An anthology of three stories which portray various shades and motives of violence through different characters that are dissimilar in nature.
19-year-old Pia is an aspiring writer who is struggling to find materials for her book after being rejected by a literary agent. Desperate for fame and success, Pia starts secretly writing about Mei, her best friend and a rising actress with an authoritarian mother who confides in her about her personal struggles.
Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.
A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
In early 1860s New York, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon is released from prison and returns to the Five Points, seeking revenge against his father's killer, William Cutting, a powerful anti-immigrant gang leader. He knows that revenge can only be attained by infiltrating Cutting's inner circle. Vallon's journey becomes a fight for personal survival and to find a place for the Irish people.
When a deported gangster dies in Italy, the U.S. Treasury Department is very interested in the one million dollars Madigan owed the government, but managed to take to Italy with him. They send Agent Jason Phister over to Italy to nose out the million. His criteria for the job is that no one would ever guess he's an agent of the United States government.
An undercover cop lets his job get personal while on an underground assignment.
Thaddeus Mackenzie, a wealthy lawyer, learns that he is dying and decides to sell all of his property and visit his old friend Allen Hayden. Allen is a struggling artist with a passion for life who once survived by working the streets, but now is romantically involved with Eva, a wealthy European gallery owner living in L.A. Thaddeus implores Allen to find Jamie, a young street hustler that Thaddeus had once tried to rescue. Allen returns to the streets to face the dark corners of his past where he must choose between what he left behind and the uncertainty that lies ahead.
Leonard is an English tailor who used to craft suits on London’s world-famous Savile Row. After a personal tragedy, he’s ended up in Chicago, operating a small tailor shop in a rough part of town where he makes beautiful clothes for the only people around who can afford them: a family of vicious gangsters.
A bisexual petty criminal named Bob encounters a married couple arguing in a bar. Bob breaks up the fight and proceeds to seduce first the wife and then the husband. Then Bob teaches the couple how to be burglars and they join him in his criminal exploits.
A Milan pimp faces off against a ruthless and greedy French gangster whom wants to unite organized crime in Italy.
Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
Bewildered, Carlos awakens from a nightmare stalked by Death. The dream has a foreboding message, which is not entirely clear to him. Carlos decides to challenge his destiny and face the consequences, but his evil doing ends up shaping his own fate and that of those around him. Macabre by choice, Carlos attempts to tip the scales by changing the course of the plot designed by the gods. In this story,the unsettling city of Mexico is the backdropthat reveals psychological and human postures characteristic of a big city. It is a story where individuals who change their destiny with masks and opportunism manipulate morality, religion and reason for selfish personal gain.
Saro, a young Sicilian thug, that from jobs assigned by his godfather, won the favor of leaders of Cosa Nostra, becoming a "man of honor".
A group of Boston-bred gangsters set up shop in balmy Florida during the Prohibition era, facing off against the competition and the Ku Klux Klan.
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.
A Depression-downtrodden waif uses her brains instead of her body to rise from tyro con artist to crime boss.
A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.
True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.
A woman struggles to recover from a brutal attack by setting out on a mission for revenge.