Passing Strangers / Forbidden Letters - DVD

In this breathtaking film, Spike Lee captures the highly-acclaimed eponymous Broadway musical show written by singer/songwriter Stew (with music co written by his creative partner, Heidi Rodewald). Passing Strange The Movie tells the semi-autobiographical story of a young black man who leaves behind his middle-class, church-ruled upbringing in mid-1970s Los Angeles to travel to Europe in search of his artistic and personal identity, or what he calls Inchthe real.Inch Picaresque misadventures with S*x, drugs, politics, and art await him in far-out Amsterdam and hyper-militant Berlin. His eyes are opened ever wider, even revealing what he left behind. An absolutely superb cast, ably supported by sparing (but pitch-perfect) costumes, design, and stagecraft, bring to life the emotionally charged story with it's astounding original music, narrated and overseen by Stew himself. Lee's multi-camera coverage of the event (including backstage scenes) involves the audience in not only the text but the electricity of the ensemble's onstage adventure. Passing Strange The Movie is a tour-de-force of creative collaboration and inspiration.

Having lost most of her family in a shelling, Aleppo hospital doctor Amira (Yasmine Al Massri) chose to leave civil war-torn Syria with her daughter Rasha (Massa Daoud). The legs of their bid for safety-as told through the multiple points of view of strangers, including a Syrian soldier (Yahya Mahayni), a Turkish human smuggler (Omar Sy), a Turkish refugee (Ziad Bakri) crossing the Aegean, and a Greek coast guard officer (Constantine Markoulakis)-are limned in this affecting drama. AKA InchThe Strangers' Case.Inch 103 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack English.

This popular film inspired two sequels: Penrod and His Twin Brother and Penrod's Double Trouble, both of which starred Billy Mauch and his twin sibling, Bobby.