Alice Upside Down

The two messengers, Hong Gu and Lushui, were assigned the task of secretly protecting the delivery team of the imperial court's disaster relief cash box. The junior sister Hong Gu was arrogant and did not understand why the messengers worked in the dark every time, as if they could not see the light. On the way, the cash box was robbed, but Hong Gu, who should have reported the letter in time, ignored Lu Shui's dissuasion and acted rashly and got involved in the fight. The man in black who robbed the silver box was highly skilled in martial arts, and the Yin-yin team was defeated. In the chaos, Aunt Hong caught a suspicious beggar and handed it over to Lu Shui to take care of her, while she went after the money box desperately. The beggar tore off the green water veil and fled, but accidentally left a jade pendant and fell to the ground...

Ira translates as “Anger,” but the titular emotion isn’t often conveyed by the unnamed man and woman at the center of this subdued Italian drama set on the grim fringes of society. Instead, they spend their nights working—he in the market, she on the streets—or wandering restlessly and relentlessly around their dark, decaying city. Writer/director Mauro Russo Rouge follows his characters as they drive down roads lit by the yellow glow of streetlights, push through the crowds at a pink-hued nightclub, pick up supplies in a glaringly bright supermarket, and meander down sidewalks with drinks in hand. They rarely emerge into the sunlight; most of the action takes place in claustrophobic indoor spaces or in the cold, gray light of dusk or dawn. So, too, do their expressions remain withdrawn—even when their nascent relationship triggers a decisive act of violence.

Mick's father, Barry, sells the family piano, causing Mick's mother, Irene to leave. In order to raise enough money to buy the piano back, Mick dresses in his mother's clothes and becomes Michelle to join an all-girl band that has come into town for the annual harvest festival. Angela, the leader of the band, starts to question her sexuality when she begins to fall in love with Mick/Michelle.

After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman who has lost all hope.

A working class teenager comes of age in 1910s rural Sweden, moving through a series of jobs and romances that gradually shape his future.