The Substance

Due to the recent arrival of undocumented immigrants, the city of Simpletown holds a special session city council meeting to determine if the town should officially ban the newcomers.

Jackie and Ben move into a luxurious new home in the affluent neighborhood of Verdana Hills. They are immediately welcomed and befriended by their sexy new neighbor Lizelle and invited to a pool party to meet the rest of the neighbors in the complex. After meeting Lizelle’s husband Lorenzo at the pool gathering, Ben is invited and told about a “sexual card game” that allows everyone in the complex to discard their marital inhibitions. Soon both Jackie and Ben are pulled into a world of swingers and lurid sex that threatens the very fibers of their relationship.

Dean has been stumped for some time in his attempt to produce a follow-up to "I was a Teenage Speed Freak," his incredibly successful graphic novel. His fans expect great things from him and his editor, Louise, is hounding him. Instead of working, however, Dean spends his time searching for his Argentine lover Pablo, who went out one night for cigarettes and never came back.

Pu Zhe, the younger brother of the Emperor of Manchukuo, marries Ryuko the daughter of an aristocratic family. To the surprise of all, a deep love between Pu Zhe and Ryuko develops and is put to the test when Japan loses the war.

When Baton Rouge police detective Bud Carter busts contract killer Jesse Weiland, he convinces Jesse to become an informant and rat out the South's most powerful crime ring.

Arko was a cricketer. He was an outstanding bowler and had also played for Bengal Cricket Team. Unfortunately, a torn ligament and a blotched-up operation put an end to his budding career. Frustration and depression continuously bogged him down and he tried his best to seek an alternate career. One early morning, while dropping his son to school, an accident occurs. A private bus could not apply the brakes on time at a road crossing and runs over little his son. Arko is flung aside. He survives but his son does not. Arko's life is shattered.The driver of the private bus, is arrested and the bus is seized. The Insurance Company enters the scene. Investigations begin. Who was really at fault? Why did the bus not brake on time? Was it a mechanical fault? Was the bus driver only a scape-goat? As the investigations deepen, many unpleasant realities come to the fore and Arko together with Kartick, the driver, and the Insurance agent, decide to take matters in their own hands.

Lyla and Louis, a singer and a musician, fall in love, but are soon compelled to separate. Lyla is forced to give up her newborn but unknown to her, he grows up to become a musical genius.

A stranger's call informs Roberta that her estranged brother Frank has died in a small town under bizarre circumstances. Ben, his best friend from college, also gets the call. Arriving just in time for his funeral, it becomes quickly obvious to them that the little slice of small-town America in which they find themselves is like an episode of The Twilight Zone featuring Frank's eccentric friends, his amazing secrets and his stunning final request. Both Ben and Roberta are shocked to discover that Frank not only had a child, but that he has left them responsible for his son's care.

Architect Alexander Beck has just won an architecture prize. He wants to modernize GDR building blocks in Thuringia. Alex travels to the heart of rural Eastern Germany where he grew up and where people remember him as Alex from the Free German Youth, a pro-GDR youth organization.

A disturbed young embalmer digs the grave of his recently deceased girlfriend and brings her body to his family villa with help from his strange housekeeper. But his bouts of insanity are just beginning.

After a drug dealer schemes against them in secret, two student gangs ignite a bitter feud that triggers a chain of violent consequences.

Successful architect Robert has a one-night stand with a mysterious lady in red. The next day they meet again, but Carolin is now a corporate lawyer working on a major contract for Robert ...

After her release from prison Alex, who has lost her faith in love, tries to reclaim her psychic balance through a retreat into loneliness. A man and a child interrupt her plan and force her to reengage. Alex dares to emerge from her shell and learns again how thin the ice is and how fragile happiness is, small though it may be.

Angel City trooper Jack Deth is sent back in time from 2247 to 1985 L.A. to inhabit the body of his ancestor. Deth's assignment is to find his archenemy, Whistler, who turns people into zombies, before the fiend is able to kill all the ancestors of the future's governing council.

After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels.