Stephen Frears
Philomena
(2013)
Steve Coogan (screenplay), Jeff Pope (screenplay) , Martin Sixsmith (book)
Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 32 wins & 76 nominations.
When former journalist Martin Sixsmith is dismissed from the Labour Party in disgrace, he is at a loss as to what do. That changes when a young Irish woman approaches him about a story of her mother, Philomena, who had her son taken away when she was a teenage inmate of a Catholic convent. Martin arranges a magazine assignment about her search for him that eventually leads to America. Along the way, Martin and Philomena discover as much about each other as about her son's fate. Furthermore, both find their basic beliefs challenged.
The Grifters
(1990)
Jim Thompson (novel), Donald E. Westlake (screenplay)
Nominated for 4 Oscars.
Lily works for a bookie, placing bets to change the odds at the track. When her son is hospitalized after an unsuccessful con job and resultant beating, she finds that even an absentee parent has feelings for her child. This causes her own job to go wrong as well. Each of them faces the down side of the grift.