acu's - Rented List

Feature follows the exploits of the laconic Taisto, a newly-unemployed Lapland miner who sets off in a Cadillac convertible for a fresh start in Helsinki. Joined in his odyssey by meter maid Irmeli and her young son, Taitso's plans take a series of unexpected turns...

Show moreShow less

Kaurismaki's first feature follows the descent into crime of Rahikainen, a slaughterhouse worker and former law student, who murders a businessman and then begins a tense game of cat and mouse with the police.

Effectively updating Dostoevsky's great novel to 1980s Helsinki, this remarkably assured debut offers a sharp critique of Finnish society.

Show moreShow less

Kaurismaki regulars Matti Pellonpaa and Kati Outinen star in this offbeat yet remarkably touching romantic comedy. Pellonpää plays Nikander, a rubbish collector and would-be entrepreneur who finds his plans for success dashed with the unexpected death of his business associate.

Whilst searching for a job, he meets Ilona (Outinen) a down-on-her luck cashier in a local supermarket and, falteringly, a bond begins to develop between them.

Show moreShow less

Film documents the arrival of an engineer and his colleagues from Tehran in a remote village in Iranian Kurdistan.

Assumed by the locals - with whom they form an ambivalent relationship - to be archaeologists or telecom engineers, the visitors' behaviour and keen interest in the health of an ailing old woman appear strange and their true motives are shrouded in mystery. Haunting and visually stunning, feature is an absorbing, abstract meditation on life and death and the divisions between tradition and modernity.

Marcel and Arletty's quiet, economically but emotionally rich life is disrupted when she is diagnosed with a serious disease. At the same time, Marcel takes a young illegal immigrant under his wing.

Show moreShow less

Eyup (Yavuz Bingöl) takes the blame for his politician boss, Servet (Ercan Kesal), after a hit and run accident. In return, he accepts a pay-off, believing it will make life for his wife Hacer (Hatice Aslan) and teenage son more secure.

Wanting to help her son, Hacer approaches Servet for an advance, but soon gets involved with him.

Show moreShow less

Three teenagers jump 'The Beast' - the infamous train that illegal immigrants board to take them from Guatemala, through Mexico, to the American border. The journey to a better life is fraught with danger.

Facing exploitation at every turn, the only people they can trust on this perilous journey are each other.

Show moreShow less

Ayse, a 19-year-old girl from the Turkish countryside, is chosen to be married to the handsome Hasan, son of formidable and house proud mother Fatma, who resides in Vienna with her husband and children.

However, what soon becomes apparent is that Ayse is to be second wife to Fatma's husband. This tight-knit family go to great lengths to preserve traditional values, and although polygamy is illegal in Austria, Ayse is welcomed. Yet, her presence in a country whose language and culture is entirely foreign to her immediately marks her as an outsider.
As Western societal norms and Muslim religious beliefs draw closer together in an ever diversifying family unit, tensions arise, resulting in an explosive stroke of fate.

Show moreShow less

The divergent paths of three adult siblings collide when their mother, heiress to her uncle's exceptional 19th century art collection, dies suddenly.

Left to come to terms with themselves and their differences, Adrienne (Juliette Binoche) a successful New York designer, Frederic (Charles Berling) an economist and university professor in Paris, and Jeremie (Jeremie Renier) a dynamic businessman in China, confront the end of childhood, their shared memories, background and unique visions of the future.

Show moreShow less

This striking and moving documentary from BAFTA nominated directors Jacqui and David Morris traces the extraordinary life of Rudolf Nureyev.

From his birth in the 5th class carriage of a trans-Siberian train, to his dramatic leap to freedom in the West at the height of the Cold War, and unprecedented adulation as the most famous dancer in the world. The film highlights Nureyev's unlikely yet legendary partnership with Margot Fonteyn and charts his meteroric rise to the status of global cultural phenomenon. Nureyev's life plays out like the sweeping plot of a classic Russian novel. His story is Russia's story. Blending never-before-seen footage, with an original score by award-winning composer Alex Baranowski and spellbinding newly choreographed dance tableaux directed by Royal Ballet alumnus, Russell Maliphant, 'Nureyev' is a theatrical and cinematic experience like no other. This is a portrayal as unique as the man himself. There will never be another Nureyev.

Show moreShow less

On the Boardwalk of Dreams, everyone has a fantasy. Once the Queen of Resorts, Atlantic City has become the seedy Queen of Rackets. And with the legalisation of gambling, small-time gangsters like Lou (Burt Lancaster) are the losers; running numbers for the Mob can no longer offer a livelihood.

But aging Lou's life changes abruptly when he becomes involved with Dave (Robert Joy), a young dope dealer, and his estranged wife, the beautiful and ambitious Sally (Susan Sarandon). Working at the Casino oyster bar whilst taking a rigorous course in blackjack dealing, she dreams of a glamorous new life in the casinos of Monte Carlo. When Dave is killed, Lou and Sally find themselves thrown together in a real-life escapade involving love, money, dope and danger.

Show moreShow less

"Summerland" follows the story of fiercely independent folklore investigator, Alice (Gemma Arterton) who secludes herself in her clifftop study, debunking myths using science to disprove the existence of magic.

Consumed by her work, but also profoundly lonely, she is haunted by a love affair from her past. When spirited young Frank (Lucas Bond), an evacuee from the London Blitz, is dumped into her irritable care, his innocence and curiosity awaken Alice's deeply buried emotions. Bravely embracing life's miraculous unpredictability, Alice learns that wounds may be healed, second chances do occur, and that, just perhaps - magic really does exist.

Show moreShow less

Gloria is a young at heart 50-something. Moving from one party to another on the look for love, her loneliness acting only as an incentive. This fragile happiness changes the day she meets Rodolfo (Sergio Hernandez).

Their intense passion, to which Gloria gives everything, leaves her dancing between hope and despair. Gloria is an individual story that takes place over the backdrop of a city thrown into upheaval. The leading characters quest to be loved and valued is set over the clamours of a Chilean society that wants its rights to be recognised. This sensitive and sharply humorous fourth feature from Chilean director Sebastian Lelio is exclusively and radically told from a single viewpoint. While playing a supporting role in the lives of all those around her, Gloria is at the very centre of the film - forcing us to observe events through the eyes of a woman searching for her place in a hardened world that seems to have neither time nor space for her, yet defending her individual freedom with heart and pride. Winner of multiple awards worldwide, it features an evocative, vibrant soundtrack ranging from global classics to Latin American hits. Gloria is a paean to the tenacity and courage of a generation of Chilean women who are determined to keep on feeling, dancing and living.

Show moreShow less

From the 1870s to the modem era, Radioactive is a journey through Marie Curie's enduring legacies - her passionate relationships, scientific breakthroughs, and the consequences that followed for her and for the world.

After meeting fellow scientist Pierre Curie, the pair marry and change the face o science forever by their discovery of two new elements. The ensuing Nobel Prize propels the couple into the international limelight, but after a tragic accident Marie continues to advance her work, resulting in revolutionary discoveries that have dramatic consequences.

Show moreShow less

Wang Xiaoshuai's deeply moving and intimate drama traces the lives of two interconnected families over three decades of social and political upheaval in China.

The film charts the fortunes of factory workers Liyun (Yong Mei) and Yaojun (Wang Jingchun), a couple reeling from a devastating family tragedy during the tumultuous years between the 1980's and the 21st century. Constricted by the one-child national policy, their lives are gradually transformed under the impact of the country's changing identity, building to a heartbreaking revelation that exposes how political reality affects the fates of the family and the people around them. A cleverly poetic depiction of communist China, 'So Long, My Son' is a sprawling yet personal portrait of human resilience, featuring incredibly tender and award-winning performances from Mei and Jingchun.