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A Legend (Mandarin)
Professor Chen, an archaeology expert, notices that the texture on the artifacts discovered by his students during a glacier expedition, is strikingly similar to a jade pendant he had seen in his dreams. It seems as that the pendant is connecting the realm of dreams to reality. Filled with curiosity, Professor Chen leads the research team on a journey deep into the Glacier Temple, in search of the truth behind his dreams, embarking on a fantastical adventure together.
Director: Stanley Tong
Starring: Jackie Chan, Gulnezer Bextiyar, Yixing Zhang, Aarif Lee, Chen Li, Shawn Dou, Lay Zhang, Peng Xiaoran
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A Real Job (French)
In A Real Job, director Thomas Lilti turns his humanistic eye to an overlooked subject: the personal and professional lives of schoolteachers. Lacking scholarship support and in need of money, PhD student Benjamin takes a job as a math teacher at the suburban Victor Hugo School. With no prior training or experience, Benjamin soon finds himself in over his head during his classes. Working alongside a diverse group of teachers, including the distinguished Pierre and young single mother Meriem, Benjamin forms unexpected bonds with his colleagues as they confront the daily frustrations and emotional demands of their jobs. Mixing social realism, humor, and compassionate drama, A Real Job is an empathetic portrait of an often-misunderstood profession.
Director: Thomas Lilti
Starring: Vincent Lacoste, Francois Cluzet, Louise Bourgoin, Adele Exarchopoulos
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The Divine Protector: Master Salt Begins (Japanese)
At 7:07 PM, the occult club members are holding a ritual ceremony to summon "Master Salt" in Kamono Girls' Highschool in Tokyo, to help one of the members, Nanako, who has been struck by mysterious incidents. They draw a pentagon and a circle with purified salt and burn a sealed envelope with a written wish. Out of nowhere, the divine protector, Master Salt appears with a blast of wind. She sees through the identity of the spirit that cursed Nanako and repels the curse. After that event, Nanako and her friends ask Master Salt to repel the curses that bring misery to people. They discover that this world is full of people who curse others. What will Master Salt and the girls encounter in the battle against a powerful enemy?
Director: Hiroshi Akabane
Starring: Rin Kijima, Saya Fukunaga, Kokoro Nishiwaki, Rino Otaki, Tsubasa Tendo
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Eagle (Telugu)
Eagle tells the story of a skilled sniper executing covert missions across the globe. When a determined journalist uncovers the truth about his ruthless operations during an investigation into a government cover-up, his hidden secrets begin to unravel. As their paths collide, the narrative intensifies, blending high-stakes action with suspense in a thrilling game of truth and survival.
Director: Karthik Gattamneni
Starring: Ravi Teja, Navdeep, Vinay Rai, Anupama Parameswaran, Kavya Thapar
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Evil Does Not Exist - Criterion Collection (Japanese)
In a secluded, snowy mountain village, widower and single father Takumi leads a modest life gathering water, wood, and wild wasabi for a friend's udon shop. Yet this peaceful existence is threatened when a pair of corporate reps arrive to launch a glamping site, sparking resistance from community members who fear the project's potentially pernicious impact on the environment. When Takumi a respected local figure is offered the conciliatory role of site caretaker, it becomes unclear where his loyalties lie.
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Starring: Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, Ayaka Shibutani
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Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (French)
Sasha is a young vampire with a serious problem: she's too sensitive to kill! When her exasperated parents cut off her blood supply, Sasha's life is in jeopardy. Luckily, she meets Paul, a lonely teenager who is willing to give his life to save hers. But their friendly agreement soon becomes a nocturnal quest to fulfill Paul's last wishes before day breaks.
Director: Ariane Louis-Seize
Starring: Sara Montpetit, Felix-Antoine Benard, Steve Laplante, Sophie Cadieux, Noémie O'Farrell, Marie Brassard, Lilas-Rose Cantin
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Libertate (Romanian)
During Romania's 1989 revolution, Sibiu witnesses a violent attack on a police station that spirals into armed clashes between soldiers, police, protesters and secret police.
Director: Tudor Giurgiu
Starring: Alex Calangiu, Catalin Herlo, Ionut Caras
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My Marlon and Brando (Kurdish)
Three years ago, in real-life, Hama Ali, a charismatic actor from Iraq famous locally for his performance as Iraq's version of Superman, met Ayca on a film-set. He and Ayca, a fiery actress from Turkey, had a passionate love affair before returning to their respective homes.
Director: Huseyin Karabey
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On the Wandering Paths (French)
A celebrated writer with a penchant for extreme experiences and solo treks, Pierre, is a survivor of his own life. He has always done everything on his terms. One drunken evening, he climbs the facade of a building and falls several stories. The accident leaves him in a deep coma. When he emerges from it, Pierre is barely able to stand. But against everyone's advice, he decides to hike alone across France, through some of its roughest and beautiful regions. During Pierre's journey, there are snapshots of daily life in largely abandoned French villages, where many of the shops have closed and jobs are scarce. Director Denis Imbert intermingles Pierre's inner emotional journey with the natural beauty of the French countryside and reflections on rural life. Based on real events, this escape from the frantic world is a story of fortitude, healing and connection to nature.
Director: Denis Imbert
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Josephine Japy, Izia Higelin, Anny Duperey
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Rampo Noir (Japanese)
In "Mars's Canal", by music video director and visual artist Suguru Takeuchi, a lone man encounters the other side of his psyche beyond the reflective surface of a circular pond set in a desolate landscape. Japanese New Wave auteur and longtime director of the Ultraman series Akio Jissoji harnesses his distinctive stylistic sheen in his story of a mad mirror maker, "Mirror Hell". "Caterpillar" sees the singular vision of cult director Hisayasu Sato at its most grotesque, in his portrait of a wounded war veteran who returns from the frontline as little more than a bloody torso, helpless to defend himself against the increasingly perverted caprices of an embittered wife. Finally, a famous actor is subjected to the obsessive attentions of her limo driver in "Crawling Bugs", the directorial debut of internationally acclaimed manga artist Atsushi Kaneko.
Director: Akio Jissôji, Atsushi Kaneko, Hisayasu Satô
Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Kaiji Moriyama, Yûko Daike, Ryûhei Matsuda, Yukiko Okamoto, Hiromasa Taguchi, Susumu Terajima
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Sleep (Korean)
How well do you really know the person sleeping next to you? For one young couple, this question becomes a twisted psychological nightmare when a husband's increasingly bizarre nighttime behavior takes a menacing turn.
Director: Jason Yu
Starring: Jung Yu-mi, Lee Sun-Kyun
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The Beast - Criterion Collection (French)
By the year 2044, artificial intelligence reigns, and human emotions are a liability that must be surgically removed to produce a more pliant workforce. But this procedure triggers Gabrielle to experience haunting memories of her past lives, as she encounters different incarnations of her paramour, Louis, first in belle epoque Paris and then in 2014 Los Angeles. As she once more undergoes the pains and pleasures of romance and rediscovers what it means to be truly alive, Gabrielle awaits the erasure of her humanity with growing fascination and dread. In his most ambitious film yet, visionary director Bertrand Bonello freely adapts Henry James's novella The Beast in the Jungle into a visually stunning science-fiction labyrinth that is as metaphysically mysterious as it is emotionally powerful. Powered by Seydoux's heartrending performance, The Beast poignantly imagines the consequences of humankind becoming too afraid to risk the inherent vulnerability of love.
Director: Bertrand Bonello
Starring: Léa Seydoux, George Mackay, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Elina Löwensohn, Martin Scali, Kester Lovelace, Julia Faure
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The Mother and the Whore - Criterion Collection (French)
The pinnacle of this innovative style, The Mother and the Whore follows Alexandre, a Parisian pseudo-intellectual who lives with his tempestuous girlfriend, Marie, even as he begins a dalliance with the sexually liberated Veronika, leading the three into an emotionally turbulent love triangle. Through daringly sustained long takes and confessional dialogue, Eustache captures a generation navigating the disillusionment of the 1970s, and in the process achieves an intimacy so deep it cuts. Includes second DVD with bonus material.
Director: Jean Eustache
Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Bernadette Lafont, Francoise Lebrun
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The Other Widow (Hebrew)
A dark comedic drama about Ella, a 34 year old theater costume designer and mistress of a playwright who dies unexpectedly. While the preparations for the premiere are in full swing, Ella insists on attending his Shiva and dives into a world once forbidden to her. Things get complicated when she becomes too close to his loved ones, especially his wife.
Director: Ma'ayan Rypp
Starring: Dana Ivgy, Ania Bukstein, Itamar Rotschild
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Tomie (Japanese)
Photography student Tsukiko is plagued by violent dreams as she struggles to recall long-suppressed memories following a teenage trauma with the help of psychiatrist Dr. Hosono. Meanwhile, as Detective Harada leads an investigation into a missing high-school girl, he discovers a long line of similar cases that can be traced back decades, with all of the victims going by the name of Tomie Kawakami, and all slaughtered and decapitated by jealous lovers before they reach womanhood. Meanwhile, Tsukiko's new neighbor seems to be harboring something nasty in the downstairs apartment, something which rapidly begins to take on a dangerous form.
Director: Ataru Oikawa
Starring: Miho Kanno, Mami Nakamura, Tomoro Taguchi
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Mercer County Library System
2751 Brunswick Pike Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648 609-882-9246
https://mcl.org
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