The M Word

Dean is a maverick American film director surprised that his most recent film has been chosen as the Official U.S. Entry at the Venice Film Festival. A beautiful French journalist arrives at the festival with the apparent intention of interviewing the unique and eccentric filmmaker. In the midst of all the festival madness, she is forced to confront the wide divergence between things as they really are and things as they seem to be - both on screen and off. And so, finally, are we. Shot half in Venice, Italy and half in Venice, California, "Venice/Venice" looks at the profound effect movies have had - and continue to have - on our lives, our loves and on our dreams of romance.

At a media-swamped party to celebrate his seventieth birthday and screen his avant-garde film-in-progress, a legendary but jaded Hollywood director is faced both with voracious fans and unsettling questions about what became of his lead actor.

In 1943, Colonel Greg Brandon, stationed at an United States Army Air Forces 8th Air Force, 103rd Bomb Group base in England, repeatedly attempts to persuade superiors that massive daylight bombing will hasten the end of World War II. In spite of the mission's extreme difficulty, his plan is finally put into effect against a German aircraft factory. During preparation for the raid, Brandon alienates his men by insisting that normal bombing operations continue. His disdain for cautious Lieutenant Archer and brash RAF Wing Commander Trafton Howard further antagonizes his associates, including his girl friend, WAC Lieutenant Gabrielle Ames. When his bomber crashes the morning of the mission, Brandon boards a bomber manned by Archer and Howard. During the effective air raid, he is impressed by Archer's courage and Howard's judgment.

Zee is walking up and down Manhattan streets, talking to herself and to the husband who has just left her. At a sidewalk café she runs into Eli, and a very unlikely, funny and touching relationship develops between two lost souls in the big city.

Helena Mora, the head of an eccentric theatrical family, has decided to sell her large estate in the Hamptons because of her recent money troubles. Before she completes the sale, she wants to have one last gathering of family and friends, with dramatic performances. Bringing everyone together, though, creates rivalries and tension, especially for Oona, a temperamental but successful movie actress who seeks the approval of her creative peers.

L.A. shop owner Dana and Englishman Sean meet and fall in love at first sight, but Sean is married and Dana is to marry her business partner Alex.

After a film production wraps in Peru, an American wrangler decides to stay behind, witnessing how filmmaking affects the locals.

Hector is a star basketball player for the College basketball team he plays for, the Leopards. His girlfriend, Olive, doesn't know whether to stay with him or leave him. And his friend, Gabriel, who may have dropped out from school and become a protestor, wants desperately not to get drafted for Vietnam.

A soldier returns from Vietnam on special assignment, accompanying the body of his friend by train to California for burial. During the trip, he falls in love with a gentle college student. But their relationship is shattered by his flashbacks to combat.

A Hollywood film director assembles a group of friends and strangers for a social gathering on Valentines Day in a deserted movie theater where he interviews each one on their opinions on love and loneliness.

Cannes, 1999. Alice, an actress, wants to direct an indie picture. Kaz, a talkative (and maybe bogus) deal maker, promises $3 million if she'll use Millie, an aging French star. But, Rick, a big producer, needs Millie for a small part in a fall movie or he loses his star, Tom Hanks. Is Kaz for real? Can Rick sweet-talk Alice and sabotage Kaz to keep Millie from taking that deal? Millie consults with Victor, her ex, about which picture to make, Rick needs money, an ingenue named Blue is discovered, Kaz hits on Victor's new love, and Rick's factotum connects with Blue. Knives go in various backs. Wheels spin. Which deals - and pairings - will be consummated?

Noah, a young woman who lives alone in New York, is dating two very different men, Fred and Mitch, at the same time. However, she realises that neither man can totally fulfil her needs.

Jenny, a deaf runaway who has just arrived in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district to find her long-lost brother, a mysterious bearded sculptor known around town as The Seeker. She falls in with a psychedelic band, Mumblin' Jim, whose members include Stoney, Ben, and Elwood. They hide her from the fuzz in their crash pad, a Victorian house crowded with love beads and necking couples. Mumblin' Jim's truth-seeking friend Dave considers the band's pursuit of success "playing games," but he agrees to help Jennie anyway.

A man returns to his sublet apartment to find the previous tenants, three offbeat young women, still in residence, under the mistaken belief that they have the apartment until the end of New Year's Day.

Gena is an average woman who is torn between her current boyfriend's desire to marry her and start a family, and the unexpected arrival of an old boyfriend wanting to pick up where they left off. To further complicate matters, she might be pregnant herself. In the mist of this unsettled personal life, Gena leaves her two men to attend a baby shower party for a girl friend and talks with the various female attendees all of whom are facing their own ticking biological clocks.

A clothing designer tries to save her struggling boutique store by having a tumultuous weekend sale of her shop's inventory by playing on the addictions of shopping for the women of Beverly Hills.