Leila Danette

Pieces of April -- A wayward daughter invites her dying mother and the rest of her estranged family to her apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.

Running on Empty -- (Japanese with English subtitles) The beautiful Azami is tired of her penniless and lazy boyfriend, Hideji. Determined to break up with him, she must first get back all the money she has given him over the years. She hatches a plot in which she fakes her own kidnapping to get Hideji to pay a ransom. Things get hilariously complicated when all parties involved act to their own agendas.

A headstrong young woman (Katie Holmes), who has alienated her parents, is forced to confront their troubled relationship when she learns that her mother (Patricia Clarkson) is dying of cancer.

River Phoenix rose to stardom -- and an Academy Award-nomination -- in this poignant drama from director Sidney Lumet ("The Verdict," "Dog Day Afternoon"). Ex-radicals Judd Hirsch ("Independence Day," "Taxi") and Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-winner Christine Lahti (TV's "Chicago Hope," "Swing Shift") have raised their family in hiding, constantly moving and changing aliases to flee facing charges from an inadvertent crime they committed as war protestors 15 years earlier. As their eldest son (Phoenix) comes of age, he is torn between running with his beloved fugitive parents, or developing his musical talents and pursuing his own life, which includes new girlfriend (Martha Plimpton, "The Mosquito Coast," "Goonies"). Nominated for two Oscars and 4 Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture, Actress and Director, Siskel & Ebert call this "...one of Lumet's best films...one of the best movies of the year...the acting in this film is wonderful," while the Los Angeles Times praises this as "...one of those rare films likely to mean as much to teens as it does to their parents...uncommonly tender, funny and lifelike...a major American film."