Directed by Nora Ephron • 1993 •.United States
Starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman

The charisma of stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and pitch-perfect writing and direction by Nora Ephron come together for one of the all-time great screen romances. Sam Baldwin (Hanks) is a widowed father who, ...

Directed by Albert Brooks • 1985 • United States
Starring Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty

In this hysterical satire of Reagan-era values, written and directed by Albert Brooks, a successful Los Angeles advertising executive (Brooks) and his wife (Julie Hagerty) decide to quit their jobs, buy a Winn...

Directed by Paul Mazursky • 1969 • United States
Starring Natalie Wood, Elliott Gould, Robert Culp

At the height of the sexual revolution, upwardly mobile married couple Bob (Robert Culp) and Carol (Natalie Wood) return from a freethinking group-encounter session with an elevated sense of hon...

Directed by Elaine May • 1971 • United States
Starring Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston

The brilliance of Elaine May is on full display in her directorial debut, a deliciously deadpan black-comic jewel that stands as one of the finest and funniest films of the 1970s. She stars as the ende...

Directed by Horace Jenkins • 1982 • United States
Starring Richard Romain, Tommye Myrick, Carol Sutton

Written, produced, and directed by the late, trailblazing director Horace B. Jenkins and crafted by an entirely African American cast and crew, this luminous, recently rediscovered landmark of ...

Directed by Martin Scorsese • 1974 • United States
Starring Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Alfred Lutter

Martin Scorsese and Ellen Burstyn draw on the classic women’s melodrama, the 1970s road movie, and the burgeoning feminist movement to create a tender portrait of a New Mexico housewife w...

Directed by Alan J. Pakula • 1979 • United States
Starring Burt Reynolds, Jill Clayburgh, Candice Bergen

Scripted by James L. Brooks with his trademark blend of humor and bittersweet human drama, this refreshingly grown-up romantic comedy stars Burt Reynolds as Phil Potter, a magazine writer who...

Directed by Lewis Gilbert • 1989 • United Kingdom
Starring Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Julia McKenzie

Reprising the Broadway role for which she won a Tony Award, Pauline Collins is the hilariously endearing Shirley Valentine, a wisecracking, completely unpredictable English housewife who proves ...

Directed by Peter Howitt • 1998 • United States, United Kingdom
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch

The split-second moments that can take a life down one path instead of another form the crux of this wonderfully fresh, existential twist on the romantic comedy. Gwyneth Paltrow deli...

Directed by Jacques Demy • 1967 • France
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac

Jacques Demy followed up THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG with another musical about missed connections and second chances, this one a more effervescent confection. Twins Delphine and Solange, a dance instructor and...

Directed by Eric Rohmer • 1986 • France
Starring Marie Rivière, María Luisa García, Vincent Gauthier

Eric Rohmer captures the ache of summertime sadness with exquisite poignancy in this luminous tale of self-exploration. The Jules Verne novel of the same name provides the loose inspiration for t...

Directed by Satyajit Ray • 1963 • India
Starring Madhabi Mukherjee, Anil Chatterjee, Jaya Bhaduri

THE BIG CITY, the great Satyajit Ray’s first portrayal of contemporary life in his native Kolkata, follows the personal triumphs and frustrations of Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee), who decides, despite t...

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1930 • Japan

In Yasujiro Ozu's WALK CHEERFULLY, which gracefully combines elements of the relationship drama and the gangster story, small-time hood Kenji, a.k.a. Ken the Knife, wants to go straight for good girl Yasue but finds that starting over isn't as simple as ...