acu's - Rented List
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The story takes place in Boston in the aftermath of the American Civil War - a time ol political and social turmoil. Verena Tarrant, a gifted young orator, has attracted the attention of Olive Chancellor (Vanessa Redgrave), who wishes to nurture Verena as an inspirational force for the Woman's Movement. But ranged against her is Basil Ransom (Cristopher Reeve), a handsome male chauvinist, who wants Verena as his wife. Against a backdrop of luminous New England landscapes, battle is joined, and for Olive the struggle will prove an odyssey that forces her to acknowledge her true nature. - Director:
- James Ivory
- Cast:
- Christopher Reeve, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Tandy
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Belfast is a poignant story of love, laughter and loss in one boy's childhood amid the music and social tumult of the late 1960's. Buddy's family lives in a largely Protestant district with a few Catholic families, but one day his community and everything he thought he understood about life is suddenly turned upside down. Buddy's family gets caught in the mayhem and must decide to stay or leave the only place they have ever called home. Through it all, his passionate parents (Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan) and quick-witted grandparents (Academy Award winner Judy Dench and Ciaran Hinds) keep the joy alive through music and the magic of movies in this feel-good story that reminds us that no matter how far you go, you never forget where you came from. - Director:
- Kenneth Branagh
- Cast:
- Jude Hill, Lewis McAskie, Caitriona Balfe
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An Indian princess (Madhur Jaffrey), long divorced and living in self-enforced exile in London, invites her father's ex-tutor, Cyril Sahib (James Mason), to an annual tea party, intended to celebrate a happier past, where the two watch old movie footage of Royal India. The Princess reviews her memories selectively: she sees their long-vanished, fun-filled world, dominated by her dazzling father, through a haze of nostalgia, and she tries to wheedle her guest into writing a book about it. But Cyril Sahib has a different view both of their common past and of her father, the Maharaja. He recalls the ceremonial occasions, the weddings and funerals, the pig-sticking expeditions, the pranks and practical jokes with distaste, even horror at the surfeit and brutality. And he remembers the dashing Maharaja - to his adoring daughter almost a surrogate lover - as manipulative and often cruel, his later years soiled by a sordid sex scandal in London. - Director:
- James Ivory
- Cast:
- James Mason, Madhur Jaffrey, Keith Varnier
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Screen favourite Nick Nolte stars in this impassioned epic of political upheaval and forbidden love! "Jefferson in Paris" recounts the scandalous private life of Thomas Jefferson, America's most famous statesman, during his term as ambassador in pre-revolutionary France. Having fallen in love with a beautiful and worldly socialite (Greta Scacchi), Jefferson is tom between his desire for her and his secret passion for a household slave. Caught in a complex love triangle amid growing social unrest, Jefferson must make one of the most difficult decisions of his life. Another acclaimed triumph from award-winning Merchant-Ivory Productions, "Jefferson in Paris" delivers stylish and highly provocative entertainment. - Director:
- James Ivory
- Cast:
- Nick Nolte, Greta Scacchi, Gwyneth Paltrow
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Divided by time and tradition. United by love and hope. The story of an unforgettable family. Complications arise for Mrs. India Bridge (Joanne Woodward) and her lawyer husband Walter (Paul Newman) as they begin to face a more modern way of life. Waller's traditional and conservative views lead to differences in his relationships with India and their children, and in a changing world they struggle to keep the family unit together. - Director:
- James Ivory
- Cast:
- Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Saundra McClain
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David Copperfield (1935)The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger
"We are friends for life". The man speaking: Micawber, played by W.C. Fields with great comedic charm and human warmth. The child addressed: David, played by Freddie Bartholomew in his Hollywood debut. The movie: David Copperfield, still one of the best-ever screen adaptations of a Charles Dickens novel. "To call the casting inspired is to underrate it", historian David Shipman wrote in his 'The Story of Cinema'. Lionel Barrymore, Edna May Oliver, Maureen O'Sullivan, Basil Rathbone and more joined Fields and Bartholomew in portraying the eccentrics, cads and loving family of this film directed by George Cukor. David O. Selznick produced, insisting on an attention to Dickensian detail that included matching the sets to the first edition's illustrations. The result: one of the greatest page-to-screen adaptations ever. - Director:
- George Cukor
- Cast:
- Freddie Bartholomew, Frank Lawton, Edna May Oliver
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Adapted from Graham Greene's novel, Alec Guinness stars in this classic spy spoof as Jim Wormold, an English expatriate who sells vacuum cleaners in Havana. His life is irrevocably changed as he is recruited by Hawthorne (Noel Coward), and pressed into service as an operative of M.I. 5, which he reluctantly agress to so he can earn extra money for his 17-year-old daughter. Wormold does not actually engage in any actual espionage. Instead, he invents facts on his reports and recruits fictitious agents. However thise reports are taken seriously in London and two additional agents, a radio operator and a secretary are despached to assist Wormold. He soon discovers that his imagination is going to take on life of its own... - Director:
- Carol Reed
- Cast:
- Alec Guinness, Maureen O'Hara, Burl Ives
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A Day in the Country (1946)Partie De Campagne
Finally released in 1946, ten years after it was shot, Jean Renoir's Partie de campagne was hailed as an 'unfinished masterpiece'. Since then, his masterly adaptation on a Maupassant story has grown in reputation to the point where it has become Renoir's best-loved film. On an idyllic country picnic, a young girl leaves her family and fiancé for a while, and succumbs to an all-too-brief romance. Shot on location on the banks of two small tributaries of the Seine, Renoir's sensuous tribute to the countryside - and to the river - has seldom been surpassed. In its bitter-sweet lyricism, its tenderness and poetic feel for nature, its tolerant satire of bourgeois conventions and its poignant sense of the transience of innocence and love, 'Partie De Campagne' seems to distil the essence of all that is most personal of Renoir's art. - Director:
- Jean Renoir
- Cast:
- Sylvia Bataille, Jane Marken, Georges D'Arnoux
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Parallel Mothers (2021)Madres Paralelas
Two women, Janis (Penélope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit), meet in a hospital where they are about to give birth. Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis, middle-aged, has no regrets and is exultant. The other, Ana, an adolescent, is scared and repentant. Janis tries to encourage her as they move like sleepwalkers through the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in these hours will create a very close link between them, which by chance will develop and complicate, changing their lives in a decisive way. - Director:
- Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast:
- Pedro Casablanc, Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit
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A social and political chameleon, James Penfield makes his money rearranging the facts, a talent he ruthlessly exploits in his professional relationships. But his penchants for storytelling leaks its way into his private life when he reinvents his past in the pursuit of Susie, the attractive and sophisticated daughter of upper class intellectuals. But as James twists himself tighter and tighter in his web of deceit, the stakes spin out of control and the sacrifice is more than just a printed story. - Director:
- Richard Eyre
- Cast:
- Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry, Rosemary Harris
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Peter Greenaway became a director of international status with this witty, stylised, erotic country house murder mystery. In an apparently idyllic 17th century Wiltshire, an ambitious draughtsman is commissioned by the wife of an aristocrat to produce twelve drawings of her husband's estate, in return for which he will receive payment, board and bed - hers. Extravagant costumes, a twisting plot, elegantly barbed dialogue and a score by Michael Nyman make the film a treat for ear, eye and mind. - Director:
- Peter Greenaway
- Cast:
- Anthony Higgins, Janet Suzman, Anne-Louise Lambert
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In the House (2012)Dans la maison
A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class and writes about it in essays for his teacher. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, the teacher rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, and finds himself strangely compelled as the boy becomes more dangerously involved with his class-mate's attractive mother. However, as the line between reality and fiction becomes blurred, the boy's intrusion unleashes a series of uncontrollable events. - Director:
- François Ozon
- Cast:
- Fabrice Luchini, Vincent Schmitt, Ernst Umhauer
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An epic story, exotic locales and electrifying performances from Bai Ling, Tim Roth and Nick Nolte highlight this moving film that celebrates the power of the human spirit. Raised as an orphan, Binh (Damien Nguyen) is a young Vietnamese man with one impossible dream: to be reunited with his birth father, an American G.I. who left without a trace. In an incredible odyssey that stretches from Saigon to New York to Texas, Binh confronts unimaginable hardships as he finds danger, love and, finally, the key to unlocking the mysteries of his past. . - Director:
- Hans Petter Moland
- Cast:
- Damien Nguyen, Bai Ling, Dang Quoc Thinh Tran
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My Mother's Castle (1990)Le château de ma mère
Devastated at having to leave the wondrous hills of Provence where his family had spent the summer, Marcel is elated when they return for Christmas and then Easter. Before long they are heading for their rural retreat every weekend and the long journey there soon brings its own adventure. As Marcel's affectionate reminiscences draw to a close, we are left with a wonderfully poignant conclusion to these classics of modern French cinema. - Director:
- Yves Robert
- Cast:
- Julien Ciamaca, Jean-Pierre Darras, Philippe Caubère
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Me and You (2012)Io e te
To escape from his overbearing parents, 14-year-old Lorenzo bunks off a school skiing trip and spends a week hiding out in his building's neglected basement, watching films, reading books and playing with his ant farm. But when his older half-sister unexpectedly turns up they are thrown into a new, intimate and deeply emotional relationship, forcing Lorenzo to see the world through new eyes. - Director:
- Bernardo Bertolucci
- Cast:
- Tea Falco, Jacopo Olmo Antinori, Sonia Bergamasco
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