The East

 

In a world of corporate influence and power, where does your loyalty lie? The East stars writer-actress Brit Marling as Sarah Moss, a former FBI agent turned private intelligence officer who is about to face the most difficult test of allegiance she’s ever experienced.

 

 

Moss’ new employer, Hiller Brood, specializes in protecting the interests of its powerful corporate clients, at any cost. When the head of a pharmaceutical giant gets targeted by the elusive eco-anarchist group The East, Moss gets assigned to infiltrate the group and stop them before their next attack. With her skills and determination, Moss has no trouble initiating herself into the collective—but stopping them becomes another story altogether. After seeing their plans and joining them on an anti-corporate mission, Moss realizes that The East is way ahead of the counter-intelligence agency; and after living and breathing with the most committed people she has ever met, Moss begins to give The East’s goals another thought. Soon, Moss becomes torn between her duties at Hiller Brood and her newfound connection with The East. Not to mention her budding romance with the group’s charismatic leader, Benji (Alexander Skarsgard)!

 

Written by Zat Batmanglij and Brit Marling and directed by Zat Batmanglij, The East will be released into limited theaters on May 31, 2013. This Fox Searchlight Pictures drama also stars Ellen Page, Patricia Clarkson, Toby Kebbell, and Shiloh Fernandez.

To Rome With Love

In Rome, all is a story. Written and directed by Woody Allen, To Rome With Love follows four different concurrent but completely unrelated plotlines that all take place in Rome.

In one story an American tourist goes to Rome for a summer and falls in love with an Italian lawyer while she’s there. After the two of them become engaged, her parents fly to Italy to meet the fiancé and his parents. Her father hears his father singing in the shower, and does his best to bring the man’s operatic talents to the world.

Meanwhile Italian newlyweds Antonio and Milly have moved to Rome from the countryside. While Milly gets lost in the city, Antonio gets mistaken for a client by a prostitute. The story, which gets quite convoluted from there, involves the prostitute pretending to be the wife, the wife getting entangled with a famous actor, and more.

Story number three involves Leopoldo, a clerk who wakes up one day to discover that he has inexplicably become a celebrity. Paparazzi trail him, seeking to film and document his every move. What has he had for breakfast? Can we watch you shave? The attention is non-stop until – suddenly – it ends.

Finally, we see the story of John, a well-known architect, who takes a trip back to the street where he lived as a student thirty years ago. While checking out his old haunts he meets Jack, an American architecture student. John gets tangled up in a story that involves John, his girlfriend Sally and Sally’s best friend Monica. With the sexual vibe nearly overwhelming, it’s hard to guess who is going to sleep with (or be tempted to sleep with) who next.

Written and directed by Woody Allen, To Rome With Love stars Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page. The Comedy/Drama, which is rated R for some sexual references, had a limited release on June 22, 2012 by Sony Pictures Classics.