Summary: Afraid his mistress will expose his infidelity to his family, a well-respected ophthalmologist takes extreme measures to protect his reputation.



Discuss: Does God or some other power watch over all of our actions? Do we create our own morality? What might prompt one to change one's moral code? How can we judge others who adhere to a different moral code from our own?

Summary: In the thick of a zombie breakout across America, a small band of survivors find shelter inside an abandoned shopping mall.



Discuss: Given the intentional satire of consumerist culture, is the zombies' feeling of menace derived from basic human nature? Does this manifest itself in the film at any time? How best can we stave off our most dangerous human appetites and tendencies?

Summary: James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) marks his twentieth outing here, this time teaming with the beautiful yet deadly Jinx (Halle Berry) to take down an international diamond smuggler.



Discuss: A veritable greatest hits of all the best (and worst) of the Bond film franchise since Dr. No, is this film's perpetuation of the chauvinistic stereotypes embodied by the series still acceptable? Does this film's stronger female lead (Halle Berry as Jinx) provide a radical enough departure from the pretty yet empty “Bond girls” of the past? Given the humanistic approach to 2006's Casino Royale, does anything in this film indicate a push toward contemporary attitudes toward gender?

Summary: Memories of a youth steeped in dismal misery are recalled by a family years after the abusive father has passed away.



Discuss: In what ways does music play an important role in the lives of these characters? What about your own life? Does the film's tone contain any traces of nostalgia? Is it possible to feel nostalgia for difficult or bleak times of one's life?

Summary: Daily life for the impoverished residents of a fictional community residing in a forgotten rubbish heap is depicted with sensitivity to their fears and hopes.



Discuss: What might one's small or large pleasures be whilst living in a place such as that depicted in the film? Does one have to be detached from reality in a way, such as the boy pretending to be a train conductor, in order to find anything worth appreciating about existence in such a place? What is the significance of the title (a kind of nonsense phrase in Japanese) with relation to the film's themes?

Summary: The approach of collectivism poses a threat to the greedy Kulak farmers of the pre-Stalinist Soviet Union.



Discuss: Commissioned as pro-collectivist propaganda by the Soviet government of the 1920s, is Earth in total sympathy with Communist ideals? What elements of the film might suggest otherwise? Has industrialization tarnished our land irrevocably or has its increased productivity been a boon?

Summary: Using the infamous art forger Elmyr de Hory as his jumping off point, Orson Welles narrates this documentary whose aim is to illuminate the playful and philosophical aspects of fakery, trickery, and magic.



Discuss: The great philosopher David Hume argued that to lie in any instance is unethical, but is it possible for fakery to be harmless and fun, or even ethical? Can fakery in itself be regarded as an art form? How does the medium of the cinema partake in fakery?

Summary: Three badass young women team up to abduct a young girl from her boyfriend then pilfer a family of crooked male farmers.



Discuss: In what ways can this film be interpreted as feminist? What ideals are promoted which serve to support women and reinforce the idea that they need not be helpless and weak but instead may be strong and vicious? Should the choice to take the young girl hostage be regarded as a rescue of any sort? Does this film, directed by a man, advocate the radical feminist notion of hating men?

Summary: During a summer at their cottage, two young sisters – one regarded as a beauty, the other as a dumpy tag-along – experience the first throes of adolescent sexuality.



Discuss: Does the film regard sex and the loss of one's virginity with an entirely cynical eye? In what ways do the two sisters' approaches to sex differ? Does the young sister tell a lie or tell a truth at the end, and if she is being truthful then what does that mean about her attitudes toward sex?

Summary: A jewel thief (Rebecca Romijn) gets a second lease on life thanks to a mistaken identity.



Discuss: To what extent does our gaze as viewers and voyeurs lead us to construct an image of who a person truly is? How do we define ourselves and forge our own identity, really and truly, in our dreams and in reality? How might our lives resemble that of Nico the photographer in his constant assembling of his photo-mosaic?