Volker Schlöndorff transposes Bertolt Brecht’s late-expressionist work to latter-day 1969. Poet and anarchist Baal lives in an attic and reads his poems to cab drivers. At first feted and later rejected by bourgeois society, Baal roams through forests and along motorways, greedy for schnapps, cigarettes, women and men: ‘You have to let out the beast, let him out into the sunlight.’ After impregnating a young actress he soon comes to regard her as a millstone round his neck. He stabs a friend to death and dies alone. ‘You are useless, mangy and wild, you beast, you crawl through the lowest boughs of the tree.’
The film takes youthful impetuousness and hatred of oppression as its subject and also ponders the cult of genius and sexual morals. Rainer Werner Fassbinder simultaneously plays both Baal and himself and is surrounded by many actors who were later to perform in his own films. After the film was broadcast on West German television, Brecht’s widow Helene Weigel prohibited any further screenings, arguing that the social circumstances engendering Baal’s rebelliousness had not been adequately explained.
1960年代,纽约意大利人集结的布朗克斯区。黑帮老大辛尼(查兹·帕尔明特瑞 Chazz Palminteri饰)是当地赫赫有名的帮会人物。在一宗凶杀案现场,九岁的男孩安奴(弗朗西斯·卡普拉 Francis Capra饰)目睹了这一切。为了街区的名誉,安奴拒绝供出凶手就是辛尼,此事促使他俩展开一段俨如父子般的忘年友情。然而安奴的父亲罗兰逊(罗伯特·德尼罗 Robert De Niro饰)对此却并不赞成,唯恐儿子误入歧途。八年后,十七岁的安奴(李洛·布兰卡托 Lillo Brancato饰)已经成长为一名英俊少年。辛尼的势力正在逐渐扩大,安奴对辛尼愈发崇拜,对黑帮生活也更加向往。诚实正直的罗兰逊对儿子的忧虑越来越重。 由奥斯卡影帝罗伯特·德尼罗执导的电影处女作《布朗克斯的故事》,入围1993年第50届威尼斯国际电影节金狮奖。
1981年,艾滋作为一种前所未见的免疫系统缺陷疾病在纽约出现。由于它集中发生在男同性恋当中,所以在当时又被称为“同志病”。内德(马克·鲁弗洛 Mark Ruffalo 饰)是一个激进的同志作家,当他看着朋友纷纷死去以及政府的不作为时,义愤填膺的他发起了男同健康危机组织, 呼吁政府和社会公众对这场即将爆发的大瘟疫给予重视。半身瘫痪的女医生艾玛(朱莉娅·罗伯茨 Julia Roberts 饰)是少数从一开始就高度警惕艾滋疫情的的医护人员,也是内德重要的异性恋盟友。在运动中内德认识了纽约时报记者菲尼克斯(马修·波莫 Matt Bomer 饰),两人陷入如火如荼的热恋。然而菲尼克斯最终也被确诊感染,悲痛的内德惟有爱人和事业两线作战。健康危机组织的主席布鲁斯(泰勒·克奇 Taylor Kitsch 饰)虽然是内德最好的朋友,然而深柜的他行事风格与好斗的内德截然...