ajb's - Rented List

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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.

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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.

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Inspired by a true story, 'The Staircase' follows writer and war veteran Michael Peterson (Colin Firth) after the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen (Toni Collette). On December 9, 2001, Michael makes a frantic 911 call reporting Kathleen has fallen down the stairs of their Durham, NC, home.

But when the district attorney brings murder charges, members of Michael's blended family must choose whose side they're on and which version of events to believe. As the case becomes engulfed in a media circus, a French documentary film crew arrives to meticulously chronicle its many twists and turns. Intertwining multiple perspectives and timelines, this gripping limited series explores the elusive nature of truth while serving as an intimate portrait of a family's grief.

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Forced to live by his wits in order to survive, Zain's life in Beirut reaches a turning point when his parents make an unforgiveable deal that will see his younger sister (Haita 'Cedra' Izzam) married off.

Left distraught by this terrible turn of event he takes to the road and whilst looking for work at a fairground, befriends a young woman who is working as a cleaner and helps to look after her adorable baby Jonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole). Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) and Jonas form a touching bond but things are about to get much more complicated when a set of circumstances force Zain to make choices that will have huge ramifications. 'Capernaum' is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit - a battle cry for the forgotten, the unwanted and the lost that offers hope in the most unexpected of places.

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Independent cinema darling and Cannes Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker Lola Cuevas (Penelope Cruz) is approached by ageing business mogul Humberto Suarez (Jose Luis Gomez) to make a film that he hopes will be his legacy for the world.

Intended as an adaptation of a much-loved literary work, Cuevas has more experimental intentions than some turgid piece of heritage cinema. Given carte blanche over the casting she pits acclaimed but stiflingly snobbish 'Actor' Ivan Torres (Oscar Martinez) against handsome but superficial screen icon Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas), believing that the inevitable tension between the two can only help the film's dynamic. She couldn't be more right, as the three gather lora nine-day rehearsal that sees each pushed to their wits' end and underpins Cuevas' belief that art is suffering.

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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.

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Timothy Spall plays Peter, a Bank worker living a mundane, routine life in Manchester. After an unexpected early retirement, he decides to visit his brother in sunny Benidorm, only to discover that he has disappeared.

As Peter searches for clues, his encounters with an eclectic cast of characters only lead to further confusion. In looking for his brother, can he ultimately rediscover himself?

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Mads Mikkelsen gives a tour de force performance as a pilot whose plane has crashed in a remote corner of the Arctic. Stranded in the wilderness he uses his ingenuity to survive.

When about to receive his long-awaited rescue, an explosive accident means his opportunity is lost and the dire situation further complicated. The tragic turn of events, involving another crash survivor forces the pilot to make a perilous choice between the relative safety of his camp and a deadly trek into the unknown.

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Marina Vidal's life is thrown into turmoil following the sudden death of her partner, Orlando. Met with suspicion from the police and contempt from her lover's relatives. As tensions rise between her and Orland's family, she is evicted from their shared home and banned from attending his funeral.

But faced with the threat of losing everything, Marina finds the strength to fight back. Sebastián Lelio returns with a groundbreaking, deeply humane and Oscar-winning story about a trans woman's fight for acceptance. Anchored by a powerhouse performance from rising star Daniela Vega, 'A Fantastic Woman' is an urgent call for compassion.

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This stylish black-comedy thriller stars Ralph Fiennes as Harry, a vicious London crime-boss, who send his two hit-men to the picturesque Belgian City of Bruges - to lay low and wait for orders.

While Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is happy just to sight see (!), his fast-talking partner, Ray (Colin Farrell) sets out for an adventure. Before long, Ray is experiencing hilariously surreal encounters with tourists, skinheads, dwarves and prostitutes! When, at last, the call comes from Harry, the fun turns to a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions.

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Laura (Penelope Cruz) and her children travel from Buenos Aires to the small Spanish village where she was born to attend her sister's wedding. Unexpected events soon lead to a crisis that exposes the family's hidden past.

Suspicions mount, loved ones begin to turn on one another, and dark secrets long hidden threaten to come to light, revealing shocking truths.

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This utterly compelling psychological thriller from Michael Haneke - one of cinema's most daring original and controversial directors - stars Daniel Auteuil as Georges, a television presenter who begins to receive mysterious and alarming packages containing covertly filmed videos of himself and his

family. To the mounting consternation of Georges and his wife (Juliette Binoche) the footage on the tapes - which arrive wrapped in drawings of disturbingly violent images - becomes increasingly personal, and sinister anonymous phone calls are made. Convinced he knows the identity of the person responsible, Georges embarks on a rash and impulsive course of action that throws up some unpleasant facts about his past and leads to shockingly unexpected consequences.

Summer 1939. Influential families in Nazi Germany have sent their daughters to a finishing school in an English seaside town to learn the language and be ambassadors for a future looking National Socialist. A teacher there sees what is coming and is trying to raise the alarm. But the authorities believe he is the problem.

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"The Hunt" unfolds in a small provincial town in the days leading up to Christmas. Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen), a forty year old divorcee, is finally getting his life under control.

He's got himself a new girlfriend, a new job and is in the process of re-building his relationship with his teenage son, Marcus. But things soon start to unravel. Nothing significant, just a slight comment here, a random lie there. And as the snow falls and the Christmas lights are lit, the lie spreads like an invisible virus. The shock and mistrust gets out of hand, and the small community suddenly finds itself in a collective state of hysteria, while Lucas fights a lonely fight for his life and dignity. "The Hunt" is a disturbing depiction of how a lie can quickly become truth - a modern tale of a witch-hunt, injustice, guilt and, ultimately, forgiveness. A fable on how fragile a community can become when gossip, doubt and malice are allowed to flourish. It is a stirring portrait of a man struggling to exonerate himself, and a father and a son reaching out for one another as their world crumbles.

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"Promising Young Woman" is a bold new vision that has ignited a debate starring Academy Award Nominee Carey Mulligan as 'Cassie': a wickedly smart but singularly focused woman, who in order to overcome events from her past lives a double life by night. Following an unexpected encounter.

Cassie is given the chance to right the wrongs of the past.