Focus

Oct 19, 2001

1h 46m

★ 6.4

Everything is about to become very clear.

Overview

In the waning months of World War II, a man and his wife are mistakenly identified as Jews by their anti-Semitic Brooklyn neighbors. Suddenly the victims of religious and racial persecution, they find themselves aligned with a local Jewish immigrant in a struggle for dignity and survival.

Genres

Drama

Production Companies

Focus Productions Inc.

Carros Pictures

Dog Pond Productions

Paramount Classics

Focus Trailers

Cast

Lawrence 'Larry' Newman

William H. Macy

Gertrude 'Gert' Hart

Laura Dern

Mr. Finkelstein

David Paymer

Fred

Meat Loaf

Mrs. Newman

Kay Hawtrey

Carlson

Michael Copeman

Father Crighton

Kenneth Welsh

Willy Doyle

Peter Oldring

Mr. Gargan

Joseph Ziegler

Mrs. Dewitt

Arlene Meadows

Mr. Cole Stevens

Kevin Jubinville

Elsie

Wendy Lyon

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

6.6

The Lovers

Nov 5, 1958

A shallow, provincial wife finds her relationship with her preoccupied husband strained by romantic notions of love, leading her further towards Paris and the country wilderness.

7.3

Deconstructing Harry

Dec 12, 1997

Writer Harry Block draws inspiration from people he knows, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated from him as a result.

7.0

God Does Not Believe in Us Anymore

May 16, 1982

After his father is murdered by the Nazis in 1938, a young Viennese Jew named Ferry Tobler flees to Prague, where he joins forces with another expatriate and a sympathetic Czech relief worker. Together with other Jewish refugees, the three make their way to Paris, and, after spending time in a French prison camp, eventually escape to Marseille, from where they hope to sail to a safe port.

6.6

Local Color

Nov 14, 2008

A successful artist looks back with loving memories on the summer of his defining year, 1974. A talented but troubled 18-year-old aspiring artist befriends a brilliant elderly alcoholic painter who has turned his back on not only art but life. The two form what appears to be at first a tenuous relationship. The kid wants to learn all the secrets the master has locked away inside his head and heart. Time has not been kind to the old master. His life appears pointless to him until the kid rekindles his interest in his work and ultimately gives him the will to live. Together, they give one another a priceless gift. The kid learns to see the world through the master's eyes. And the master learns to see life through the eyes of innocence again. This story is based on a real life experience.

0.0

Journey

Oct 6, 1972

A woman with a troubled past is saved from drowning in a river and brought to a strange community hidden in the woods.

7.4

Pierrot le Fou

Nov 5, 1965

Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.

4.4

2nd Serve

Oct 17, 2012

(Long Synopsis) "When former tennis pro Owen “Game Set” Match gets fired from his cushy job instructing at the affluent Fountain Club, he’s forced to take a position at the gritty public courts of the Derby City Recreation Center. There he contends with his new co-workers, a ragtag group of tennis pro misfits; his boss Sherry, a strong-willed, single mother; and her son Jake, a goth teenager and secret tennis hopeful. Slowly Owen begins to win over his colleagues, mend his broken friendships and help Jake fix his serve … and develops a romantic connection with Sherry, despite her insistence that she doesn't date tennis pros. Just when things seem to be looking up, Owen’s former boss and court nemesis challenges the Derby City club to a showdown in the annual Combo Cup tennis tournament. As he leads his team of oddball amateurs, Owen learns the most valuable lesson of all … On the court or off, everyone deserves a second chance!"

7.0

Transamerica

Feb 14, 2005

A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.

7.3

Everything Is Illuminated

Sep 5, 2005

A young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II—in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.

7.4

Inside Man

Mar 17, 2006

When an armed, masked gang enter a Manhattan bank, lock the doors and take hostages, the detective assigned to effect their release enters negotiations preoccupied with corruption charges he is facing.

7.1

Lisbon Story

Dec 16, 1994

Lisbon Story is Wim Wenders' homage to Lisbon and films. A sound engineer obtains a mysterious postcard from a friend who at the moment is filming a film in Lisbon. He sets out across Europe to find him and help him.

7.4

Once Were Warriors

Sep 2, 1994

A drama about a Maori family living in Auckland, New Zealand. Lee Tamahori tells the story of Beth Heke’s strong will to keep her family together during times of unemployment and abuse from her violent and alcoholic husband.

6.0

Human Nature

Sep 12, 2001

Obsessive scientist Nathan and his lover, the naturalist Lila, discover Puff: a man born and raised in the wild. As Nathan trains the wild man in the civilized ways of the world, Lila fights to preserve the man’s natural state. In the power struggle that ensues, an unusual love triangle emerges.

6.8

Séraphine

Oct 1, 2008

The tragic story of French naïve painter Séraphine Louis aka Séraphine de Senlis (1864-1942), a humble servant who becomes a gifted self-taught painter. Discovered by prominent critic and collector William Uhde, she came to prominence between the wars grouped with other naïve painters like Henri Rouseau only to descend into madness and obscurity with the onset of the Great Depression and World War II.

4.5

Flourish

Mar 3, 2006

A tutor recounts a frantic night that culminated in a 16-year old girl's disappearance. Unfolding in front of a video camera direct from a psychiatric ward, Gaby Winters (Jennifer Morrison) recalls a dreadful babysitting job that sent her on a frantic search for a missing teenager out into the heart of a mysterious city. Woven into the story are a multitude of subplots that add up to one chaotic night that Gaby will never forget.

5.8

Day Night Day Night

May 25, 2006

A 19-year-old girl prepares to become a suicide bomber in Times Square. She speaks with a nondescript American accent, and it’s impossible to pinpoint her ethnicity. We never learn why she made her decision—she has made it already.

5.3

Turn the River

May 9, 2008

A pool shark takes the ultimate gamble when she kidnaps her own son and flees her ex-husband.

5.8

Margot at the Wedding

Nov 16, 2007

Margot Zeller is a short story writer with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue. On the eve of her estranged sister Pauline's wedding to unemployed musician/artist/depressive Malcolm at the family seaside home, Margot shows up unexpectedly to rekindle the sisterly bond and offer her own brand of support. What ensues is a nakedly honest and subversively funny look at family dynamics.

5.2

Trust the Man

Sep 1, 2005

Overachieving actress Rebecca must come to grips with her failing marriage to stay-at-home dad Tom. While Rebecca's slacker brother Tobey can't seem to commit to his aspiring-novelist girlfriend, Elaine. As both relationships spin out of control, the two couples embark on a quest to rediscover the magic and romance of falling in love in New York.