Spanish hottie Penelope Cruz, too often stuck in Hollywood dreck (think Gothika), gives a stunning and surprising performance by hiding her looks in the role of Italia, an Albanian hotel maid who falls in love with the man who rapes her. He is Timoteo (Sergio Castellitto, the film's director and co-writer), a married surgeon. Told in flashback as the doctor reflects on his life, the film is a mesmerizing erotic odyssey given gravity and heart by Cruz.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.