After her husband, Carl (Luke Wilson), suddenly leaves, Joline (Heather Graham) travels from New York to Texas to track him down. Although Joline tries to remain upbeat, she is discouraged when she discovers that Carl already has a new girlfriend, the lovely Carmen (Patricia Velasquez). Familiarizing herself with Carl’s new home and friends, Joline gets company in the form of her brother, Jay (Casey Affleck). Will Joline win Carl back, or are there other romantic possibilities on her horizon?
Emerging from the Chinese film renaissance of the 1990s (Raise the Red Lantern, Farewell My Concubine) this haunting folk tale set in rural China in the 1920s tells the story of a young woman forces to grieve the death of a man she was destined to marry. Combining astonishing visuals with intriguing plot turns, this moving drama is not to be missed. When the spirited Young Mistress (Wang Lan) is kidnapped on the way to her arranged wedding, the groom is killed in an explosion in an attempt to rescue her. The peasant charged with her care, Kui (Chang Shih) manages to free her but the groom’s bitter mother forces the Young Mistress to honor her agreement by marrying a wooden statue of her son, and staying chaste. Director Jianxin Huang’s fascinating exploration of forbidden love and rigid social hierarchy reveals a culture in turmoil, where tradition is taken to cruel extremes and young lovers may not survive.
Frank Allen, a professional speaker who lectures on time management has a perfectly ordered and scheduled life, down to the minute. When his wife sets his clock forward 10 minutes as a joke, his day is thrown off. Deciding that his strictly ordered life has done him little good, he begins to make multiple choice index cards, choosing one at random and doing what is written on the card.