ajb's - Rented List
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Passion overtakes reason in this dark and layered romance - based on Daphne du Maurier's classic novel - starring Oscar Winner Rachel Weisz. Believing his mysterious, beautiful cousin Rachel (Weisz) murdered the man who raised him, Philip (Sam Claflin), a young Englishman, plots revenge against her. But, despite evidence that Rachel might be a killer, Philip finds himself falling deeply in love with her in this visually stunning, tension-laced film. - Director:
- Roger Michell
- Cast:
- Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Iain Glen
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Elle (2016)Oh!
From legendary filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, 'Elle' is a gripping psychological noir thriller. Starring iconic actress Isabelle Huppert in a career-defining role, 'Elle' follows Michele LeBlanc (Huppert), founder and CEO of a successful video game company, who is attacked in her own home. Upending our expectations, Michele begins to track down her assailant, and soon they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game, one that at any moment may spiral out of control. - Director:
- Paul Verhoeven
- Cast:
- Isabelle Huppert, Oury Milshtein, Laurent Lafitte
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Despite being ridiculed by the scientific establishment, the determined Fawcett - supported by his devoted wife (Sienna Miller), son (Tom Holland) and aide-de-camp (Robert Pattinson) - returns to his beloved jungle in an attempt to prove his case, culminating in his mysterious disappearance in 1925. An epic tale of courage and passion, 'The Lost City of Z' is a stirring tribute to the exploratory spirit and a conflicted adventurer driven to the verge of obsession. - Director:
- James Gray
- Cast:
- Charlie Hunnam, Barnaby Edwards, Robert Pattinson
- Formats:
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Overcoming considerable challenges, Herzog captures the stunning majesty of the Chauvet Cave in southern France, where the world's oldest cave paintings have been discovered. Herzog reveals a breathtaking subterranean world including the 32,000-year-old artworks. With his humorous and engaging narration Herzog reflects on our primal desire to communicate and represent the world around us, evolution and our place within it, and ultimately what it means to be human. - Director:
- Werner Herzog
- Cast:
- Jean Clottes, Charles Fathy, Julien Monney
- Formats:
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From acclaimed filmmaker Terence Davies, 'A Quiet Passion' is a powerful study of' 19th Century poet Emily Dickinson that features a stunning performance from Cynthia Nixon. Spanning a rebellious schoolgirl youth to her later years as a reclusive writer, Davies elegantly explores the hopes, dreams and desires of a woman who wrote some of the most important poems in American literature that still resonate today. - Director:
- Terence Davies
- Cast:
- Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle, Duncan Duff
- Formats:
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In 17th Century Amsterdam, an orphaned girl (Alicia Vikander) is forcibly married to a rich and powerful merchant (Christoph Waltz) - an unhappy 'arrangement' that saves her from poverty. After her husband commissions a portrait, she begins a passionate affair with the painter (Dane DeHaan), a struggling young artist. Seeking to escape the merchant's ever-reaching grasp, the lovers risk everything and enter the frenzied tulip bulb market, with the hope that the right bulb will make a fortune and buy their freedom. - Director:
- Justin Chadwick
- Cast:
- Alicia Vikander, Dane DeHaan, Jack O'Connell
- Formats:
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Johnny Saxby (Josh O'Connor) works long hours on his family's remote farm in the north of England. He numbs the daily frustration of his lonely existence with nightly binge-drinking at the local pub and casual sex. But when a handsome Romanian migrant worker (Alec Secareanu) arrives to take up temporary work on the family farm, Johnny suddenly finds himself having to deal with emotions he has never felt before. As they begin working closely together during lambing season, an intense relationship starts to form which could change Johnny's life forever. - Director:
- Francis Lee
- Cast:
- Josh O'Connor, Alec Secareanu, Gemma Jones
- Formats:
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"Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach" is a funny, provocative and revealing account of the life and career of one of Britain's foremost filmmakers, Ken Loach, as he turns eighty and looks back at over fifty years of filmmaking, encompassing classics such as Kes (1969) and Palme d'Or winners The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016). - Director:
- Louise Osmond
- Cast:
- Ken Loach, Jim Allen, Lesley Ashton
- Formats:
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After her husband's departure, Jenny (Sheridan Smith) is fully reliant on the childcare her mother Mary (Alison Steadman) provides. But when Mary suffers a devastating stroke and develops dementia, Jenny's world comes crashing down, as everything changes for her and her sister Claire (Sinead Keenan). Finding herself torn between her own life and the well-being of her mother, Jenny soon discovers that another way could be possible - but she'll have to fight for it. - Director:
- David Blair
- Cast:
- Sheridan Smith, Alison Steadman, Kevin Doyle
- Formats:
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One of the most highly acclaimed films of the year, 'Leviathan' is a thrilling, immersive documentary that takes you deep inside the dangerous world of commercial fishing. Filmed off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts - at one time the whaling capital of the world as well as Melville's inspiration for 'Moby Dick'- it is today the country's largest fishing port with over 500 ships sailing from its harbor every month. Leviathan follows one such vessel, a hulking groundfish trawler, into the surrounding murky black waters on a six weeks-long fishing expedition. But instead of romanticizing the labor or partaking in the longstanding tradition of turning fisherfolk into images, filmmakers Lucien Castiang-Taylor and Verena Paravel present a vivid, almost-kaleidoscopic representation of the work, the sea, the machinery and the players, both human and marine. Employing an arsenal of cameras that passed freely from film crew to ship crew; that swoop from below sea level to astonishing bird's-eye views, the film that emerges is unlike anything that has been seen before. Entirely dialogue-free, but mesmerizing and gripping throughout, it is a cosmic portrait of one of mankind's oldest endeavours. - Director:
- Lucien Castaing-Taylor
- Cast:
- Brian Jannelle, Adrian Guillette, Arthur Smith
- Formats:
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Tabu (2012)Tabou
One of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, 'Tabu' is a diptych starting off in present day Lisbon where Teresa Madruga gives a luminous performance as Pilar, a woman concerned about her neighbour Aurora's eccentricities. Finally Pilar meets Gian Luca, a figure from Aurora's past. He starts his story and the film jumps back in time to colonial Africa, where he and Aurora had a passionate love-affair. This second part is made as a quasi-silent film, with no dialogue, just music and voice-over. Former film critic Miguel Gomes both uses and slyly comments on all the techniques of cinema to make a truly virtuoso film. With a soundtrack that ranges from Lisztian piano music to cover versions of Phil Spector. 'Tabu' is just a delight. Not to mention the sad and melancholy crocodile... - Director:
- Miguel Gomes
- Cast:
- Telmo Churro, Hortêncílio Aquina, Américo Mota
- Formats:
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In a cheap Parisian hotel room Oscar Wilde lies on his death bed and the past floods back. Under the microscope of demise he reviews the flailed attempt to reconcile with his wife Constance, the ensuing reprisal of his fatal love affair with Lord Alfred Douglas and the warmth and devotion of Robbie Ross who tried and foiled to save him from himself. From Dieppe to Naples to Paris, freedom is elusive and Oscar is a penniless vagabond, always moving on, shunned by his old acquaintances, but revered by a strange group of outlaws and urchins to whom he tells the old stories - his incomparable wit still sharp. - Director:
- Rupert Everett
- Cast:
- Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Emily Watson
- Formats:
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Let the Sunshine In (2017)Un beau soleil intérieur / Bright Sunshine In / Dark Glasses
Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) is a stylish and accomplished artist living in Paris. Divorced and looking to find true love at last, she meets a handsome, kind and intelligent younger man who she thinks might finally be the one. But when he calls their affair a mistake and returns to his wife, Isabelle must again face the issue of mid-life loneliness. Sifting through former lovers, new admirers, jealous friends and chance encounters, will she find a fulfilling match? Or will she discover a new path to happiness along the way? - Director:
- Claire Denis
- Cast:
- Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine
- Formats:
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Cold War (2018)Zimna Wojna
In the ruins of post-war Poland, Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Zula (Joanna Kulig) fall deeply, obsessively and destructively in love. As performing musicians forced to play into the Soviet propaganda machine, they dream of escaping to the creative freedom of the West. But one day, as they spot their chance to make a break for Paris, both make a split decision that will mark their lives forever. Pawel Pawlikowski follows his Oscar-winning 'Ida' with the stunning 'Cold War', an epic romance set against the backdrop of Europe after World War II. Sumptuously shot in luminous black and white, it spans decades and nations to tell a love story that is as tragic as it is moving, and as transportive as it is honest. - Director:
- Pawel Pawlikowski
- Cast:
- Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc
- Formats:
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Christian (Claes Bang), a respected curator of a contemporary art museum in Stockholm, is gearing up to launch a new show, 'The Square', a daring installation examining altruism and our duty to help others. However, Christian's own views on social responsibility are put to the test when he becomes the victim of scam, forcing him to question the world around him and his place in it. - Director:
- Ruben Östlund
- Cast:
- Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West
- Formats:
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