Old Boy

A 10-year-old boy feels unwanted when his mother places him in a home for wayward children. He goes to a foster home where a family of workers finds him to be too much for them. When the unruly child discovers the family plans to give up on him, he drowns their daughter's cat in retaliation. He is sent to another home where he is cared for by an elderly couple. The boy takes to the woman, a kindly grandmother who reaches out to the disturbed boy. His deliberate disobedience lessens somewhat in his new environment, but he is arrested after throwing bolts at cars from a bridge. The boy tries to overcome his mother's rejection and struggles to boost his self image in this childhood drama.

Ranked seventh in the British Film Institute's Top Ten (British) Films of the 20th Century, "Kes" (1969) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
In this Ken Loach film, a 15-year-old named Billy Casper (played by acting newcomer David Bradley) suffers abuse both at home and at school in Yorkshire, England. At his home in the working-class section of Barnsley, Billy's brother beats him and his family neglects him. At school, most of his teachers ridicule and reject him, especially sadistic Mr. Sugden (Brian Glover. Like other downtrodden children in an outmoded social system favoring the ruling class, Billy appears headed for a menial job with no future…

Pete lives with his grandfather in an old abandoned outdoor cinema in the desert. When the old drive-in is threatened with demolition, ten year old Pete takes off to the city with his best mate Kalmain, to save his home. But the boys get lost in the Australian outback. Starving and thirsty, Pete has to remember some of the old bush skills his grandfather taught him to survive. Finally Pete and Kalmain reach the city, they save the old cinema and return home as heroes…

Ju is a nine-year-old boy growing up in the aftermath of World War II in Italy. He is observant of the difficulties surrounding him. Both his father and mother have suffered emotionally, though his mother has suffered more due to the ongoing sexual and physical abuse caused by her husband. Ju's orphaned fifteen-year-old cousin Nenè, comes to live with his family. Through Nenè, Ju learns even more of the strange adult world that he has yet to enter. Nenè allows him to sleep in her bed and confides in him of her growing sexuality and her secret affair with a local Mulatto boy.

Ju is a nine-year-old boy growing up in the aftermath of World War II in Italy. He is observant of the difficulties surrounding him. Both his father and mother have suffered emotionally, though his mother has suffered more due to the ongoing sexual and physical abuse caused by her husband. Ju's orphaned fifteen-year-old cousin Nenè, comes to live with his family. Through Nenè, Ju learns even more of the strange adult world that he has yet to enter. Nenè allows him to sleep in her bed and confides in him of her growing sexuality and her secret affair with a local Mulatto boy.

Pablo is a 12-year old boy raised in a violent and unforgiving environment. Embarrassed by his family life, he retreats from his classmates, engaging them only through a dangerous game. The arrival of a new boy at school, from whom he learns a new definition of friendship, leads to the discovery of a family where communication and love prevail over domination and violence. The film poignantly parallels the lives of a caring father unable to connect with his willful son, and that of distant Pablo and his abusive father who is incapable of giving him the love he needs, replacing it with something far more sinister. Told through both the children's and adults' points of view, El Bola is a stirring story that lodges in the memory.

An average man is kidnapped and imprisoned in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. He then is released, equipped with money, a cellphone and expensive clothes. As he strives to explain his imprisonment and get his revenge, Oh Dae-Su soon finds out that his kidnapper has a greater plan for him and is set onto a path of pain and suffering in an attempt to uncover the motive of his mysterious tormentor.

The assistant stage manager of a small-time theatrical company (Polly Browne) is forced to understudy for the leading lady (Rita) at a matinée performance at which an illustrious Hollywood director (Cecil B. DeThrill) is in the audience scouting for actors to be in his latest "all-talking, all-dancing, all-singing" extravaganza. Polly also happens to fall in love with the leading man (Tony) and imagines several fabulous fantasy sequences in which the director is free to exercise his capacity for over-the-top visuals in this charming 1920's era flick.

In a tiny hamlet in Colombia, six-year-old Didier has struggled with a huge burden - a rare condition called a Congenital Melanocytic Nevus. It's a giant mole that grew so much it covered 40% of his body. It resembled a shell, and Didier was nicknamed Turtle Boy.

Young Martin watches the quirky, extraordinary events that occur in and around the family home and barn from a distance. Quiet and introverted, it is only the housemaid and occasionally his brother, Didier, who pay him any attention. As for his mother, she has locked herself away in her room, while his grandmother assumes control of the household, which is slowly falling apart. When Didier discovers that his next-door neighbour and lover have decided to get married, all hell breaks loose, and the family disintegrates.