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Second Hand

2005 Romanian film

Something Good From Life

Two young people raised in an orphanage struggle to find meaning and direction in their lives amidst the chaos of post-communist Romania's transition.

This Above All

Docu-drama about the earthquake in Romania, on March 4, 1977. In 1978 it was broadcast only in select cities in Romania for 1 week, being deemed "too harsh" by the government.

Chained Justice

Inspired by true events, "Dreptate în lanturi" is a rough and poetic film, whose action is placed at the beginning of the last century. The movie sheds light on a Romanian peasant who fights against social injustice.

A Summer Tale

The rise and fall of the opportunistic Tănase Scatiu, a boyar in 19th century Wallachia.

The Prophet, the Gold, and the Transylvanians

Two peasants from Transylvania go to America in order to meet their brother who had left Romania ten years earlier. They meet a prophet in the American state of Utah and eventually help the cause of justice in the villages where the prophet proves to be a dictator and exploiter of the coal miners over there.

The Oil, the Baby and the Transylvanians

The third part of the trilogy focuses on June and Romulus, who are having a baby. The misfortune delays the family's plans to move back to Transylvania. Things get even more complicated when Traian, one of the Brad brothers set out in search of water on his land, discovers crude oil.

The White Lace Dress

A doctor, a sculptor and a football player trying to win the love of desenatoare models, suffering from incurable disease. But this does not preclude it from working on hand in a clothes factory. Of the three candidate, the young woman prefers the more modest, based with the family.

Lust for Gold

The psychological drama of a mining town in the Apuseni mountains, where the lure of gold acquisition and pathology lead to cruelty, murder and madness.

The Old Court Libertines

Pasadia, Pantazi, and Cara team up with the ruffian Pîrgu, because “everything is vanity”. For these princes of lost nights, the only sacred thing is friendship, and “the mutt” is the best guide on a journey through the night.

The Stone Wedding

Two bleak stories about absent love. In the first, a widow is working hard in a desperate attempt to save her dying daughter. The second tells the story of two wandering singers who kidnap a bride from her wedding.

Poor Ioanide

Ioanide, an apolitical and misunderstood artist who dreams of "things that are normal abroad but impossible here", led a difficult life as an architect under the old regime. After 1944, his situation improved thanks to the benevolence of an enlightened communist nicknamed Botticelli, whom he once hid from the police in the attic of his house. He receives commissions for large-scale cultural monuments, although he has "on file" the ballast of his children lost in the legionary adventure and continues to accept, in his entourage, a circle of sycophants from the former elite.

Water Like a Black Buffalo

The film shows the catastrophic floods in Romania in 1970.

Sand Cliffs

Hristea, a surgeon, spends his holidays at the seaside. While on the beach his belongings are stolen. The surgeon tells the policeman that the thief is a young man he had seen nearby. Although the accused doesn't admit to the wrongdoing, Hristea insists he should be punished. His obstinance will affect his marriage with his beautiful wife.

The Last Ball in November

The film is the story of Prince Cantacuzin’s hidden love for his pupil he mentored since early adolescence, until her being married by her stepfather. Daria Mazu, coming from an unfortunate family, with an epileptic brother and a drunker stepfather.

Life in Pink

Filmed exclusively outdoors, without dialogues, 'Life in Pink' presents a mysterious pursuit between two young handsome men. Their motivation is not clear, nor the type of relationship they have, nor whether they knew each other beforehand or not. But there's a certain fascination between them, even a possible attraction, one of an erotic nature.

Death in Venice

Composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice for health reasons. There, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Tadzio who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido as Aschenbach.

Central Station

An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

U Turn

When a desperate man’s car breaks down in a bizarre desert town while evading vengeful bookies, he becomes entangled in a dangerous love triangle. Caught between a married couple, he’s faced with deadly contracts to kill them both.

Where the Green Ants Dream

The Australian Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green ants go to dream, and that if their dreams are disturbed, it will bring down disaster on us all. The Aborigines' belief is not shared by a giant mining company, which wants to tear open the soil and search for uranium.

Newsies

A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze a little more profit out of their labours, they organize a strike, only to be confronted with the Pulitzer's hard-ball tactics.

Sixty Six

A boy's Bar Mitzvah looks set to be a disaster when it coincides with the 1966 World Cup Final.

Saint Ralph

This Canadian made comedy/drama, set in Hamilton, Ontario in 1954, is a sweet and - at times - goofy story that becomes increasingly poignant as the minutes tick by. It's the fictional tale of a wayward 9th grader, Ralph (Adam Butcher), who is secretly living on his own while his widowed, hospitalized mother remains immersed in a coma. Frequently in trouble with Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent), the principal of his all-boys, Catholic school, Ralph is considered something of a joke among peers until he decides to pull off a miracle that could save his mother, i.e., winning the Boston Marathon. Coached by a younger priest and former runner, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), whose cynicism has been lifted by the boy's pure hope, Ralph applies himself to his unlikely mission, fending off naysayers and getting help along a very challenging path from sundry allies and friends.

Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog

Teenager Angus adopts a stray dog and names him Yellow. Several days later, while travelling along the coast of British Columbia with Angus's father, John, the boy and dog become stranded when turbulent waters capsize their boat. Angus's parents relentlessly badger rescue teams. Angus, schooled by his father in wilderness survival skills, and assisted by the intelligent Yellow Dog, tries to attract rescuers.

The Revenant

In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.