Summary: A stern woodworker takes on a wary young apprentice with a dark secret.



Discuss: Can criminals truly be rehabilitated? Are young offenders more apt to cultivate remorse for their transgressions than adults? Is it a duty to forgive others for the wrongs they've committed against you? What might compel someone to forgive another person for a terrible crime? Do you forgive the film's criminal for the crime committed? Is it just or immoral to forgive someone for the wrongs they've done to someone else? Who is in the best position to judge someone else's actions?

Summary: Wildly avant-garde and influential director Kenneth Anger faced heavy criticism and even a lawsuit from the government of California for allegedly breaking obscenity laws upon the release of this dream-like film in which a 17 year-old Anger directs himself as a boy who leaves home on his own one night and has an unexpected encounter with a group of beefcake sailors.



Discuss: With no overt or explicit scenes of homosexuality (everything is suggestive), in what ways does Anger express homosexual desire? Why does he depict himself being raped? Should his rape be considered a literal violation, a metaphorical initiation into a pre-destined life path, or something else entirely? Should this film be considered an important step forward for homosexuals' artistic expression and endeavours, and even for acceptance of homosexuals in society?

Summary: A brilliant yet aimless man must reevaluate his priorities before making his next move.



Discuss: What causes people with undeniable talent and skill to spurn their gifts? Might is be considered a waste or a shame if a person with talent and skill in some area forsakes them to tend to their personal drives and quests?

Summary: In a kinky take on the already provocative feminist classic, Baron Frankenstein is a mad scientist bent on fashioning a superior race of humans out of parts cobbled together from actual, beautiful people, but when he tries to breed his woman creation with his man creation, an innocent slip-up wreaks havoc on his work and his sordid marriage to his sister.



Discuss: How preoccupied is society with the physical attributes of people? What about you? Is the Baron's willingness to overlook his sister's familial relation to him in favour of her physical beauty a reasonable admonishment of the disgusting and unnatural extent to which people allow themselves to be transfixed with people's looks? Is it necessarily shallow or superficial to ever be dwell on people's looks?

Summary: The love of a man for a woman spans millennia throughout three parallel but interconnected stories.



Discuss: In what manners might love be said to endure beyond the span of a human life? Is eternal life possible? How do world religions bear their stamp on this film and what do they serve to illuminate?

Summary: Cursed to relive the same day every day, a jaded news reporter tries to grasp his fate.



Discuss: What would you do if you kept waking up to the same day? Do you think it would take you very long to realize your own erroneous ways? Until we make positive changes in our lives, aren't we essentially waking up to the same stagnant reality each day? Do we always have freedom enough to choose to be virtuous, even when it seems fate has locked us into a bind?

Summary: An ex-police officer named Nishi (Takeshi) resorts to borrowing money from the Yakuza to help care for his seriously ill wife.



Discuss: What thoughts and feelings does Nishi's generally flat and expressionless demeanour conceal? Does the film's extreme violence serve a purpose, especially when contrasted with the overall languid pacing and long contemplative stretches of silence? Can the film's ending be considered merciful and compassionate or is it rather senselessly and needlessly violent?

Summary: As peace sets in during 17th Century Japan, recently unemployed samurai warriors now rendered poor and derelict are expected by their code to commit ritual suicide (hara-kiri) in order to retain their sense of honour. However, after a warrior's son-in-law is humiliatingly put through this ordeal at the behest of a local feudal lord, the entire system is challenged and appropriate atonement sought.



Discuss: How do we decide which laws and codes are just and fair and which ones are unreasonable and unnecessary? Does modern-day Japan still hold onto outmoded and outdated laws and codes in their society? If so, what do you think may help bring about change?

Summary: When a cop's partner is killed in action by the Triad crime syndicate, his tireless devotion to justice exposes some powerful friends and dangerous enemies.



Discuss: Over-the-top in its violence even by the most generous of assessments, how can this film be said to actually emphasize a value on human life when it also boasts one of the largest body counts in cinematic history? To what degree are the characters imbued with morality and can their actions be deemed morally just?

Summary: Allured by the lives of local conmen, a female psychiatrist joins their company and finds her expertise on human nature challenged.



Discuss: Of which cons in the film were you aware? How well do you suppose you are able to accurately assess a person's character and spot a liar? A good con involves considerable skill and intellect, so is there any redemptive value to conning and deception?