changing bond with her best friend Sophie. Frances Ha gets at both the frustrations and the joys of being young and unsure of where to go next.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE FRANCES
ISBN: B00EALTWZO
Publication Date: 2013
A Girl Walks Home Alone at NightThe first Iranian Vampire Western ever made. A joyful mash up of genre, archetype, and iconography, its prolific influences span spaghetti westerns, graphic novels, horror films and the Iranian New Wave.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE GIRL
ISBN: B00SV06W4E
Publication Date: 2015
The InnocentsWarsaw, December 1945: the Second World War is finally over and Mathilde is treating the last of the French survivors of the German camps. When a panicked Benedictine nun appears at the clinic one night begging Mathilde to follow her back to the convent, what she finds there is shocking: a holy sister about to give birth and several more in advanced stages of pregnancy.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE INNOCENTS
ISBN: B01GA4ILCS
Publication Date: 2016
Jane EyreWhen orphaned governess Jane Eyre arrives at imposing Thornfield Hall, she's intrigued by her brooding, wealthy employer, Rochester. His dark moods and the strange occurrences in the house lead her to discover a terrible secret that he had hoped to hide from her forever.
LoreAbandoned by their Nazi parents at the end of World War II, five German siblings, led by fourteen-year-old Lore embark on a harrowing journey across their war-torn country.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE LORE
ISBN: B00BSTVGHS
Publication Date: 2013
Martha Marcy May Marlene"After escaping from a dangerous cult and the watchful eye of its charismatic leader, a young woman named Martha tries to reclaim a normal life with her family. But the haunting memories from Martha's past trigger a chilling paranoia, and nowhere seems safe as the fragile line between her reality and delusions begin to blur."
Call Number: DVD MOVIE MARTHA
ISBN: B006OV7RQ4
Publication Date: 2011
Mother!A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE MOTHER!
ISBN: B075FGXPCL
Publication Date: 2017
RepulsionCarol, who works in a beauty salon in London, is both repulsed and fascinated by men. She is unsure of how to handle their advances, which are numerous because she is gorgeous. Gripped by mental illness, she eventually imprisons herself in her apartment, where she suffers from sexual dreams. Her delirium leads to dire circumstances.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE REPULSION
ISBN: B0026VBOK6
Publication Date: 1965
SicarioAfter an idealistic FBI agent is recruited by a government task-force official to pursue a drug lord, she begins a perilous mission that forces her to question everything she believes, and pits her against a shadowy consultant with a dangerous agenda.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE SICARIO
ISBN: B01638AXXG
Publication Date: 2015
The Silence of the LambsWhen FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned a case involving a monstrous serial killer, she seeks counsel from an imprisoned cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, whose fascination with the young woman is as great as his hunger for murder. As their relationship develops, Starling must confront her own demons, and an evil so powerful that she may not have the courage or strength to stop it.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE SILENCE
ISBN: 0027616065841
Publication Date: 1991
The WitchA family in 1630s New England faces destruction by the forces of witchcraft, black magic, and possession. When one of their five children goes missing and their life-sustaining crops fail, they fall victim to paranoia and fear as they begin to turn on one another.