Misconceptions on AllMovie Misconceptions (2008)

This lighthearted comedy pokes fun at the culture wars, and the debate over same-sex parenting. Southern gal Miranda is an Evangelical Christian with all the social and political beliefs dictated by her church, but when she gets what she's sure is a message from God, she does a 180 and decides to become a surrogate mother for a married gay couple from Boston. It's a weird enough situation as it is, but things get even crazier for Miranda when one of her baby-daddies-to-be decides to come down South for a visit -- and won't leave!

Happiness Runs on AllMovie Happiness Runs (2010)

A young man raised in a polygamous cult struggles to escape with his childhood love. Victor (Mark L. Young) may have been raised in a hippie commune, but he never bought into the philosophy laid out by shady guru Insley (Rutger Hauer), who uses a technique called "running" to entrance and seduce his devoted female followers. Becky (Hanna Hall) was fortunate enough to get out of the cult while she was still young, but now her father is terminally ill and she must return to care for him. Victor has always loved Becky, and now he's being haunted by psychic visions of her untimely death. Meanwhile, the adults in the community remain blind to the damage that exposure to sex and drugs has had on their self-destructive offspring. Now Victor wants out, and he wants to take Becky with him. In order to finance their flight, he starts selling pot. When that plan backfires and Becky falls into a downward spiral, Victor resorts to desperate measures in a last-ditch effort to save her life.

Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema on AllMovie Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema (2008)

An uneducated gas station attendant with a taste for the finer things in life turns to crime as a means of making ends meet, only to find himself on a dangerous collision course with the biggest drug dealer in town. All Lucky Kunene wanted out of life was a house by the water, a beautiful wife, and a 7-series BMW. Unfortunately, Lucky hails from a poor Soweto family, and his application for a university grant has just been refused. Dejected at the thought of spending the rest of his life pumping gas, Lucky teams up with his best friend, Zakes, to start stealing cars. At first the endeavor proves remarkably lucrative -- providing Lucky with enough cash to purchase a refrigerator, a nice suit, a classy wardrobe, and a hi-fi stereo system -- but before long the two thieves realize that their profile is becoming dangerously high, and that in order to avoid arrest they will have to relocate. Five years after moving to Hillbrow, Lucky and Zakes are the operators of a deadbeat taxi service. Their criminal lifestyle has gotten them nowhere, and rival taxi gang members are literally gunning for them night and day. Lucky shares a cramped apartment with 20 other people, mostly junkies, prostitutes, and immigrants with nowhere else to go. Though their existence seems bleak, the group manages to pool their resources and form the Hillbrow People's Housing Trust. But just as Lucky enters into the world of real estate, local detective Blackie Swart makes it his mission to capture the so-called "Hoodlum of Hillbrow" and Nigerian drug kingpin Tony Ngu lays claim to the city. With two of the city's most notorious criminals both preparing for the ultimate showdown, Detective Swart will have to work overtime in order to prevent the streets from becoming a virtual war zone.

the Thorn in the Heart (2009)

Filmmaker Michel Gondry turns from the playful semi-surrealism of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep to the personal story of a beloved family member in this documentary. Suzette Gondry is Michel's aunt and a retired schoolteacher; she educated children in rural communities in France from 1952 to 1986. While Suzette was committed to the education of all her students, she was a particularly close with one in particular -- her son, Jean-Yves, with whom she's had a loving but sometimes combative relationship. Michel accompanies Suzette on a journey in which she visits the many schools where she taught -- or the sites where those schools once stood -- and speaks of her experiences. She also meets some of her former students, and it's clear they recall Suzette as a woman with a kind heart but a strong will, and her determination earned her the enmity of a few of her charges. L'Epine dans le Coeur (aka The Thorn in the Heart) was an official selection at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival.

Udaan on AllMovie Udaan (2010)

A young man must defend his dreams against a father who barely knows him in this coming-of-age drama from India. Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) is a bright, sensitive youngster who dreams of becoming a writer some day. Rohan has spent eight years in a boarding school, but when he's unexpectedly expelled, he comes home to Jamshedpur and his father (Ronit Roy) who is practically a stranger to him. Rohan is introduced to Arjun (Aayan Boradia), a half brother he didn't even know he had, and learns that his life is about to change -- rather than studying literature, his father has decided he will focus on engineering, and he'll be performing manual labor in father's steel mill in his spare time. Between his job and his new academic commitments, Rohan's life is turned upside down, and he must learn to assert himself around a man who wants to reshape him into his own image. The first feature film from director Vikramaditya Motwane, Udaan was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

Tales From the Script on AllMovie Tales From the Script (2009)

While the director is usually seen as the key creative figure behind a film, it's the screenwriter who writes the story that puts a picture into motion, and 46 noted scenarists offer an inside look at the art and industry politics of working in Hollywood in this documentary. Ranging from Academy Award-winning veterans to budding writers who've just gotten their feet in the door. Tales From the Script gives these artists a chance to talk about the craft of screenwriting, its place in the filmmaking process, and the paradox that while a movie may start with a great script, that doesn't mean that what was written will necessarily show up onscreen. (As Dennis Palumbo, who wrote My Favorite Year, puts it, "Writers are egomaniacs with low self-esteem.") Including exclusive interviews with William Goldman, Frank Darabont, Paul Schrader, Larry Cohen, David S. Ward, Ron Shelton, and John Carpenter, Tales From the Script received its world premiere at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Zenith on AllMovie Zenith (2010)

This complex, highly cerebral sci-fi thriller concerns a father and son, each situated in two separate time periods - one inhabiting the present, and another living forty years in the future. Each senses the same conspiracy afoot, and begins searching for answers; instead of attaining deeper insights into external events, the men find that their investigations drive them into states of endless introspection. Ultimately, each must grapple with the same Faustian bargain - and each makes a very different choice.