Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Ashley Brisco highlights some of the best movie scenes in history. This is for the culture.

A nave 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood begins an affair with her older employer and is thrust into an education on lust, loss and power.

Priscilla and Mary Beth Connolly are sisters living in the small fishing town of Easter Cove, Maine, whose mother has recently died. At the wake, Doreen Burke, Susie Gallagher, and Gail Maguire, contemporaries of their mother, offer condolences. Mary Beth learns that the family fishmonger business is in trouble and that their mother took out a loan against the house which could jeopardize their continued ownership of it. After arguing with Priscilla, she storms out and heads to a bar. Mary Beth begins drinking with a man named Gorski. Later she is driving him home, but crashes the car when he caresses her leg. When they get out to inspect the damage, the trunk accidentally opens and Mary Beth sees blood inside. Gorski attempts to force himself on her and she flees. When he follows her, she stabs him with a harpoon and then bashes his head in with a brick. Mary Beth returns home covered in blood to a shocked Priscilla, who calls the police, but changes her mind and hangs up. Priscilla helps Mary Beth get rid of Gorski's body, using a knife to chop up his arms to make the body fit in a cooler box that they then throw into the ocean. The next day, Priscilla can't find the knife they used, which has 'Connolly Fish' written on it. Mary Beth goes to Gorski's shack to find the knife, but instead finds a bag containing $50,000. Later, Enid, a brothel owner, sees the Connolly knife in Gorski's shack. Local policeman Brennan asks to borrow the Connolly's boat, indicating that a body has washed up on shore. Priscilla is terrified that it is Gorski but it turns out be a woman named Dee, who worked for Enid. Brennan and his older partner Colletti interview Enid, who tries to steer them away from the brothel. Brennan finds her suspicious, but is warned off by Colletti, who has known Enid for years. Priscilla and Mary Beth talk to Doreen who reveals that years ago she, Susie, Gail, and their mother had made a decision: to satisfy the lusts of the fishermen, and protect their own daughters, they allowed Enid to open the Oceanview brothel. Brennan and Coletti find Gorski's car, which has a gun inside, and blood and a terrible smell in the trunk. The officers are sure that Gorski must be the murderer. Meanwhile, Alexis, one of Enid's working girls, knowing Enid owed Dee money, believes Enid had her killed. Enid blackmails the Connolly sisters to bring back the money they took from Gorski's shack in exchange for the knife she found there. The sisters decide to confess everything to the police the following day. That night, Officer Brennan, who is attracted to Priscilla, comes over for dinner and asks them about the call made to the police the night of the murder. They change their mind about confessing. Gail, Susie, and Doreen go to confront Enid. Telling her that she has crossed a line, they inform her that they will no longer allow her to operate the brothel and that she should leave town. Brennan has drinks with a friend and learns that Mary Beth had been seen with Gorski the night he disappeared. The Connolly sisters go to Enid and return the money. She tells them how much she misses their mother and how their mother left the brothel business to protect the two of them. She offers them some of the money and tells them that they could work for her after it runs out. When they refuse the money, Enid turns angry, calling them names before drunkenly collapsing. The girls get the knife and leave. Alexis, having overheard the whole thing, enters Enid's room and smothers her to death with a pillow. She takes the money and leaves town with one of the other girls from the brothel. Doreen notices something in the water. Gail comes to see Coletti about Oceanview. The next morning he informs Brennan that they're going to close down Oceanview. They see Priscilla and Mary Beth walking down the street, but Brennan says he isn't interested in Priscilla anymore. The sisters pass by Gail and Doreen, who are singing "Blow the Man Down", and then see Susie washing out the cooler which had contained Gorski's body. Susie smiles at them. (copied from Wikipedia)

A man and a woman, lost in alternative and decadent space-time are trying to build their love story between surreal and unpredictable obstacles. On their journey they meet a scientist who wants to test them, historical figures like Napoleon, Nietzsche, and Nobel prize-winners, and fantastic figures such as the Devil. Their long journey ends in front of a God-conscience and troublemaker that will allow them to come together for eternity. —Anonymous

In 2006, Dr. Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) is leaving a lake house that she has been renting in Chicago. Kate leaves a note in the mailbox for the next tenant to forward her mail, adding that the paint-embedded paw-prints on the path leading to the house were already there when she arrived. Two years earlier in 2004, Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves), an architect, arrives at the lake house and finds Kate's letter in the mailbox. The house is neglected, with no sign of paw prints anywhere. During the subsequent restoration of the house, a dog runs through Alex's paint and leaves fresh paw prints right where Kate said they would be. Baffled, Alex writes back, asking how Kate knew about the paw prints since the house was unoccupied until he arrived. On Valentine's Day 2006, Kate witnesses a traffic accident near Daley Plaza and tries to save the male victim, unsuccessfully. She impulsively drives back to the lake house, finds Alex's letter and writes back. Alex is estranged from his father Simon J. Wyler (Christopher Plummer), who runs a large architecture firm, but stays in touch with his brother Henry. The lake House was built by Simon and Alex has purchased it, so that he can relive the memories of his childhood. Simon had built the lake house with his own hands, before he was a big shot and was still in love with his wife Mary (the house was a gift to her). But as Simon became more successful, he also became more difficult to live with, until Mary ditched him. She got sick and died within a year, but Simon didn't attend her funeral. Alex visits the address given by Kate but finds no building there (it is still under construction in 2004). Both Alex and Kate continue passing messages to each other via the mailbox, and each watches its flag go up and down as the message leaves and the reply arrives as they wait at the mailbox. They cautiously look around each time the flag changes, hoping to somehow spot the other. It is in vain as they are alone at the mailbox. They then discover that they are living exactly two years apart. Their correspondence takes them through several events, including Alex finding a book, Jane Austen's Persuasion, at a railway station where Kate said she would have lost it, and Alex taking Kate on a walking tour of his favorite places in Chicago via an annotated map that he leaves in the mailbox. In 2004, Kate was dating Morgan Price (Dylan Walsh), who had come to town to meet her. Alex's dog (in 2004) Jake runs to Kate's house and Alex chases him. Thats how Alex meets Morgan and tells him how he lives on the house on the lake. Morgan says that he wants to rent the house for Kate. Morgan invites Alex for his party. Alex eventually meets Kate at her boyfriend's party; however, he doesn't mention their exchange of letters because it had not happened to Kate yet. Kate later remembered the meeting as a vague memory in the past. They shared a dance (& a kiss) and talked about Kate's favorite book "Persuasion", which is about true love having to wait for the right time before the lovers could unite. As Alex and Kate continue to write to each other, they decide to try to meet again. Alex makes a reservation at the Il Mare restaurant - two years into Alex's future, but only a day away for Kate. Kate goes to the restaurant, but Alex fails to show. Heartbroken, Kate asks Alex not to write to her again, recounting the accident a year before. Both Alex and Kate leave the lake house, continuing on with their separate lives. Kate gets back together with Morgan; Alex vacates the lake house and rents it out to Morgan and Kate starts living there. On Valentine's Day 2006 for Alex, Valentine's Day 2008 for Kate, he returns to the lake house after something about the day triggers a memory. Meanwhile, Kate goes to an architect to review the renovation plans for a house that she now wants to buy. A drawing of the lake house on the conference room wall catches her attention and upon asking, Henry Wyler (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) informs her the artist was his brother, Alex, and Kate realizes that this was the same Alex with whom she had been corresponding. She also learns that Alex was killed in a traffic accident exactly two years ago to the day and realizes why he never showed up for their date - he was the man who died in Daley Plaza. Rushing to the lake house, Kate frantically writes a letter telling Alex she loves him but begs him not to try to find her if he loves her back. Wait two years, she says, and come to the lake house instead. Meanwhile, in 2006, Alex has gone to Daley Plaza to look for Kate. At the lake house, Kate drops to her knees sobbing, fearing that she has arrived too late to stop Alex. After a long pause, the mailbox flag finally lowers; Alex has picked up her note. Not long afterwards, a familiar mint-green truck pulls up. She walks forward smiling as the driver, clad in jeans and a familiar tan jacket, approaches. She and Alex kiss and walk toward the lake house.