ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[oilgun]

I can't believe this hasn't been played!

Synopsis:  Vera Drake is a selfless woman who is completely devoted to, and loved by, her working class family. She spends her days doting on them and caring for her sick neighbor and elderly mother. However, she also secretly visits women and helps them induce miscarriages for unwanted pregnancies. While the practice itself was illegal in 1950s England, Vera sees herself as simply helping women in need, and always does so with a smile and kind words of encouragement. When the authorities finally find her out, Vera's world and family life rapidly unravel.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Two slacker friends try to promote their public-access cable show.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  A British woman is determined to improve herself while she looks for love in a year in which she keeps a personal diary.

[memento]

Plot: The coming of age of young Alexander, future world conqueror, from his boyhood in Greece to his assumption of Regent of the Land, after proving his worth to his father, the demanding King Phillip.

[oilgun]

Original Title: La double vie de Véronique

Synopsis:  Krzysztof Kieslowski's international breakthrough remains one of his most beloved films, a ravishing, mysterious rumination on identity, love, and human intuition. Irène Jacob is incandescent as both Weronika, a Polish choir soprano, and her double, Véronique, a French music teacher. Though unknown to each other, the two women share an enigmatic, purely emotional bond, which Kieslowski details in gorgeous reflections, colors, and movements. Aided by Slawomir Idziak's shimmering cinematography and Zbigniew Preisner's haunting, operatic score, Kieslowski creates one of cinema's most purely metaphysical works: THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VÉRONIQUE is an unforgettable symphony of feeling.

[memento]

The N Degrees of Paul Newman - A Tribute to a Class Act

[Fran]

"The Anniversary Party" featured Jennifer Jason Leigh, who appeared with Paul Newman in "The Road to Perdition."

From IMDb:  Celebrity couple Joe and Sally Therrian are going through yet another rough stage in their six-year marriage: while Joe's novels have been climbing higher and higher on the best-seller lists, Sally's film career has been steadily sinking into oblivion. Joe's been given the rights to cast and direct the screenplay of his latest book, but rather than resurrect Sally's career by casting her in the lead role, he's given it to Sally's rival, Skye Davidson. Even worse, he's invited Skye to their anniversary bash. Will the marriage, or anything else for that matter, survive the party?

[memento]

Plot: Buffalo Bill (Paul Newman) plans to put on his own Wild West sideshow, and Chief Sitting Bull has agreed to appear in it. However, Sitting Bull has his own hidden agenda, involving the President and General Custer.

[oilgun]

Synopsis:   Luke Jackson is a cool, gutsy prisoner in a Southern chain gang, who, while refusing to buckle under to authority, keeps escaping and being recaptured. The prisoners admire Luke because, as Dragline explains it, "You're an original, that's what you are!" Nevertheless, the camp staff actively works to crush Luke until he finally breaks.

Paul Newman as Luke Jackson

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Harper is brought to Louisiana bayou country to investigate an attempted blackmail scheme. He soon finds out that it involves an old flame of his and her hellion of a daughter. What is more, he finds himself caught in a power struggle between the matriarch of the family and a greedy oil baron, who wants her property. Poor Harper! Things are not as straight-forward as they initially appeared.

Paul Newman as Lew Harper