acu's - Rented List
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L'Argent (1983)Money
Bresson's classic film, adapted from a story by Tolstoy, tells of the tragic chain of events which ensue when two schoolboys pass a forged banknote in a photography shop. The note is transferred to the unwitting Yvon (Christian Patey), a delivery driver, who is arrested for possessing it. Despite being cleared by the court, Yvon loses his job and becomes trapped in a disastrous spiral of theft, imprisonment and murder. Considered to be the last masterpiece of his - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Christian Patey, Sylvie Van den Elsen, Michel Briguet
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Compartment No. 6 (2022)Hytti nro 6 / Compartment Number 6
Young Finnish archaeology student Laura (Seidi Haarla) is convinced by her lecturer - and lover - to take a trip to an ancient site of petroglyphs near the Arctic Circle. However, when she boards the long-distance train to take her there, she finds that she has to share her carriage with the boorish and belligerent Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov), a foul-mouthed, misogynistic drunk travelling to his new job as a miner. Initially, they seem to have nothing in common, but, like the landscape they're travelling through, the more time Laura spends with Ljoha the more he thaws, revealing an unforeseen kindness beneath the macho facade. This chance meeting between the two occupants of compartment no.6 brings about an awakening within them, forming a bond they will never forget. - Director:
- Juho Kuosmanen
- Cast:
- Yuriy Borisov, Valeriy Nikolaev, Seidi Haarla
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After his inevitable arrest (and almost immediate release), Michel (Martin LaSalle) reflects on the morality of crime, developing a vague theory that exceptional individuals are above the law. Lost in another world, he rejects his friends in favour of a life of crime and is seemingly set on finding his place in the world by engineering a head-on collision with society. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pélégri
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Nitram (Caleb Landry Jones) lives with his mother (Judy Davis) and father (Anthony LaPaglia) in suburban Australia in the mid 1990s. He lives a life of isolation and frustration at never being able to fit in. That is until he unexpectedly finds a close friend in a reclusive heiress, Helen (Essie Davis). However when that relationship meets its tragic end, and Nitram's loneliness and anger grow, he begins a slow descent that leads to disaster. - Director:
- Justin Kurzel
- Cast:
- Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Anthony LaPaglia
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Honeyland (2019)Medena Zemja
In a deserted Macedonian village, Hatidze, a 50-something woman, trudges up a hillside to check her bee colonies nestled in the rocks. Serenading them with a secret chant, she gently manoeuvres the honeycomb without netting or gloves. Back at her homestead, Hatidze tends to her handmade hives and her bedridden mother, occasionally heading to the capital to market her wares. One day, an itinerant family installs itself next door, and Hatidze's peaceful kingdom gives way to roaring engines, seven shrieking children, and 150 cows. Yet Hatidze welcomes the camaraderie, and she holds nothing back - not her tried-and-true beekeeping advice, not her affection, not her special brandy. But soon Hussein, the itinerant family's patriarch, makes a series of decisions that could destroy Hatidze's way of life forever. - Director:
- Tamara Kotevska
- Cast:
- Hatidze Muratova, Nazife Muratova, Hussein Sam
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Career con man Roy (Ian McKellen) sets his sights on his latest mark, recently widowed Betty (Helen Mirren), who's worth millions. And he means to take it all. But as the two grow closer, what should have been another simple swindle becomes a high-stakes game of cat and mouse in this suspenseful drama about the secrets people keep and the lies they live. - Director:
- Bill Condon
- Cast:
- Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Russell Tovey
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A Town Like Alice (1956)The Rape of Malaya
Jean Paget (Virginia McKenna), an English woman taken prisoner by the Japanese, is among a group of women and children forced to trek through Malaya during the occupation. During her ordeal she meets captive Australian Joe Harman (Peter Finch) and there is an instant magnetism between them; as they talk, Jean learns about Joe's hometown of Alice Springs, and his hope of returning there one day. To relieve the suffering of the women and children, Joe steals some chickens from the sadistic Captain Sugaya (Tran Van Khe), but when he is caught Sugaya orders Joe to be executed in front of Jean and the others... - Director:
- Jack Lee
- Cast:
- Virginia McKenna, Peter Finch, Kenji Takaki
- Formats:
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The Quiet Girl (2022)An Cailín Ciúin
CoIm Bairead's beautifully understated feature debut finds a young girl coming to terms with loss and the importance of family in rural Ireland. Cait (Catherine Clinch), a quiet, neglected young girl, is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with relatives for the summer. At first intimidated by her new environment, she quickly blossoms in the care of Eibhlin (Carrie Crowley) and her farmer husband, Sean (Andrew Bennett). As this new home becomes an idyll for her, Cait senses that something is plaguing her new foster parents - an unspoken pain that Eibhlin and Sean never discuss, which Cait's youthful curiosity begins to uncover. - Director:
- Colm Bairéad
- Cast:
- Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett
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When Gerry angers the IRA, his father sends him to England, where his antics put him in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Innocent, but forced to confess to an act of savage terrorism, he is sentenced to life imprisonment as one of the 'Guildford Four'. An innocent Giuseppe is also arrested, and while behind bars, Gerry learns that his father's seeming frailty masks an unmatched inner strength and wisdom. Working with a fiercely dedicated lawyer, Gerry determines to prove his innocence, clear his father's name and expose the truth behind one of the most shameful legal events in recent history. - Director:
- Jim Sheridan
- Cast:
- Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Alison Crosbie
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From award-winning writer/director Justin Chon and inspired by true events, Blue Bayou is the moving and timely story of an American family fighting for their future. Antonio LeBlanc (Chon), a uniquely Korean adoptee raised in a small town in the Louisiana bayou, is married to the love of his life Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and stepdad to their beloved daughter Jessie. Struggling to make a better life for his family, he must confront the ghosts of his past when he discovers that he could be deported from the only country he has ever called home. - Director:
- Justin Chon
- Cast:
- Justin Chon, Alicia Vikander, Mark O'Brien
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Jesmark, a struggling fisherman on the island of Malta, must make an agonising choice: repair his leaking luzzu - the traditional wooden fishing boat that has been in his family for generations - or decommission it and give in to the temptation of illicit dealing on the black market. Featuring a Sundance Film Festival award-winning lead performance from Jesmark Scicluna - a non-professional actor and real life fisherman - Alex Camilleri's acclaimed debut feature takes inspiration from Italian Neorealist filmmakers and offers a glimpse into the beauty of an island rarely portrayed in cinema. - Director:
- Alex Camilleri
- Cast:
- Jesmark Scicluna, Marlene Schranz, David Scicluna
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Paris, 13th District (2022)Les Olympiades, Paris 13e
Set in the French capital's 13th arrondissement, where a predominantly East Asian community resides, Audiard's passionate romance charts the interwoven relationships between four twenty-somethings, played by Lucie Zhang, Makita Samba, Jehnny Beth and Noemie Merlant. 'Paris, 13th District' is a modern story of love and life, reflecting the shifting attitudes towards identity and fidelity. - Director:
- Jacques Audiard
- Cast:
- Sacha Petronijevic, Lucie Zhang, Makita Samba
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Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson reunite in Last Chance Harvey, a wonderful London-set romantic comedy that celebrates new beginnings - at any age. Things aren't going well for New Yorker Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman). He's lost his job as a jingle writer and his daughter has chosen her stepfather to walk her down the aisle at her wedding - instead of Harvey. But following an unexpected meeting with Kate (Emma Thompson), things finally look like they're about to change for the better... - Director:
- Joel Hopkins
- Cast:
- Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Kathy Baker
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"Benediction" explores the turbulent life of First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon (Peter Capaldi / Jack Lowden). Having survived the horrors of fighting in the First World War, he was decorated for his bravery and became a vocal critic of the government's continuation of the war when he returned from service. His poetry was inspired by his experiences on the Western Front and he became one of the leading war poets of the era. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London's literary and stage world, Sassoon embarked on affairs with several notable men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality. At the same time, broken by the horror of war, his life became a quest for salvation, trying to find it within the conformity of marriage and religion. His is the story of a troubled man in a fractured world, searching for peace and self acceptance, something which speaks as meaningfully to us in the modern world as it did then. - Director:
- Terence Davies
- Cast:
- Kate Phillips, Tom Blyth, Jack Lowden
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In 1961, Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), a 60 year old taxi driver, stole Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery's history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly - he had long campaigned for pensioners to receive free television. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge - Kempton had spun a web of lies. The only truth was that he was a good man, determined to change the world and save his marriage - how and why he used the Duke to achieve that is a wonderfully uplifting tale. - Director:
- Roger Michell
- Cast:
- Jim Broadbent, Heather Craney, Stephen Rashbrook
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