The Shanghai Spell (2002)

Director
Fernando Trueba

Main cast
Fernando Tielve; Aida Folch; Ariadna Gil; Fernando Fernán Gómez; Eduard Fernández

Genres
Drama

Description
A fourteen year old lad discovers his first love at the point of his pencil whilst drawing the portrait of a sickly but coquettish fifteen year old girl. In the neighbourhood an old freedom-fighter pits himself against bad types, a pretty cinema-ticket girl takes to the streets at night and a young anarchist dedicates himself to telling tall stories. Far away, in Shanghai, a hero of the Republic meets a beautiful femme fatal with oriental eyes. Reality and fiction become fused in an embrace.


Similar movies

In the not so distant future, Theodore, a lonely writer purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user's every needs. To Theordore's surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.
An all-star cast sparks this captivating comedy about a group of old friends whose 10-year high school reunion creates some hilariously unexpected surprises. Willie, Tommy, and Paul may have lost a bit of their youth, but they're still ready to party with Uma Thurman, Rosie O'Donnell, Lauren Holly, and Mira Sorvino -- the beautiful girls who've turned their lives upside down!
The true story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau freedom fighter who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford.
Dr. Devendra (Dharmendra) is an eligible young man, employed with the local prison for women. He meets an attractive female inmate named Kalyani, and both become friends. Devendra finds Kalyani very attractive, and would like to marry her, and refuses to know or judge her from her past. What Devendra does not know is Kalyani is a killer, who has confessed to killing the wife of a freedom-fighter, Bikas Ghosh.
A U.S. missionary (Barbara Stanwyck) is gradually seduced by a courtly warlord (Nils Asther) holding her in Shanghai.
Me and Orson Welles is a period-drama film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Zac Efron, Christian McKay and Claire Danes. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar, where he becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant.
A provincial boy related to a Shanghai crime family is recruited by his uncle into cosmopolitan Shanghai in the 1930s to be a servant to a ganglord's mistress.
Ride with the Devil follows four people who are fighting for truth and justice amidst the turmoil of the American Civil War. Director Ang Lee takes us to a no man's land on the Missouri/Kansas border where a staunch loyalist, an immigrant's son, a freed slave, and a young widow form an unlikely friendship as they learn how to survive in an uncertain time. In a place without rules and redefine the meaning of bravery and honor.
Lan Kwai Fong (LKF), a well-known party location in Hong Kong with loads of nightclubs and bars. Everyone likes to go to LKF for fun, one night stands or even true love. LKF has captured the joys and sorrows of many... One night, Steven - a regular of LKF met the flight attendant - Jennifer. They had sex on the first night they met but both could feel love come along. They had another date on New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, misunderstanding tore them apart and Jennifer decided to disappear from LKF. After eight months, Steven meets with Jennifer again and hopes to restart a relationship with her. However, Jennifer is no longer single, she's now his boss, Leslie's girlfriend. At the same time, Steven receives a call that his close friend collapsed and had to be sent to hospital. His friend encouraged him to follow his heart. When he finally decides to tell Jennifer about his feelings...
As bareknuckled boxing enters the modern era, brash extrovert Jim Corbett uses new rules and dazzlingly innovative footwork to rise to the top of the top of the boxing world.
The crew of the merchant ship Glencairn hope to survive a transatlantic crossing during World War II. Adapted from four Eugene O'Neill one-act plays.
"The Straight Story" chronicles a trip made by 73-year-old Alvin Straight from Laurens, Iowa, to Mt. Zion, Wisconsin, in 1994 while riding a lawn mower. The man undertook his strange journey to mend his relationship with his ill, estranged, 75-year-old brother Lyle.
Forced to give up his land and home, Texas rancher Red Bovie isn't about to retire quietly in a dismal trailer park. Instead he hops in his Cadillac and hits the road with his estranged grandson for one last wild adventure filled with guns, women and booze. It’s just another night in Old Mexico.
It is July 1st of 1997, and Hong Kong is bright in celebration. The United Kingdom handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China leaves Ga Yin, and his fellow soldiers without work. Which leads them to find employment and money any way they can get it. Without much success, Ga Yin decides to join his brother Ga Suen in the triad gang world.
The story of an old Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan and her relationship with her colored chauffeur Hoke. From an initial mere work relationship grew in 25 years a strong friendship between the two very different characters in a time when those types of relationships where shunned upon. Oscar winning tragic comedy with a star-studded cast and based on a play of the same name by Alfred Uhry.
A romantic-drama, OLD FASHIONED centers on Clay Walsh, a former frat boy who gives up his carousing and now runs an antique shop in a small Midwestern college town. There, he has become notorious for his lofty and outdated theories on love and romance. When Amber Hewson, a free-spirited young woman with a restless soul, drifts into the area and rents the apartment above his shop, she finds herself surprisingly drawn to his noble ideas, which are new and intriguing to her. And Clay, though he tries to fight and deny it, simply cannot resist being attracted to her spontaneous and passionate embrace of life. Ultimately, Clay must step out from behind his relational theories, and Amber must overcome her own fears and deep wounds, as the two of them, together, attempt the impossible: an “old-fashioned” courtship in contemporary America.
Member of a neo-Nazi gang, her day job is to take care of four crazy old people that all are just waiting to die. Her life becomes a journey into a burlesque fairytale, where the rules of the game are created by Mette herself. Mette is indifferent about her way of life, until she one night assaults a man, kicking him senseless. Waking up the day after, she realizes that something is wrong.
In November 1941, Major Caton takes command of the small Marine garrison on Wake Island. His tendency toward spit and polish upsets the men's tropical lassitude, but Pearl Harbor changes everything. Soon the island is attacked and the Marines pull together day by day; but how long can they hold out?
Two old pals reunite for a camping trip in Oregon's Cascade Mountains.
Four sisters try to stop the wedding of their younger brother and in doing so, all discover resentments among each other.
Based on one of Hemingway's most famous works, it centers upon Santiago, an aging, down on his luck Cuban fisherman. After catching nothing for nearly 3 months, he hooks a huge Marlin and struggles to land it far out in the Gulf Stream.
Intended as the concluding film in the trilogy on the modern history of Taiwan began with Beiqing Chengshi (1989), this film reveals the story through three levels: a film within a film as well as the past and present as linked by a young woman, Liang Ching. She is being persecuted by an anonymous man who calls her repeatedly but does not speak. He has stolen her diary and faxes her pages daily. Liang is also rehearsing for a new film that is due to go into production soon. The film, entitled Haonan Haonu, is about a couple Chiang Bi-yu and Chung Hao-tung who returns to China to participate in the anti-Japanese movement in China in the 1940s and are arrested as communists when they go back to Taiwan.
Wealthy construction mogul Andy Lau and cabaret dancer Qi Shu fall madly in love with one another despite the class differences that would keep many couples apart. However, what Shu doesn't know is that Lau is the man responsible for razing a building representing cherished memories from her childhood. Can they live happily ever after if this secret gets out?
On a fishing boat at sea, a 60-year old man has been raising a girl since she was a child. It is agreed that they will get married on her 17th birthday. They live a quiet and secluded life, renting the boat to day fishermen and practicing strange divination rites. Their life changes when a teenage student comes aboard.
B-Dawg, Mudbud, Budderball, and all the rest of the Buddies are back, but this time, they're setting their sights even higher -- as in, the moon! With the help of their new pals Spudnick (voiced by Jason Earles) and Gravity, these pooches are go for launch. But to pull off their moon landing and make it home safely, our canine heroes will have to summon all their bravery and imagination...
American journalists in Sudan are confronted with the dilemma of whether to return home to report on the atrocities they have seen, or to stay behind and help some of the victims they have encountered.
A freestyle biopic of Ikki Kita, the ultranationalist intellectual whose ideas inspired the failed military coup in 1936.
A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.
Frank, a retired Irish seaman, and Walter, a retired Cuban barber, are two lonely old men trapped in the emptiness of their own lives. When they meet in a park Frank is able to start a conversation after several attempts. They begin to spend time together and become friends. But because of their different characters they often quarrel with each other and finally seperate after Frank misbehaves to Walter's friend Elaine.
Dean Yoginder Vashisht, retired, has fallen gravely ill. Several students from his final year at St. Theresa's College rush to his side. In flashbacks, they all recall the events that none of them have gotten over yet, including the dean, and how the "Student of the Year" competition shaped who they were, how they related, and what they've become.
When the retired seventy-seven years old hypochondriac widower Fred moves to an apartment in Madrid, his temperamental daughter Cuca has an incident with his next door neighbor, the elder Argentinean Elsa. Later, they meet each other and Elsa seduces Fred with her reckless behavior and view of life and they have a romance.
Ex-Army officer Jameson takes a job a prison guard at San Quentin. Joe, the brother of his new girlfriend May, is sentenced to the prison for robbery. When Jameson tries to separate lawbreakers from hardened criminals, badguy Hansen tries to stir up trouble by telling Joe about Jameson's interest in his sister.
Afflicted with a terminal illness John Bernard Brooks, the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler. Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow and her son.However, it is not Brooks' fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle.
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
After retiring to the beautiful Mexican town of Guanajuato, a 70 year old decides to follow his dreams and enroll at the university where he stumbles upon a new generation and they are bound together by the novel Don Quijote de la Mancha.
It is New Year's weekend and the friends of Peter (Fry) gather at his newly inherited country house. Ten years ago, they all acted together in a Cambridge University student comedy troupe, but it's less clear how much they have in common now.Peter's friends are Andrew (Branagh), now a writer in Hollywood; married jingle writers Roger (Laurie) and Mary (Staunton); glamorous costume designer Sarah (Emmanuel); and eccentric Maggie (Thompson), who works in publishing. Cast in sharp relief to the university chums are Carol (Rudner), the American TV star wife of Andrew; and loutish Brian (Slattery), Sarah's very recently acquired lover. Law plays Peter's disapproving housekeeper, Vera; and Lowe, her son Paul. Briers appears in a cameo role as Peter's father.
A marshal tries to bring the son of an old friend, an autocratic cattle baron, to justice for the rape and murder of his wife.
Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, whose career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. Now the two live together, their relationship affected by simmering subconscious thoughts of mutual envy, hate and revenge.
Coming-of age feature, set in a New South Wales country town in the 1960s, about a 15 year-old boy. It follows his loves and how he copes with life's problems such as death and departure.
Mike Leigh’s much praised 2010 tragicomical drama. During a year, a very content couple approaching retirement are visited by friends and family less happy with their lives.
The French film in 1988 was considered provocative. The story is about a 14 year old girl who’s sexual curiosities lead to date an older man. Female sexuality and puberty are themes in this film.
A man tries to find a son he gave up for adoption years ago.
The Best Years of Our Lives is a classic film from director Williams Wyler about three war veterans. The film earned seven Oscars in 1946.
Old friends Kit Marlowe and Millie Drake adopt contrasting lifestyles: Kit is a single, critically acclaimed author while married Millie writes popular pulp novels.
15 year-old soccer prodigy, Sara Davis, has a chance to join the U.S. National Team, but she must juggle high school, romance, sports, and parental pressure while deciding her own priorities.
Two characters: old and young; teacher and pupil; man and woman. Four walls within which they conjure intellectualism, relive the profession (journalism), explore politics and discover each other.
After killing a witness, LAPD detective Sgt. Lloyd Hopkins (Woods) is suspended by his superiors. However, he becomes increasingly convinced that a series of murders he's recently been working on have some sort of connection.Alone, unarmed and unauthorized, Hopkins goes on the trail of a serial killer. Over the course of the investigation he crosses swords with Kathleen McCarthy, a feminist bookshop manager (Warren), whose old high school yearbook may hold a vital clue to the mystery.
The film's story begins in the bleak working class milieu of Stockholm. Harry (Lars Ekborg) and Monika (Harriet Andersson) are both in dead end jobs when they meet. Harry is easygoing, while Monika is adventurous, but they fall in love. When Monika learns she is pregnant, Harry does the right thing, and settles down with Monika and their child. He gets a real job and studies to provide for his family. Monika, however, is unsatisfied with her role as homemaker. She yearns for excitement and adventure, a desire which finally leads her astray. Harry is left behind with the child.
A simple story of a God fearing, devout Muslim mechanic named Hasmat Ullah who has been entrusted the job of repairing an old V8 ford engine, not knowing the historic significance that it once carried the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi which were immersed in the holy river Sangam. He is caught in a complex situation after a powerful bomb explosion rocks his town leading to the arrest of innocent Muslim youths of his locality. A strike to work is called by the prominent Leaders of his community to protest against the unjust treatment meted out to those arrested youths by the police. Will he support the protest and abandon the repair of the engine or go against the wishes of his community. Thus begins his journey.
A bride's divorced parents find their old feelings for each other during the wedding reception and over the course of the next few days upsetting the newlywed's honeymoon.
"The Hours" is the story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.
Daikichi learns that his recently deceased grandfather has an illegitimate daughter with an unknown mother. The girl's name is Rin and she is just 6 years old. Everybody in Daikichi's family looks at the girl as an embarrassment and wants no part of her. Daikichi, annoyed by his family's attitude, decides to raise Rin by himself. Even though Daikichi himself has no experience raising a child and is still single. The movie is based on Yumi Unita's popular manga series "Usagi Drop".
Sissy Hankshaw (Uma Thurman) is born with enormous thumbs that help her hitchhiking through the US from a young age. She becomes a model in advertising and her NY agent 'the Countess' (John Hurt) sends her to his ranch in CA to shoot a commercial, set against the background of mating whooping cranes. There, she befriends Bonanza Jellybean (Rain Phoenix), one of the cowgirls at the beauty- ranch.
Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins. Her principal asks her to seek coaching from an English professor named Dr. Larabee for the more prestigious regional bee. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of -- but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.
Best friends Galleria (Raven-Symoné), Chanel (Adrienne Bailon), Dorinda (Sabrina Byran), and Aqua (Kiely Williams), A.K.A. the girl band "The Cheetahs," get the opportunity of a lifetime when they strut their way to Barcelona, Spain, to perform in an international music festival. Along the way, the "amigas Cheetahs" learn that, although their paths are not the same, they are lucky to have one another for the journey.
It's 1961, two years after the original Grease gang graduated, and there's a new crop of seniors and new members of the coolest cliques on campus, the Pink Ladies and T-Birds. Michael Carrington is the new kid in school - but he's been branded a brainiac. Can he fix up an old motorcycle, don a leather jacket, avoid a rumble with the leader of the T-Birds, and win the heart of Pink Lady Stephanie?
A young drifter named Nomi arrives in Las Vegas to become a dancer and soon sets about clawing and pushing her way to become a top showgirl.
Kidnapped by a Los Angeles crime syndicate, a group of schoolgirls must fight and seduce their way to vengeance after one of them committed suicide, teaching the criminals a lesson in kicking butt and taking names.
Dev and Maya are both married to different people. Settled into a life of domestic ritual, and convinced that they are happy in their respective relationships, they still yearn for something deeper and more meaningful, which is precisely what they find in each other.
Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.

© Valossa 2015–2024