Iron and Silk is a 1990 movie based on the eponymous book by American writer Mark Salzman. It details his journey to China after college to study Chinese wu shu, better known in the west as kung fu, and to teach English. Though not trained as an actor, Salzman starred as himself, as did Pan Qingfu, who claimed no one else could portray him on film. Salzman's experiences occurred in Changsha, Hunan, though the film was shot in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. (Wikipedia)
Riyo, an orphaned 17-year old, sails from Yokohama to Hawaii in 1918 to marry Matsuji, a man she has never met. Hoping to escape a troubled past and start anew, Riyo is bitterly disappointed upon her arrival: her husband is twice her age. The miserable girl finds solace with her new friend Kana, a young mother who helps Riyo accept her new life.
Margit and her older sister Katla flee for safety after their mother is burned to death for witchcraft. Finding shelter with Johan and his resentful young son, Jonas, the sisters help form an impromptu family unit that’s soon strained by Katla’s burgeoning sorcery.
Henry Czerny plays American journalist Michael Coleman, a strung-out expatriate writing for a Brazilian newspaper. His professional obsession is Father Stephen Louis, a mildly popular and charismatic priest who has been the major political opponent of the greedy and ruthless landowners of the Bahia region. Mysteriously, the usually outspoken Father Louis has been silent for three months. With the Brazilian Congress about to vote on a major land-redistribution bill that could potentially tip the balance of power even further, Father Louis’s support of the peasants and his condemnation of the landowners is more important than ever. Coleman sets out alone for the politically unstable Bahia region to capture a highly anticipated interview with the elusive priest.
Mousie and Sad Girl are childhood best friends in a contemporary Los Angeles poor Hispanic neighborhood. But when Sad Girl becomes pregnant by Mousie's boyfriend, a drug dealer named Ernesto, the two become bitter enemies. While their dispute escalates towards violence, the violence of the world around them soon also impacts their lives.
A crippled dwarf is forced to become jester to a tyrannical king, but when the king abuses a beautiful dwarf with whom the jester is in love the jester plots a terrible revenge.
Connie, the fifteen-year-old black sheep of her family, finds her summertime idyll of beach trips, mall hangouts, and innocent flirtations shattered by an encounter with a mysterious stranger.
The death of a prince brings a young woman back to the palace where she was born into servitude. The lingering legacy is brought into light from behind frosted windows and velvet curtains.
"Low Visibility" finds a man wandering alone on a snowy mountain roadside, waving his arms and shouting at the sky. The enigmatic Mr. Bones, an apparent amnesiac, is unable or unwilling to explain what has happened to him.
In 1847 Buenos Aires, a young noblewoman and a young Jesuit fall in love, much to the disapproval of her family and the Church.
Natalie allows her classmate Jeff, who has run away from home, to stay at her place while her father is away on a business trip. Natalie soon starts dating Jeff's friend James Casey, who isn't as faithful as she thinks, while her best friend Polly falls in love with baseball player Zoo Knudsen.
A car crash blazes a destructive trail trough the lives of three women – an awkward adolescent, a malevolent femme fatale, and a wheelchair-ridden critic.
Maya, a New York artist and model, meets Joe, a drifter. They begin a passionate affair. On an impromptu trip to visit Joe's sister in the country, Joe's inner demons begin to surface.
Near the beginning of the Tang dynasty, in 7th century China, General Shi Yan-sheng is tricked into leaving the crown prince unguarded. The crown prince is murdered by one of his brothers who then becomes emperor. Shi retreats to a monastery, perhaps to hide, perhaps to plan a coup. When his loyal troops as well as the princess he desires are slain, he seeks refuge in a remote, abandoned monastery where an aged abbot schools him with practical, earthy teachings. The emperor's forces pursue Shi: first a woman, then a general seek to overpower him with lust and might. Over the course of the film, the reds of battle give way to blues of meditation.
In a seedy New Jersey nightclub, gossip turns to murder when the owner Pete hires exotic dancer Danny Lee, who starts up an affair with barfly Ralph, much to the chagrin of his bedridden wife, Luane.
Jade Li is a feisty, 20-something Chinese Canadian, trying to achieve that happy medium between giving in to her parent's wishes and fulfilling her own needs and desires - double happiness. Naturally, something's got to give and when love beckons in the shape of Mark, a white university student, the facade of the perfect Chinese daughter begins to slip.
Nora, a single mother raising two teenage daughters, Shade and Trudi, waits tables at a truck-stop diner in a small New Mexico town. The beautiful and rebellious Trudi drops out of school and gets a job alongside Nora, while the younger Shade whittles away her time at Spanish movie matinees. Their lives are turned upside down when Trudi becomes pregnant and the girls' absent father returns.
Cash-strapped Oregon winemakers turn to growing pot in order to finance their vineyard.
A lesbian college graduate, trying to bankroll her own photography business, works as a high-priced New York City escort.
A telephone operator from Mexico City tries to support a family and her passion for popular dance.