After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.
Impoverished priest Harihar Ray leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work. His wife, Sarbojaya, looks after their rebellious daughter, Durga, and young son, Apu. The children enjoy the small pleasures of their difficult life.
A socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into depravity after developing a crush on a boy with perfect hands.
Matilda Wormwood is an exquisite and intelligent little girl. Unfortunately, her parents, Harry and Zinnia misunderstand her because they think she is so different. As time passes, she finally starts school and has a kind teacher, loyal friends, and a sadistic headmistress. As she gets fed up with the constant cruelty, she begins to realize that she has a gift of telekinetic powers. After some days of practice, she suddenly turns the tables to stand up to Harry and Zinnia and outwit the headmistress.
During the flight, the hero of the film, the boxing champion, recalls his life's journey. The hero’s childhood was in the first post-war years. He grew up without a father, his mother was busy with work, his older brother was in prison, the relationship with the new stepfather did not work out, and the boy was brought up on the street. There he learned to fight, and this led him to the boxing ring. Over time, the stubborn street boy became the champion of Europe.
Tito's break-up with Stalin in 1948 marked the beginning of not only confusing, but also very dangerous, years for many hard-core Yugoslav communists. A careless remark about the newspaper cartoon is enough for Mesha to join many arrested unfortunates. His family is now forced to cope with the situation and wait for his release from prison.
Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie's world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences.
Various experiences of childhood are seen in several sequences that take place in the small town of Thiers, France. Vignettes include a boy's awakening interest in girls, couples double-dating at the movies, brothers giving their friend a haircut, a boy dealing with an abusive home life, a baby and a cat sitting by an open window, a child telling a dirty joke, and a boy who develops a crush on his friend's mother.
A bitter coming-of-age story about boy who grows up in a remote Bosnian village shortly after World War II.
Božidarka Frajt (playing herself) is an actress who is unsuccessfully looking for a job in Zagreb. The film follows her everyday life: she spends time with her friends and colleagues, shoots a television commercial, goes to a party, remembers her difficult childhood as a war orphan, and contemplates her professional and personal failures. Finally, she visits theatre manager Vjeran Zuppa in his office and asks for a job.
Past/present story of a young man who lives in a fantasy world of aeronautics to escape a more challenging reality.
Three handicapped losers who form a band ask famous writer Dries to be their drummer. He joins the band and starts manipulating them.
The family breaks up. The boy Jonukas feels very lonely. He wants to find his mother himself. The search is long and difficult.
Andrew returns to his hometown for the funeral of his mother, a journey that reconnects him with past friends. The trip coincides with his decision to stop taking his powerful antidepressants. A chance meeting with Sam - a girl also suffering from various maladies - opens up the possibility of rekindling emotional attachments, confronting his psychologist father, and perhaps beginning a new life.
Guido Anselmi, a film director, finds himself creatively barren at the peak of his career. Urged by his doctors to rest, Anselmi heads for a luxurious resort, but a sorry group gathers—his producer, staff, actors, wife, mistress, and relatives—each one begging him to get on with the show. In retreat from their dependency, he fantasizes about past women and dreams of his childhood.
Forcibly separated from her twin brother when they are orphaned, a melancholic misfit learns how to find confidence within herself amid the clutter of misfortunes and everyday life.
High-school students start a vigilante group in their neighbourhood but, as their power increases, they become more abusive and dangerous.
When his father runs off and his mother hooks up with a mustachioed new beau, eleven-year-old Mark becomes convinced that an uninvited talkative space alien, going by the name "Split," has taken up telepathic residence in his mind, and is leading him to question the norms of planet Earth. Only one teacher is willing to entertain the possibility that Mark just might be telling the truth.
When 12-year-old Elsi Björkman and her mother Paula return from a week's holiday abroad, Elsi immediately notices that someone has been in her room. She tells her mother about it, but she does not believe her. At the local supermarket Elsi meets Henry, who seems to spend his time returning shopping trolleys. Elsi does not know anything about the boy, who has an irritating habit of appearing from out of nowhere, only to disappear again, as if into thin air. Nevertheless, the children become friends.
As children, Nick and his little brother take care of their baby brother while their mother drinks herself senseless. But the baby dies, and both brothers blame themselves. Many years later, Nick is out of prison after serving time for an assault. He drinks, lives in a shelter and tries to help an old friend. When their mother dies, Nick meets his brother at the funeral. The brother, who remains nameless, is a single father to a young boy, but also supports a drug habit that is spiraling out of control. When an opportunity presents itself, he becomes a drug dealer to secure his son's future. Eventually, the two brothers meet again.