The Power of Place in American Life
How does the power of place shape personal identity and American identity? To what extent does place shape
the people who live there and to what extent do the people shape the place? How permanent is the sense of
place in American lives? Can one ever really transcend their place of origin? Should they? What really
defines the sense of place? Is it more regional (Texas, California, the South, New England, the Midwest)? Is
place based on the nature of the community (city, suburb, small town, rural)? Is place defined in a cultural
way, based on the values of a place? Or is it something different or a combination of all of these?
the people who live there and to what extent do the people shape the place? How permanent is the sense of
place in American lives? Can one ever really transcend their place of origin? Should they? What really
defines the sense of place? Is it more regional (Texas, California, the South, New England, the Midwest)? Is
place based on the nature of the community (city, suburb, small town, rural)? Is place defined in a cultural
way, based on the values of a place? Or is it something different or a combination of all of these?
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- DirectorSam MendesStarsKevin SpaceyAnnette BeningThora BirchA sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
- DirectorGene SaksStarsBlythe DannerJonathan SilvermanStacey GlickEugene, a young teenage Jewish boy, recalls his memoirs of his time as an adolescent youth. He goes through the hardships of puberty, sexual fantasy, and living the life of a poor boy in a crowded house.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsSissy SpacekTommy Lee JonesLevon HelmThe fictionalized life of singer Loretta Lynn, a girl who rose from humble beginnings to become a country music star in the 1960s/70s.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsJessica LangeSam ShepardWilford BrimleyGilbert Ivy and his wife Jewell are farmers. They seem to be working against the odds, producing no financial surplus. Gilbert has lost hope of ever becoming prosperous, but his wife decides to fight for her family.
- DirectorJoan Micklin SilverStarsAmy IrvingPeter RiegertReizl BozykA Manhattan single meets a man through her Jewish grandmother's matchmaker.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDanny AielloOssie DavisRuby DeeOn the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsWilliam H. MacyFrances McDormandSteve BuscemiMinnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
- DirectorZach BraffStarsZach BraffPeter SarsgaardNatalie PortmanA quietly troubled young man returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsElizabeth TaylorRock HudsonJames DeanSprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsDustin HoffmanAnne BancroftKatharine RossA disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
- DirectorJoan Micklin SilverStarsSteven KeatsCarol KaneMel HowardIn 1896, a Russian Jewish woman immigrates to New York's Lower East Side to reunite with her Americanized husband, but has difficulty assimilating.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsTimothy BottomsJeff BridgesCybill ShepherdIn 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsChris CooperElizabeth PeñaStephen MendilloWhen the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonMariel HemingwayThe life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanJon VoightSylvia MilesA naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGary CooperJean ArthurGeorge BancroftA unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsKeith CarradineKaren BlackRonee BlakleyOver the course of a few hectic days, numerous interrelated people prepare for a political convention.
- DirectorJoe JohnstonStarsJake GyllenhaalChris CooperLaura DernThe true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
- DirectorGary RossStarsTobey MaguireJeff DanielsJoan AllenTwo 1990s teenage siblings find themselves transported to a 1950s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that colorless, complacent world.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsJason SchwartzmanBill MurrayOlivia WilliamsA teenager at Rushmore Academy falls for a much older teacher and befriends a middle-aged industrialist. Later, he finds out that his love interest and his friend are having an affair, which prompts him to begin a vendetta.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsTeresa WrightJoseph CottenMacdonald CareyA teenage girl, overjoyed when her favorite uncle comes to visit the family in their quiet California town, slowly begins to suspect that he is in fact the "Merry Widow" killer sought by the authorities.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsAngela BassettEdie FalcoAlex LewisA woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsRobert DuvallTess HarperBetty BuckleyA broken-down, middle-aged country singer gets a new wife, reaches out to his long-lost daughter, and tries to put his troubled life back together.
- DirectorPeter MastersonStarsGeraldine PageJohn HeardCarlin GlynnIn 1940s Texas, an elderly woman is determined to visit her childhood home one last time.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsTom CruiseJason RobardsJulianne MooreAn epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
- DirectorPeter RichardsonA documentary about a rural Oregon timber town and a rift between conservatives and liberals that threatens to put an end to a 40-year-old scholarship plan that pays the college tuition for every local high school graduate the town produces.
- DirectorDebra GranikStarsJennifer LawrenceJohn HawkesGarret DillahuntAn unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
- DirectorDavid O. RussellStarsMark WahlbergChristian BaleAmy AdamsBased on the story of Micky Ward, a fledgling boxer who tries to escape the shadow of his more famous but troubled older boxing brother and get his own shot at greatness.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsDaniel Day-LewisPaul DanoCiarán HindsA story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
- DirectorAlexander PayneStarsGeorge ClooneyShailene WoodleyAmara MillerA land baron tries to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife is seriously injured in a boating accident.
- DirectorLee DanielsStarsGabourey SidibeMo'NiquePaula PattonIn New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that she can re-route her life in a better direction.
- DirectorBill HaneyStarsSusan BirdDon BlankenshipRon BurrisA coal mining corporation and a tiny community vie for the last great mountain in Appalachia in a battle for the future of energy that affects us all.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsAlbert BitterlingRoscoe CollinsGeorge HarrisA documentary on the eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida.
- DirectorAlex LeMayQuestions of race, poverty, politics and religion hurdle towards each other in DESERT BAYOU, the story of 600 Hurricane Katrina evacuees who find themselves evacuated and deplaned from New Orleans and deposited into an isolated military installation in Utah. The lives of evacuees are undone; response from government officials, the military, local citizens and a Jewish rabbi astonish.
- DirectorBenh ZeitlinStarsQuvenzhané WallisDwight HenryLevy EasterlyFaced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.
- DirectorBetsy BlankenbakerStarsTed SteegJack KerouacDavid AmramBased on the book by Dan Wakefield, the film combines stunning archival footage of New York with interviews of the icons of the day - Kerouac, Ginsberg, Baldwin, Mailer, Basie, etc. Offering modern day perspectives.
- DirectorJody EldredDavid HuntStarsNorrell MooreAndrea PatrickSarah RushIn this documentary, Sarah Rush takes us back to the coal-mining town of her youth -- Carmichaels, Penn., population: 556. At the 50th anniversary of the Coal Queen Pageant in August 2003, we're introduced to 14 young ladies who are vying for the coveted crown.
- DirectorJim BrownGary BurnsStarsDaniel JefferyBob LegareJane MacFarlaneAn examination of the nature of modern suburbia.
- DirectorBen AffleckStarsBen AffleckRebecca HallJon HammA proficient group of thieves rob a bank and hold an assistant manager hostage. Things begin to get complicated when one of the crew members falls in love with her.
- DirectorCarl DealTia LessinStarsMichael BrownGeorge W. BushJulie Chen MoonvesA redemptive tale of an aspiring rap artist surviving failed levees and her own troubled past and seizing a chance for a new beginning.
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsTommy Lee JonesJavier BardemJosh BrolinViolence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
- DirectorDavid SutherlandStarsDarrel BuschkoetterJuanita Buschkoetter"The Farmer's Wife" takes us deep inside the world of Juanita and Darrel Buschkoetter, a remarkable young Nebraska farm couple, to tell a compelling love story. It follows the Buschkoetters over three years as they face seemingly insurmountable economic hardship, only to confront an even greater challenge: repairing their damaged marriage. What emerges is an epic story of faith, perseverance, and triumph, and an indelible portrait of a real American family's struggle to hold onto their dreams, and to each other.
- DirectorLee David ZlotoffStarsAlison ElliottEllen BurstynMarcia Gay HardenOscar-winner Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist) headlines this critically praised drama about a young woman, just out of prison, who finds spiritual redemption working at a cafe in Maine.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsRichard FarnsworthSissy SpacekJane Galloway HeitzAn old man makes a long journey by lawnmower to mend his relationship with an ill brother.
- DirectorTim McCanliesStarsBreckin MeyerPeter FacinelliEddie MillsFour high school friends that grew up together in a tiny Texas town, plan to leave for the big city the day after graduation. Over a week's time, their backstory and present day realities collide to determine how their plans play out.
- DirectorSteve JamesStarsWilliam GatesArthur AgeeEmma GatesA film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.
- DirectorSudhir VenkateshIn February 2002, families living in the Robert Taylor Homes public housing development were given a 180 day notice of eviction. In six months, the community that had been their home for generations would be demolished. DISLOCATION chronicles the lives of tenants in one building as they move through the six-month relocation process. The filmmakers follow three families as they prepare for their own move and as they help others around them. DISLOCATION is a story of a community coping with its own impending demise. It is a tale of courage, hope, and survival.