Sonny reminisces about a time in his life forty-three years earlier when he was a socially awkward but street smart 15-year-old in 1944. He lived in what he considered a bizarre home life in Los Angeles with his somewhat naive but unusual parents. Like most mid-teen boys, he wanted to meet a nice girl his own age and ultimately fall in love with her. Girls his own age didn't seem to be attracted to him. Instead, he met and romanced in succession two older women: first, twenty-one year old Judy, who was already in a common law relationship which had bore two children, and second, twenty-five year old Francine, whose husband was away at war. After the first highly publicized relationship, he was dubbed "The Woo Woo Kid" by the press. And despite the press resulting from the first relationship after which Sonny vowed not to get involved with an older woman ever again, he met Francine which started the cycle all over again. This press also brought disdain by many, but admiration and love from afar by an abundance of young women and teenyboppers. With this recollection of life in 1944, Sonny just wants to tell the story from his side.

It's the late 1950s. Mid-twenty-something Kit is a restless and unfocused young man with a

1973 American crime film directed by Terrence Malick

A shy maths graduate takes a holiday in Dinard before starting his first job. He hopes his sort-of girlfriend will join him, but soon strikes up a friendship with another girl working in town. She in turn introduces him to a further young lady who fancies him. Thus the quiet young lad finds he is having to do some tricky juggling in territory new to him.

A young Danish man, Christoffer, lives a life of joy and happiness with his wife Maria in Stockholm. When his father dies his mother insists that Christoffer take over management of the family industry which is in danger of bankruptcy. He is torn between his chosen life and his sense of duty to his family and its past. When he chooses to step in as manager his family life and self-respect languish.

Romantic drama: the story of Christoffer and Maja's trip to the city of Prague - a beautiful, aging city, but also a city choked by a rigid and dated eastern-block mentality. PRAG is the story of a distant, ever-absent father who, even after passing away, traumatizes all who have known him. And PRAG is the story of a marriage on the verge of collapse, in which Christoffer wants one thing and Maja another. A story of an old love, constantly transformed; at once, rooted, fragile, vulnerable, forgotten and rediscovered. A marriage where secrets, one after the other, come bursting out of the closet.

1994 action comedy film directed by James Cameron

French teenager Isabelle is spending her summer holiday with her middle-class family in the south of France and decides to lose her virginity with German teenager Felix. Then she returns to Paris with her mother Sylvie, her stepfather Patrick and her younger brother Victor. Then Isabelle works as a call girl using the nickname Lea, meeting old men. She feels affection for her client Georges that is married with a daughter. When Georges dies from a heart attack while having sex with Isabelle in a hotel, she flees but the police investigate and identify her. The detectives in charge of the investigation disclose to Sylvie, who is devastated.

Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. As a result, his product is superior to what is currently available on the street and his prices are lower. His alliance with the New York Mafia ensures his position. It is also the story of a dedicated and honest policeman, Richie Roberts, who heads up a joint narcotics task force with the Federal government. Based on a true story.

Andrew Shepherd is approaching the end of his first term as President of the United States. He's a widower with a young daughter and has proved to be popular with the public. His election seems assured. That is until he meets Sydney Ellen Wade, a paid political activist working for an environmental lobby group. He's immediately smitten with her and after several amusing attempts, they finally manage to go on a date (which happens to be a State dinner for the visiting President of France). His relationship with Wade opens the door for his prime political opponent, Senator Bob Rumson, to launch an attack on the President's character, something he could not do in the previous election as Shepherd's wife had only recently died.

On account of the influence and support of Germain, a warm and compassionate social worker, the repeat offender and former safe-cracker, Gino, is granted parole. Yearning to wipe the slate clean and bury the past, Gino, determined to go straight, gets a steady job and finds love, unaware that it is only a matter of time before he's forced to confront destiny. Now, with his old partners-in-crime almost begging him to pick up where they left off, Gino finds himself with the back to the wall as malevolent Inspector Goitreau re-enters his life, harbouring a decade-long grudge. Is there enough room in town for the two sworn enemies?

Two adventurers and best friends, Roland and Manu, are the victims of a practical joke that costs Manu his pilot's license. With seeming contrition, the jokesters tell Roland and Manu about a crashed plane lying on the ocean floor off the coast of Congo stuffed with riches. The adventurers set off to find the loot. Going with them is Laetitia, an artistic young woman who treats them like brothers, plays along with their schemes, makes sculptures of found objects, and dreams of buying an old fort at the mouth of the Charente. The Congo tip turns out to be a double cross, and the adventurers must pick up the pieces. A trip to Fort Boyard completes the circle.

1967 drama film directed by Robert Enrico

Frédéric and Angèle are a married couple, he a painter, she an actress of some renown who gave up her career to be with him. She is a woman who most men desire. Struggling actors Paul and Élisabeth, neither who has any money, start to date after they meet as extras on a movie set. Shortly before Paul and Élisabeth met, Frédéric and Paul became friends after being introduced by a mutual acquaintance. By association, all four become friends, especially strengthened when Paul and Élisabeth decide to move into Frédéric and Angèle's spacious apartment in Rome. Following an attempted suicide by Frédéric, Paul reflects on the friendship between the four. Because of physical proximity, they couldn't help but become closer emotionally. So whenever something happened within one of their lives, either directly concerning one or more of the others or not, it couldn't help but affect the other three, the battle lines more often drawn not by couple but by gender.

Based on a series of true stories posted by Ho-sik Kim on the Internet describing his relationship with his girlfriend. These were later transformed into a best-selling book and the movie follows the book closely. It describes the meeting of Kyun-woo (Cha) and an unnamed girl. Kyun-woo is shamed into assisting the girl because the other passengers mistakenly think she is his girlfriend. Once he helps her, Kyun-woo develops a deep sense of responsibility for her which enables him to tolerate (somehow) the girl's abuses.

2001 South Korean film directed by Kwak Jae-yong

In the fall of 1959, for a time capsule, students draw pictures of life as they imagine it will be in 50 years. Lucinda, an odd child who hears voices, swiftly writes a long string of numbers. In 2009, the capsule is opened; student Caleb Koestler gets Lucinda's "drawing" and his father John, an astrophysicist and grieving widower, takes a look. He discovers dates of disasters over the past 50 years with the number who died. Three dates remain, all coming soon. He investigates, learns of Lucinda, and looks for her family. He fears for his son, who's started to hear voices and who is visited by a silent stranger who shows him a vision of fire and destruction. What's going on?

Paris, 1942. Robert Klein cannot find any fault with the state of affairs in German-occupied France. He has a well-furnished flat, a mistress, and business is booming. Jews facing discrimination because of laws enacted by the French government are desperate to sell valuable works of art - and it is easy for him to get them at bargain prices. His cosy life is disrupted when he realizes that there is another Robert Klein in Paris - a Jew with rather mysterious behaviour. Soon he attracts the close - and menacing - attention of the police to the art trader.

movies to watch

More lists by Jan Pirowski

documetaries

shows to watch

authors and books

anime

great books