4 Elements

Showing at the Mar del Plata Film Festival: 4 Elements, directed by Jiska Rickels

Synopsis from the film's website:

4 Elements consists of four chapters that each show the struggle of mankind with the different elements.

FIRE shows the "smoke-jumpers" of Siberia that control the fire but also shows how they paradoxically make a fire in the base camp to cook their dinner.

WATER tells the story of the King crab fishers in Alaska and shows the men during the season of four days and nights.

In EARTH two mineworkers crawl like ants between the gigantic machines and it is shown how they scrub each others back after a long and exhausting day.

In AIR astronauts are followed during their heavy physical trainings till the point where they are being launched into space.

4 Elements shows, in a poetic way, the struggle of mankind with the four elements. Four places on earth where companionship and mutual trust are still of vital importance.

Come l'ombra / As the Shadow

Showing at the Mar del Plata Film Festival: Come l'ombra, directed by Marina Spada

Synopsis from AllMovie.com:

A bored Italian travel agent agrees to take in the cousin of a handsome Ukrainian teacher she has recently become acquainted with, only to find her generosity propelling her into a dark mystery in director Marina Spada's sophisticated sophomore outing as a director. Claudia (Anita Kravos) spends her days working and her weekends visiting her sister and parents. In her spare time Claudia has taken to studying Russian. When Claudia catches the eye of charming Ukrainian professor of languages Boris (Paolo Pierobon), who has only recently arrived in Italy and has taken to offering language lesson as a means of making ends meet, the pair immediately make a connection and their relationship gradually begins to grow deeper. Their bond seemingly solidified, Boris soon approaches his newfound friend with the prospect of putting up his Ukrainian cousin Olga (Karolina Dafne Porcari). Though Claudia readily agrees under the stipulation that the arrangement only be for a few days, the bond between the lonely Italian and the amiable language teacher soon expands to include the newly arrived, beautiful blonde until one day Olga goes mysteriously missing. Now determined to find out just what fate befell her amiable temporary roommate, Claudia sets out to discover the truth behind Olga's perplexing disappearance.

Khadak

Showing at the Mar del Plata Film Festival: Khadak, directed by Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens

Synopsis from the film's website:

Set in the frozen steppes of Mongolia, Khadak tells the epic story of Bagi, a young nomad confronted with his destiny to become a shaman. A plague strikes the animals and the nomads are forcibly relocated to desolate mining towns. Bagi saves the life of a beautiful coal thief, Zolzaya, and together they reveal the plague was a lie fabricated to eradicate nomadism. A sublime revolution ensues.

Netflix It: John Tucker Must Die

#11 - John Tucker Must Die

Available on Netflix: John Tucker Must Die, directed by Betty Thomas

Synopsis from AllMovie.com:

Three teenagers two-timed by a local lothario decide to turn the tables on him in this romantic comedy. John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) is the big man on campus at his high school -- he's the captain and star player of the basketball team, he's got money, he's good-looking and charming, and he can have any girl he wants. However, the latter attribute is about to get him in serious trouble when three different girls at his school -- Heather (Ashanti), Beth (Sophia Bush) and Carrie (Arielle Kebbel) -- discover they've all been dating John at the same time. Determined to bring down the campus ladykiller, the girls devise a plan -- they pick a cute but socially clumsy girl who is new at school, Kate (Brittany Snow), and give her a crash course in stealing John's heart. Once Kate has John wrapped around her little finger, she's supposed to drop him like a bad habit and give him a taste of what heartbreak is really like. However, it seems that the early stages of the plan work a little too well, and John and Kate end up falling for each other for real.

Act of God

Opening this weekend: Act of God, directed by Jennifer Baichwal

Synopsis from AllMovie.com:

Documentarian Jennifer Baichwal helmed this reflective documentary that ponders the spiritual, emotional, and metaphysical ramifications of being struck by a lightning bolt. According to the National Weather Service, the odds of this incident befalling any given person are about one in 700,000, which makes many a survivor question why he or she fell prey to this unusual calamity; some infer a cosmic reason, some reject that possibility, but most fall somewhere in between as they feebly attempt to come to terms with it. In the film, Baichwal speaks with a number of well-known victims, including the novelist and screenwriter Paul Auster (The Music of Chance), the improv-driven prog rock guitarist Fred Frith, and others, and evaluates how the interviewees' lives forked off in new directions after a massive discharge of electricity descended from the sky and landed on them.

Netflix It: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

#10 - Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Available on Netflix: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, directed by Callie Khouri

Synopsis from AllMovie.com:

Screenwriter Callie Khouri makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of a pair of popular novels by author Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere. Sandra Bullock stars as Sidda Lee Walker, a New York playwright who opens a can of emotional worms with her estranged, boozy mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), when she discusses her painful childhood and particularly Vivi's less-than-enviable mothering skills in a Time magazine article. The eccentric Louisiana drama queen Vivi has already been barred from her daughter's oft-delayed wedding to her fiancé, Connor (Angus Macfadyen), so the article sends her into a rage. Coming to the rescue of the relationship are Necie (Shirley Knight), Caro (Maggie Smith), and Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), a trio of bickering women, who, along with Vivi, formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier that they dubbed the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood." The Ya-Yas kidnap Sidda and bring her home to Louisiana, where they reveal to Sidda via a carefully maintained scrapbook her mother's painful past (with Vivi portrayed in flashback by Ashley Judd), effecting a rapprochement between mother and daughter.

Netflix It: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

#9 - Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Available on Netflix: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, directed by Amy Heckerling

Synopsis from AllMovie.com:

Amy Heckerling's adaptation of Cameron Crowe's Fast Times at Ridgemont High is often considered one of the finest films of a disreputable genre (the teen sex comedy), and kick-started the careers of many future stars. The center of this ensemble film is Jennifer Jason Leigh as Stacy Hamilton. She is a young, innocent high-school student who, as the film opens, is asking for advice from her friend, the sexually outspoken Linda Barrett (Phoebe Cates). Stacy takes a liking to nebbish Mark Ratner (Brian Backer), but he is too afraid to make a move even after Stacy all but throws herself at him. She eventually hooks up with Mark's more confident best friend, Mike Damone (Robert Romanus). When not concerning itself with these four characters, the film spends time with stoned surfer dude Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) and his ongoing feud with history teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston). The film includes brief appearances by such future stars as Nicolas Cage, Eric Stoltz, and Forest Whitaker.