Amy Wright

A disadvantaged, abused, neglected, exploited but basically decent kid slips into criminality while trying to cope with his harsh, inescapable reality. A destitute 14-year-old struggles to keep his life together despite harsh abuse at his mother's hands, harsher abuse at his father's, and a growing separation from his slightly older brother. Petty thefts for food grow into more major takes until he steals a cash box from the diner where he works. Although Joe uses the money to pay off some of his father's debts and to replace his mother's records that his father smashed in a fit of temper, Joe gets no thanks. —John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>

Bickering siblings are reunited at their Texas home as their father lies on his deathbed.

The story of Paul Weaver and his strained relationships with women and his family. Thirty-seven year old Paul Weaver, an ex-major leaguer turned insurance salesman, a job he hates, has just received final divorce papers a year after his wife Nancy Weaver left him because of his chronic infidelity. Paul can admit to himself that Nancy is the only woman he's ever loved but sometimes it was easier to turn to other woman as those one-nighters carried less baggage. Despite the probability of seeing Nancy, Paul decides to make the ten hour drive from his home in New York City to his small hometown in Pennsylvania for his sister Karen Weaver's wedding, he planning on staying with his parents in his old bedroom. What Paul is unaware of until he arrives is that Nancy and their their two children, teenage David Weaver and preteen Sarah Weaver, have temporarily moved in with his parents out of circumstance. While David understands the machinations of what happened with his parents, Sarah, who nonetheless misses New York life and always has plans on running away, blames her father for their collective situation. Within this situation, Paul will face others with difficulties in marriage despite love. One is his parents, Boomer and Ruth Weaver, Boomer who can only function and cope when he has alcohol in his system. Two is somewhat inexperienced Karen herself, who is questioning whether she can tolerate the thirty percent of her fiancé Doug Whipkey that bothers her and whether there is someone else out there for her who has less than thirty percent. And three is Susan Volcheck, one of Karen's bridesmaids who may want to fall into Paul's arms if only because she is certain that her husband, house painter Danny Volcheck, is cheating on her when he is in Wheeling, West Virginia on a job. —Huggo

An emotionally distant writer of travel guides must carry on with his life after his son is killed and his marriage crumbles. After the death of his son, Macon Leary, a travel writer, seems to be sleep walking through life. Macon's wife, seems to be having trouble too, and thinks it would be best if the two would just split up. After the break up, Macon meets a strange outgoing woman, who seems to bring him back down to earth. After starting a relationship with the outgoing woman, Macon's wife seems to think that their marriage is still worth a try. Macon is then forced to deal many decisions —Justin Sharp <rainman88@earthlink.net> After the murder of their young son, the marriage between Macon and his wife Sarah disintegrates, and she moves out. After a freak accident puts him on crutches, Macon goes to stay with his quirky siblings at the family home, where he meets the spirited Muriel, a dog trainer with a young son of her own, with whom he begins a friendship. When Sarah learns about this, she attempts a reconciliation and Macon is forced to make a decision. —Jwelch5742 Macon Leary is the author of a travel book for people who want to travel with the minimum fuss and as little impact as possible on their lives. Arriving back from a working trip, his wife announces she can no longer deal with the fact that he is dealing with the death of their son the same way that he travels: with minimum impact. Macon subsequently meets the quirky Muriel, who it seems is just the opposite to Macon. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

While attending a retrospective of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films. Renowned filmmaker Sandy Bates is in a professional transition, directing largely comedies early in his career now wanting to direct more serious movies so that he can explore the meaning of life, most specifically his own. Most are fighting him all along the way, including the movie going public, who continually tell him that they love his movies especially the earlier funny ones, to studio executives who are trying to insert comic elements wherever possible into his current movie in production. He reluctantly agrees to attend a weekend long film festival of his movies. Despite the throng of requests for his time, he is further able to reflect on his life as he addresses the questions at the post screening Q&A sessions. He also reflects specifically on his love life as his current girlfriend, married Isobel, shows up unexpectedly, and as he starts to fall for festival attendee Daisy - at the festival with her Columbia professor boyfriend, Jack Abel - who reminds him of Dorrie, a neurotic former girlfriend who he probably considers the one that unfortunately got away. —Huggo The film's story focuses on harried movie director Sandy Bates, who attends of retrospective of his work while suffering from a major case of writer's block. During his retrospective, Sandy is overwhelmed to find himself constantly bombarded by an endless amount of fans, friends, love interests and studio execs. Loosely based on Federico Fellini's 1963 film, 8½, and beautifully shot in black and white. —Kyle Perez The filmmaker Sandy Bates has lost his humor but is still worshiped by his fans. His producer forces him to travel to present a retrospective of his films and debate with his fans. Meanwhile, he recalls the moments he spent with his girlfriend, the actress Dorrie. He summons his present girlfriend Isobel, who is married with children. And he meets and falls with Daisy, who came to see his retrospective. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Sandy Bates, a successful filmmaker, attends a festival conducted to honor his work. During the course of the weekend he reconsiders his cinematic accomplishments as well as his past relationships. —Scott R. Vaughn <scott@vaughn.hon.msu.edu>