#16. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Storyline: Eva Khatchadourian's a mother to piece together her life following an incident cause by her strange child, Kevin. Once a successful travel writer, s she's forced to take whatever job comes her way, and in spite of the increasingly bizarre and dangers things Kevin says or does. But Kevin's behaviours is only getting worse.

Plot Keywords: writer, husband, son, sociopath, daughter, solemn, intricate ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#17. Boys Don't Cry (1999)

Storyline: Based on actual events. Brandon Teena is the popular new guy in a tiny Nebraska town. He hangs out with the guys, drinking, cussing, and bumper surfing, and he charms the young women, who've never met a more sensitive and considerate young man. Life is good for Brandon, now that he's one of the guys and dating hometown beauty Lana; however, he's forgotten to mention one important detail. It's not that he's wanted in another town for GTA and other assorted crimes, but that Brandon Teena was actually born a woman named Teena Brandon. When his best friends make this discovery, Brandon's life is ripped apart.

Plot Keywords: transsexual, love interest, friend, criminal, bleak, emotional, bar ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#18. The Corn Is Green (1945)

Storyline: Schoolteacher Lilly Moffat is dismayed by conditions in a Welsh mining town. She sets up a school to teach fundamental education to the villagers. Her housekeeper and daughter oppose the project, as does the local Squire who will not rent her space. Using part of her own home, she goes ahead with Miss Moffat's School. One of her students Morgan Evans turns from bully to brilliant student.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Plot Keywords: schoolteacher, spinster, student, coal miner, squire, pregnant woman, moving ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#19. Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go (2007)

Storyline: This British documentary goes inside Mulberry Bush School, which is home to some 40 children with various types of behavioral disorders. For these kids, many of whom have suffered emotional trauma and all of whom have been dropped from the public school system, Mulberry Bush is a last option. Following five students over the course of a year, the film explores how the patience and determination of a small group of instructors can transform even the most damaged child.

Plot Keywords: teacher, student, inspiring, intense, moving, oxford, england, school ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#20. Life as a House (2001)

Storyline: George Monroe is a lonely and sad man. Divorced for ten years, he lives alone on the Southern California coast with his pet dog in the same run down shack he has lived in for twenty-five years, the shack which his father passed down to him. In the intervening years, ostentatious houses have sprung up around him. He's been at the same architectural firm for twenty years in a job he hates, which primarily consists of building scale models. On the day that he is fired from his job, he is diagnosed with an advanced case of terminal cancer, which he chooses not to disclose to his family. In many ways, this day is the happiest of his recent life in that he decides to spend what little time he has left doing what he really wants to do, namely build a house he can call his own to replace the shack. He also wants his rebellious sixteen year old son, Sam Monroe, to live with him for the summer, hopefully not only to help in the house construction, but for the two to reconnect as a family. ...

Plot Keywords: father, architect, son, ex-wife, teen girl, neighbor, heartwarming ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#22. Blackboard Jungle (1955)

Storyline: War veteran Rick Dadier is one of three new teachers hired at North Manual High School, an inner city boys school. This is his first teaching assignment, which he needs to support himself and his insecure pregnant wife, Anne. Despite Principle Warnecke's assertions to the contrary, Dadier quickly learns that the rumors of student discipline problems at the school are indeed true. The established teachers at the school try to counsel the newcomers, all inexperienced in such situations, as how best to handle the rowdy students. Regardless, Dadier tries to exert discipline in his class, which provokes a violent response. Dadier believes the student leaders against him are Artie West, but more specifically Gregory Miller, who he thinks uses the fact of being black as a means of racial provocation. Dadier has to decide either to leave and teach at a "real" school, or stay and figure out how to get through to his students. If he decides to stay, he has to figure out who the real disruptive influences are, especially as they have resorted to attacks of a personal nature that affect especially Anne.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: teacher, student, principal, wife, gritty, fiery, new york city ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#23. Child's Pose (2013)

Storyline: Seeing a way to reassert control over her adult son's life when he faces manslaughter charges, an affluent Romanian woman sets out on a campaign of emotional and social manipulation to keep him out of prison, navigating the waters of power, corruption and influence. Child's Pose is based on the sense of loss of parents who have to send their children away-physically and psychologically. The parent-child relationship is re-assessed through a son in his 30s that wants to escape from his mother, who in turn wants to keep her adult son by her side. The mother's character is quite familiar, but this film is unique in that the director delicately portrays how the controlling mother wants to deny that her son is destined to leave her by following the characters' emotional flows and gazing at their twisted desires. Luminita Gheorghiu turns in an extraordinary performance in playing a mother struggling to "save" her son. Heading to the conclusion, the film shows that the unhealthy mother-son relationship is not that simple when it comes to matters of humane duty.—Ryan Silverman

Plot Keywords: overbearing parent, troubled youth, gripping, romania, obsession, mother/son relationship, wretched excess ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#24. Lean on Me (1989)

Storyline: An arrogant and unorthodox teacher returns as principal to the idyllic high school from which he had earlier been fired to find it a den of drug abuse, gang violence, and urban despair. Eventually his successful but unorthodox methods lead to a clash with city officials that threatens to undo all his efforts. Based on a true story.

Plot Keywords: principal, superintendent, student, teacher, drug dealer, gang member, gritty ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#25. The Bad News Bears (1976)

Storyline: First of a trilogy of films takes an unflinching look at the underbelly of little league baseball in Southern California. Former minor leaguer Morris Buttermaker is a lazy, beer swilling swimming pool cleaner who takes money to coach the Bears, a bunch of disheveled misfits who have virtually no baseball talent. Realizing his dilemma, Coach Buttermaker brings aboard girl pitching ace Amanda Whurlizer, the daughter of a former girlfriend, and Kelly Leak, a motorcycle punk who happens to be the best player around. Brimming with confidence, the Bears look to sweep into the championship game and avenge an earlier loss to their nemesis, the Yankees.

Plot Keywords: coach, baseball player, son, father, adversary, manager, cheeky ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#26. Girl, Interrupted (1999)

Storyline: Unable to cope with reality and the difficulty that comes with it, 18 year old Susanna, is admitted to a mental institution in order to overcome her disorder. However, she has trouble understanding her disorder and therefore finds it difficult to tame, especially when she meets the suggestive and unpredictable Lisa.

Plot Keywords: young woman, psychologist, friend, rival, parent, troubled youth, brooding ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#27. This Boy's Life (1993)

Storyline: In 1957, a son and mother flee the East and an abusive boyfriend to find a new life, and end up in Seattle, where the mother meets a polite garage mechanic. The boy continually gets into trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd. The mom marries the mechanic, but they soon find out that he's an abusive and unreasoning alcoholic, and they struggle to maintain hope in an impossible situation as the boy grows up with plans to escape the small town by any means possible. Based on a true story by Tobias Wolff.

Plot Keywords: young boy, stepfather, mother, friend, recruiter, emotional, disturbing ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#28. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

Storyline: Essentially a prequel to David Lynch and Mark Frost's earlier TV series "Twin Peaks". The first half-hour or so concerns the investigation by FBI Agent Chet Desmond (Chris Isaak) and his partner Sam Stanley (Kiefer Sutherland) into the murder of night-shift waitress Teresa Banks in the small Washington state town of Deer Meadow. When Desmond finds a mysterious clue to the murder, he inexplicably disappears. The film then cuts to one year later in the nearby town of Twin Peaks and follows the events during the last week in the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) a troubled teenage girl with two boyfriends; the hot-tempered rebel Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) and quiet biker James Hurley (James Marshall), her drug addiction, and her relationship with her difficult (and possible schizophrenic) father Leland (Ray Wise), a story in which her violent murder was later to motivate much of the TV series. Contains a considerable amount of sex, drugs, violence, very loud music and inexplicable ...

Plot Keywords: fbi agent, teen girl, rebel, drug dealer, father, partner, dreamy ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#29. Quadrophenia (1979)

Storyline: London, 1965: Like many other youths, Jimmy hates the philistine life, especially his parents and his job in a company's mailing division. Only when he's together with his friends, a 'Mod' clique, cruising London on his motor-scooter and hearing music such as that of 'The Who' and 'The High Numbers', does he feel free and accepted. However, it's a flight into an illusionary world.

Plot Keywords: young man, gang member, pretty woman, friend, gang leader, brooding, engaging ...

Movie Details Click Here!