Long Island Expressway

Howie Blitzer is deeply affected by the death of his mother in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway. His situation is exacerbated by his acrimonious relationship with his distant father Marty, who brought a trophy girlfriend into the house less than a month after his wife's death. Howie's only solace is the company of his best friend Gary Terrio, a juvenile delinquent and hustler. Although Gary is attracted to Howie, Howie is unsure of his own sexuality. They have two other friends their age, one of whom, Kevin, has an incestuous relationship with his sister. The four boys routinely break into neighborhood houses.

One night, they break into the house of Big John Harrigan during his birthday party. Gary knows his way around the house; it is later revealed Big John is one of his steady clients. When Big John discovers them, he rips a pocket off Howie's pants as they escape with a pair of valuable North Vietnamese pistols.

John confronts Gary over the burglary and Gary names Howie as his accomplice. He approaches the boy at a diner, pretending that he knew his mother. He offers the boy a ride home and Howie is impressed that Big John happens to drive Howie's dream car. Once he has gained Howie's trust, however, he pulls out the torn pocket and demands that Howie return the guns. Howie gets only one gun back from Gary's room, and returns it. John wants $1000 compensation for the other gun and Howie offers to work for him to pay off the debt. John puts on a pornographic video, then sits down beside Howie. He starts to stroke the boy's thigh and says, "What have you got that's worth a thousand dollars?" Howie does not respond to his advances, and quickly leaves the house. When he returns home, Howie masturbates to a fantasy involving both John and the girl in the video. Gary then steals money from Howie's father and disappears to Los Angeles. This abandonment affects Howie and his confusion over his sexual identity worsens.

John and Howie begin a tenuous friendship in which John becomes a kind of father figure to the boy. There is no sexual activity, but there is talk of sex. Howie realizes that he wields sexual power over John, something John is all too aware of. Howie stays over at John's house and John asks Scott, his 19-year-old lover, to go and stay in a motel for a few nights. Howie wanders round the house and discovers a stash of child pornography. Some are pictures of a younger Gary and others are of a blond 11-year-old boy, confirming that John is a pedophile. Scott comes into the room and warns Howie not to take John from him.

Meanwhile, Marty, whose fraudulent construction practices are unraveling, happens to see Howie playing hooky from school. He loses his temper and hits the boy. That same day, he is arrested for installing cheap wiring, and when Howie returns home to find him missing, believes his father has abandoned him. Later that evening he comes into John's bedroom wearing just his underpants, expecting John to sleep with him. When John tells Howie his father didn't abandon him, but is in jail, Howie breaks down and cries. John leaves him to sleep by himself.

The next morning, John is all charm, fixing Howie breakfast and taking him to see his father in jail. Howie's father apologizes for hitting him, and promises to spend more time with him once he is out of prison. Howie is unconvinced, and merely tells his father never to hit him again.

After dropping Howie off, John returns to the local rest area where young hustlers wait for johns, and sits in his car. Scott, devastated by John's abandonment, drives by and shoots him dead.

In the final scene, Howie contemplates the expressway, vowing he won't let it get him too.

David's Birthday

Two pairs of friends, Matteo and Francesca & Shary and Diego, decide to spend the summer together in a beach house at the foot of Mount Circeo. Matteo, a psychologist, is married to Francesca with whom he has a five year old girl, Elena. Diego and Shary have a less stable relationship, having a son together, David, who attends college in the United States. David comes to Italy for the first time in five years to spend time with his family and celebrate his birthday. Upon David's arrival, he and Matteo begin to develop feelings for each other. Only Leonard, Shary's brother, who has returned from his travels around the world to spend some time with the two pairs, seems to sense what is happening. The balance of Matteo's marriage begins to crack, and the growing tension seems to corrode the two families. Leonard decides to leave, leaving the main characters to their inevitable fate.

Spoiler Alert: One of the most dramatic(sound track)and orgasmic(acting),but tragic ending of a movie that I have seen for quite some time. I rate this movie 4 out of 5.

Essenheim-The Illusionist

In the Victorian period, there is a famous illusionist named Eisenheim. During one of his acts, Eisenheim recognizes his young lover Dutches Von Teshcen. When they were young they were separated because Eisenheim was too poor for the Dutchess. During his show, Eisenheim calls for a volunteer and Sophie now the Dutchess accepts. Eisenheim recognizes her immediately however the same is not true for Sophie. Later, Eisenheim meets Sophie in a stagecoach telling her the truth about his identity. The Dutchess is thrilled, but is already engaged to the Emperor's son who unfortunately watched Eisenheim's show as well. br />
The emperor's son soon invites Eisenheim to perform at his palace where out of his spite of jealousy, Eisenheim starts a feud with the emperor's son. Later, Sophie and Eisenheim have an affair and suspecting of this, the emperor's son hired private investigator Uhl(who also saw the performance) to keep an eye on Eisenheim. Sophie soon confesses to the emperor's son that she was in love with Eisenheim and that she is leaving him. The emperor's son was both filled with rage, and drunk. In his drunkeness, he chased Sophie down an alley, where Sophie was seen riding her horse lying down. The next morning, Sophie's horse is found with a huge spot of blood on its neck, and no Sophie, a search party goes on comprised of Blood Hounds, Uhl, Eisenheim some detectives, and ultimately, the emperor's son.

Sophie is found dead with a stab wound to her neck, and a small red gem on her presence. Eisenheim instantly tells Uhl that the emperor's son murdered Sophie because without a bride, he could not take the throne in his deceased father's place. Uhl and Eisenheim become close friends, but then, Eisenheim is fired by his manager due to a lack of money brought in by his performances. Eisenheim then buys a theater, where he starts his new act, of resurrecting spirits from the dead.

First, he brings up the entity of a young man called Frankel, followed by many others including, Sophie's. By the order of the emperors son, Uhl is to arrest Eisenheim if he continues these acts. Uhl warns Eisenheim who announces to a band of spectators that the spirits were an illusion, and apoligized for any false hope. During his next performance, Eisenheim brings back Sophie and the emperor's son in disguise sets forth the task on Uhl to arrest Eisenheim, his best friend. When Uhl pronounces Eisenheim's crimes to a whole auditorium of spectators, Eisenheim stands up, and vanishes into thin air, and Uhl sets out to look for him.


Caravaggio (1986) is a British film directed by Derek Jarman. The film is a fictionalised re-telling of the life of Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

Told in a segmented fashion, the film opens as Caravaggio (Nigel Terry) dies from lead poisoning while in exile, with only his long-time deaf-dumb companion Jerusaleme (Spencer Leigh) (who was given by his family to the artist as a boy) by his side. Caravaggio thinks back to his life as a teenage street ruffian (Dexter Fletcher) who hustles and paints. While taken ill and in the care of priests, young Caravaggio catches the eye of Cardinal Del Monte (Michael Gough). Del Monte nurtures Caravaggio's artistic and intellectual development but also appears to molest him.

As an adult, Caravaggio still lives under the roof and paints with the funding of Del Monte. Caravaggio is shown employing street people, drunks and prostitutes as models for his intense, usually religious paintings (see the article on the painter for examples). He is depicted as frequently brawling, gambling, getting drunk and is implied to sleep with both male and female models, including the male Jerusaleme and the female contortionist Pipo (Dawn Archibald). In the art world, Caravaggio is regarded as vulgar and entitled due to his Vatican connections.

One day, Ranuccio (Sean Bean), a street fighter for pay, catches Caravaggio's eye as a subject and potential lover. Ranuccio also introduces Caravaggio to his girlfriend Lena (Tilda Swinton), who also becomes an object of attraction and a model to the artist. When both Ranuccio and Lena are separately caught kissing Caravaggio, each displays jealousy over the artist's attentions. One day, Lena announces she is pregnant (although she doesn't state who the father is) and will become a mistress to the wealthy Scipione Borghese (Robbie Coltrane). Soon, she is found murdered by drowning. As the weeping Ranuccio looks on, Caravaggio and Jerusaleme clean Lena's body. Caravaggio is shown painting Lena after she dies and mournfully writhing with her nude body. Ranuccio is arrested for Lena's murder, although he claims to be innocent. Caravaggio pulls strings and goes to the Pope himself to free Ranuccio. When Ranuccio is freed, he tells Caravaggio he killed Lena so they could be together. In response, Caravaggio cuts Ranuccio's throat, killing him. Back on his deathbed, Caravaggio is shown having visions of himself as a boy and trying to refuse the last rites offered him by the priests.