Auggie runs a small tobacco shop in Brooklyn, New York. The whole neighborhood comes to visit him to buy cigarettes and have some small talk. During the movie Lou Reed tries to explain why he has to have a cut on his health insurance bill if he keeps smoking and Madonna acts as a Singing Telegram.
Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate. Still grieving over his wife's murder, Paul is moved by both Rashid's quest to reconnect with his father and Auggie's discovery that a woman who might be his daughter is about to give birth.
Homer is an orphan who was never adopted, becoming the favorite of orphanage director Dr. Larch. Dr. Larch imparts his full medical knowledge on Homer, who becomes a skilled, albeit unlicensed, physician. But Homer yearns for a self-chosen life outside the orphanage. What will Homer learn about life and love in the cider house? What of the destiny that Dr. Larch has planned for him?
A comic series of short vignettes built on one another to create a cumulative effect, as the characters discuss things as diverse as caffeine popsicles, Paris in the '20s, and the use of nicotine as an insecticide--all the while sitting around sipping coffee and smoking cigarettes. As director Jim Jarmusch delves into the normal pace of our world from an extraordinary angle, he shows just how absorbing the obsessions, joys and addictions of life can be, if truly observed.
Starring: Roberto Benigni, Tom Waits, Steve Buscemi, Cate Blanchett, Iggy Pop, Jack White, Meg White, Steve Coogan, Isaach De Bankolé, Genius/GZA, Cinqué Lee, Joie Lee, Taylor Mead, Alfred Molina, Bill Murray, William Rice
Tobacco industry lobbyist Nick Naylor has a seemingly impossible task: promoting cigarette smoking in a time when the health hazards of the activity have become too plain to ignore. Nick, however, revels in his job, using argument and twisted logic to place, as often as not, his clients in the positions of either altruistic do-gooders or victims. Nick's son Joey needs to understand and respect his dad's philosophy, and Nick works hard to respond to that need without compromising his lack of values. When a beautiful news reporter betrays Nick's sexually-achieved trust, his world seems in danger of collapsing. But there's always one more coffin nail in Nick's pack.
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J.K. Simmons, Robert Duvall
Directed by Jason Reitman
English language with latvian and russian subtitles.
Set in 1930s Los Angeles, this film revolves around the love affair that forms between Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell) and Camilla Lopez (Salma Hayek). Arturo is a young ambitious second generation Italian American who dreams of becoming famous by writing the Great American Novel and marrying a beautiful blonde, while Camilla is a headstrong Mexican waitress who wishes to marry a white American, so she can replace her last name.
Based on the novel by John Fante.
Cast: Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, Donald Sutherland, Eileen Atkins
Directed by Robert Towne
English language with latvian and russian subtitles.