#16. Primal Fear (1996)

Storyline: When a young man, Aaron, is charged with the horrific murder of Archbishop Rushman, hot-shot Chicago lawyer Martin Vail takes on his defense at no charge. Aaron was a homeless street kid before he was taken in by the Archbishop. He's shy and speaks with a stammer. Vail is convinced that Aaron is innocent but after discovering a video that shows Aaron may have had good reason to want the Archbishop dead, he begins to question that conclusion. When Aaron lashes out at the psychologist examining him another personality, Roy, is revealed. With the trial already underway, Vail cannot change Aaron plea and so has to find a way to introduce his client's condition. Aaron has something of a surprise for him as well.

Plot Keywords: attorney, altar boy, priest, psychiatrist, prisoner, suspenseful, gripping ...

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#17. Ladybird, Ladybird (1994)

Storyline: This Ken Loach docu-drama relates the story of a British woman's fight with Social Services over the care of her children. Maggie has a history of bouncing from one abusive relationship to another. She has four children, of four different fathers, who came to the attention of Social Services when they were injured in a fire. Subsequently, Maggie was found to be an "unfit mother" and her children were removed from her care. She finally meets the man of her dreams, a Paraguayan expatriate, and they start a family together. Unfortunately, Social Services seems unwilling to accept that her life has changed and rends them from their new children. She and Jorge together, and separately, fight Social Services, Immigration, and other government bureaucrats in a desperate battle to make their family whole again.—Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>

Plot Keywords: alcoholic, mother, lover, social worker, judge, bleak, intense ...

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#18. Notes on a Scandal (2006)

Storyline: The bitter, cynical and lonely Barbara Covett is a tough and conservative teacher, near to retirement, who is loathed by her colleagues and students. In the loneliness of her apartment, she spends her spare time writing her journal, taking care of her old cat Portia and missing her special friend Jennifer Dodd. When Sheba Hart joins the high-school as the new art teacher, Barbara dedicates her attention to the newcomer, writing sharp and unpleasant comments about her behavior and clothes. When Barbara helps Sheba in a difficult situation with two students, the grateful Sheba invites her to have lunch with her family. Sheba introduces her husband and former professor Richard Hart, who is about twenty years older than she; her rebellious teenager daughter Polly; and her son Ben that has Down's Syndrome. Barbara becomes close to Sheba, but when she accidentally discovers that Sheba is having an affair with the fifteen year-old student Steven Connolly, Barbara sees the chance to ...

Plot Keywords: student, teacher, friend, husband, adulterer, dark, passionate ...

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#19. David Copperfield (1935)

Storyline: When David's father dies, his mother remarries. His new stepfather Murdstone has a mean and cruel view on how to raise a child. When David's mother dies from grief, Murdstone sends David to London to work for a living. When David escapes to his aunt Betsey his life starts to get better.—Mattias Thuresson

Plot Keywords: young boy, stepfather, father, ingénue, blackmailer, aunt, melodramatic ...

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#21. Natural Born Killers (1994)

Storyline: Mickey Knox and Mallory Wilson aren't your typical lovers - after killing her abusive father, they go on a road trip where, every time they stop somewhere, they kill pretty well everyone around them. They do however leave one person alive at every shootout to tell the story and they soon become a media sensation thanks to sensationalized reporting. Told in a highly visual style.

Plot Keywords: serial killer, girlfriend, reporter, police officer, survivors, survivor, dark ...

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#22. The Tale (2018)

Storyline: Jennifer Fox faces a host of life-altering questions after a short story from her middle school days forces her to re-examine her first sexual relationship and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. An accomplished documentarian working in New York, Jennifer is completing her latest project, about the lives of women around the world. She receives a series of phone calls from her mother, Nettie, who has found a short story Jennifer wrote at the age of 13 for school. In it, she describes various encounters with her riding instructor Mrs. G and her running coach Bill while away at summer camp. Nettie is unnerved by the implications of her daughter's writing, but Jennifer is nonplussed. She has always looked back with fondness on the time she spent with the two charismatic adults. Egged on by Nettie and encouraged by her supportive fiancé, Jennifer yearns to know more and sets out on a journey to find the real people 30 years later - the children, now adults, who also attended the camp back then-and eventually the coaches themselves. But the more she learns, the more her memories shift and the more questions she unearths. As her frustration mounts, she finds herself turning inward to get to the truth, imagining conversations with her 13-year-old-self and even Mrs. G and Bill in an effort to understand how and why events occurred so long ago.—Happy_Evil_Dude

Plot Keywords: journalist, professor, mother, coach, boyfriend, emotional, disheartening ...

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#23. Sparrows (1926)

Storyline: Evil Mr.Grimes keeps a rag-tag bunch orphans on his farm deep in a swamp in the US South. He forces them to work in his garden and treats them like slaves. They are watched over by the eldest, Molly. A gang in league with Mr. Grimes kidnaps Doris, the beautiful little daughter of a rich man, and hides her out on Grimes' farm, awaiting ransom. When the police close in, and Mr. Grimes threatens to throw Doris into the bottomless mire, Molly must lead her little flock out through the alligator-infested swamp.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>

Plot Keywords: orphan, heroine, headmaster, wife, abductee, wealthy man, creepy ...

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#24. An American Crime (2007)

Storyline: Based on a true story that shocked the nation in 1965, the film recounts one of the most shocking crimes ever committed against a single victim. Sylvia and Jennie Fae Likens, the two daughters of traveling carnival workers are left for an extended stay at the Indianapolis home of single mother Gertrude Baniszewski and her six children. Times are tough, and Gertrude's financial needs cause her to make this arrangement before realizing how the burden will push her unstable nature to a breaking point. What transpires in the next three months is both riveting and horrific.

Plot Keywords: housewife, mother, teen girl, child, dark, tense, shocking ...

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#26. Hollow Reed (1996)

Storyline: Following the break-up of his marriage after revealing his homosexuality, GP Martin Wyatt loses custody of his son Oliver to his now ex-wife Hannah and her new partner Frank. It is not long, however, until Oliver appears at the house of Martin and his new lover Tom claiming to have been beaten up by boys in the park. After another incident, Martin puts two and two together and comes to the conclusion that Frank has been beating Oliver without Hannah's knowledge. Martin then begins a long courtroom custody battle to win back his son.—Jonathan Broxton <j.w.broxton@sheffield.ac.uk>

Plot Keywords: doctor, ex-wife, boyfriend, son, tense, powerful, emotional ...

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#27. Radio Flyer (1992)

Storyline: A father reminisces about his childhood when he and his younger brother moved to a new town with their mother, her new husband and their dog, Shane. When the younger brother is subjected to physical abuse at the hands of their brutal stepfather, Mike decides to convert their toy trolley, the "Radio Flyer", into a plane to fly him to safety.

Plot Keywords: brother, mother, stepfather, young boy, disturbing, creative, touching ...

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#28. Begin Again (2013)

Storyline: 12-year-old Jessica Jones world is torn apart when she is taken out of her abusive home and placed in to Foster care. Jessica will grapple with her past, present, and future, and meet numerous struggles along the way. Her story is the reality of so many abuse victims in communities nationwide. The flashback scenes are from my own abusive childhood. I share these scenes with the hope that others in abusive situations will seek help for themselves and their abusers before it is too late.—Lisa Spurrier

Plot Keywords: teenager, teen girl, abusive mother, abusive father, foster mother, friend, engaging ...

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#29. Nordstrand (2013)

Storyline: NORDSTRAND tells the story of two brothers, Marten and Volker, who meet in their parents' now empty house on the coast. Older brother Marten would like to pick up together their mother from prison where she has been since the death of their violent father years ago. But Volker seems only to have come in order to sell the house. He apparently can't forgive neither his mother nor his older brother for the fact they didn't protect him from the abuse committed by the head of the family.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: brother, sibling, emotional, gripping, beach, family home, prison ...

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#30. The Pledge (2001)

Storyline: On the night he retires as a Reno detective, Jerry Black pledges to the mother of a murdered girl that he will find the killer. Jerry doesn't believe the police arrested the right man; he discovers that this is the third incident in the area in the recent past with victims young, blonde, pretty, and small for their age. So he buys an old gas station in the mountains near the crimes in order to search for a tall man who drives a black station wagon, gives toy porcupines as gifts, and calls himself the wizard, all clues from a drawing by the dead girl. Jerry's solitary life gives way to friendship with a woman and her small, blonde daughter. Has Jerry neglected something that may prove fatal?

Plot Keywords: detective, serial killer, girl, witness, suspenseful, dark, mountain ...

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