chris-5's - Rented List
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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
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Fiona Maye (Emma Thompson) is an eminent judge in the Family Division of the High Court, making daily decisions about complex family issues. But her workload is heavy, and her marriage to American professor Jack (Stanley Tucci) is at breaking point. In this moment of personal crisis, Fiona is asked to rule on the case of Adam (Fionn Whitehead), a brilliant and beautiful teenager who is refusing on religious grounds the blood transfusion which will save his life. Wanting to hear from Adam before making her decision, Fiona goes to his hospital bedside. Their extraordinary meeting releases strong emotions, with momentous consequences for both of them as Fiona decides whether Adam should live or die. - Director:
- Richard Eyre
- Cast:
- Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Fionn Whitehead
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Fresh from an unceremonious dumping by her boyfriend of 10 years, Paula (Laetitia Dosch) finds herself wandering the streets of Paris - jobless, homeless, and single - who no idea of what life holds for her next. At 31 years old, with little to show for it but a kidnapped cat and a sense of adventure, she sets out to reinvent herself - new job, new friends, new life - and finds that these things never do come easily. - Director:
- Léonor Serraille
- Cast:
- Laetitia Dosch, Souleymane Seye Ndiaye, Grégoire Monsaingeon
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I Got Life! (2017)Aurore
Cesar award-winner Agnes Jaoui gives an intelligent and affecting performance as Aurore; fifty, flirty and not-so-thriving, her world is turned upside down when a past flame returns, reigniting her lust for life and love. A witty and wonderful ode to embracing age whilst staying young, 'I Got Life!' is a timely and uplifting film celebrating womanhood. - Director:
- Blandine Lenoir
- Cast:
- Agnès Jaoui, Thibault de Montalembert, Pascale Arbillot
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Christine 'Lady Bird' McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) fights against but is exactly like her wildly loving, deeply opinionated and strong-willed mum (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat after Lady Bird's father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. 'Lady Bird' is an affecting look at the relationships that shape us, the beliefs that define us, and the unmatched beauty of a place called home. - Director:
- Greta Gerwig
- Cast:
- Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts
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Spirit of the Beehive (1973)El Espiritu De La Colmena
Made under the Franco regime, Victor Erice's astonishing 1973 feature debut is quite simply one of the most remarkable, influential and purely poignant films to emerge from the 1970's. A bona-fide classic of European cinema, the film brought Erice instant and widespread acclaim. An audacious critique of the disastrous legacy of the Spanish Civil War, The Spirit of the Beehive is set in a rural 1940's Spanish village haunted by betrayal and regret. Following a travelling cinema's screening of James Whale's Frankenstein, seven year-old Ana (the mesmerising Ana Torrent, later to grow into an international star of some standing) becomes fascinated with Boris Karloff's monster. Obsessed with meeting the initially gentle creation, she transfers her entrancement to tending a wounded army deserter. Atmospherically rendered by legendary Director of Photography Luis Cuadrado, it's impeccably performed by both Torrent and veteran actor Fernando Fernan Gomez in the role of her emotionally scarred, bee-keeping father. Existing in a highly evocative dreamlike state, it's a powerfully symbolic, richly allegorical tale that is as unique as it is beautiful. - Director:
- Víctor Erice
- Cast:
- Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent
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The Shape of Water (2017)Cold War Project
From master storyteller, Guillermo del Toro, comes 'The Shape of Water', an otherworldly fairy tale set against the backdrop of Cold War-era America circa 1962. In the hidden, high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment. - Director:
- Guillermo Del Toro
- Cast:
- Sally Hawkins, Alison Brooks, Michael Shannon
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Little White Lies (2010)Les petits mouchoirs
Every year Max (Francois Cluzet), a successful restaurant owner, invites his family and friends to his beautiful beach house. But this year the vacation is not all fun in the sun as each guest raises the veil that for years has covered their true feelings. Their relationships, convictions and friendships are sorely tested when finally forced to own up to the little white lies they have been telling each other. - Director:
- Guillaume Canet
- Cast:
- François Cluzet, Marion Cotillard, Benoît Magimel
- Formats:
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Good Morning, Night (2003)Buongiorno, Notte
Good Morning, Night is based on the dramatic true story of the kidnapping of Italy's former Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978, a crime which stunned the nation. Maya Sansa is superb as Chiara, a young woman whose composed exterior masks her true identity as a member of the extreme terrorist underground group The Red Brigade, who plan to kidnap Moro for his supposed crimes. But the successful execution of the plan plunges the country into crisis and the formidable realities of holding captive an eminent politician creates tensions within the group. As the situation nears crisis point, Chiara begins to question her own motivations and convictions. Marco Bellocchio's riveting and thought provoking film sensitively explores complex moral issues that remain frighteningly relevant to the world today. - Director:
- Marco Bellocchio
- Cast:
- Maya Sansa, Fabio Camilli, Luigi Lo Cascio
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Perception: The Everyday World is Real. Reality: That World is a hoax, an elaborate deception spun by all-powerful machines of artificial intelligence that control us. Mind blowing stunts. Techno-slamming visuals. Megakick action. Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne lead the fight to free humankind in 'The Matrix', the cyber thriller that you will watch again and again. - Director:
- Lilly Wachowski
- Cast:
- Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
- Formats:
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Chile, 1948: Senator Pablo Neruda, diplomat and future Nobel Prize-winning poet, accuses the government of betraying the Communist Party and is swiftly impeached. Pursued by the police, Neruda and his artist wife are forced into hiding and an intimate game of cat and mouse begins. In Europe, the legend of the poet hounded by the policeman grows - and artists, led by Picasso, call for his freedom. Neruda, meanwhile, inspired by his transformative new life as a fugitive, writes his epic collection of poems, Canto General, capturing the turmoil of a Latin America in crisis. Paying homage to a mercurial creator who is impossible to pin down in conventional biography, this playful, inventive feature by acclaimed director Pablo Larrain (Jackie and Oscar-nominated NO) is the story of the escape, the investigation and the literary legend of a man once hailed as 'the greatest poet of the 20th century'. Starring Luis Gnecco and Gael Garcia Bernal, the film plays out like a road movie, inviting us to soar alongside Neruda in his poetry, his memory, and his deeply held - sometimes paradoxical - political ideals. - Director:
- Pablo Larraín
- Cast:
- Gael García Bernal, Luis Gnecco, Mercedes Morán
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The Wonders (2014)Le Meraviglie
Winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, director Alice Rohrwacher's film is a beautiful and bittersweet love letter to the disappearing traditions of rural Italy. On her family's farm in the quiet and beautiful Italian countryside, twelve-year-old Gelsomina divides her time between watching out for her sisters and helping her father with his bee-keeping. One day their peaceful existence is interrupted when television competition 'Countryside Wonders' and its glamorous host (Monica Bellucci) arrive, offering tantalising rewards for the most traditionally-ltalian produce. Gelsomina is eager to enter the family and their pure golden honey, but faces resistance from her father who is more concerned with the bureaucracy threatening to derail their family business. - Director:
- Alice Rohrwacher
- Cast:
- Alba Rohrwacher, Maria Alexandra Lungu, Sam Louwyck
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Guernica (2016)Gernika
1937 Spain: lines are being drawn, sides are being chosen… and the world will never be the same. As the citizens of the village of Guernica live with the day-to-day realities of the Civil War, an American journalist (James D'Arcy) secretly joins forces with a local press-office censor (María Valverde) to work against the stringent restrictions that are becoming more common. But everything changes when German forces attack the town, and the freedom of the press becomes a vital weapon. Based on the historical events of the bombing that set the stage for World War II. - Director:
- Koldo Serra
- Cast:
- Burn Gorman, James D'Arcy, Jack Davenport
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Mood Indigo (2013)L'écume des jours / The Foam of the Days
Set in a fantasy version of Paris, 'Mood Indigo' is the surreal and poetic tale of Colin (Romain Duris) and Chloe (Audrey Tautou) whose idyllic love story is turned on its head when Chloe falls sick. Dedicated to his beloved bride, Colin must go out to work in a series of increasingly absurd jobs to pay for the fresh flowers that Chloe needs to be surrounded with in order to feel better. - Director:
- Michel Gondry
- Cast:
- Romain Duris, David Bolling, Simone Hérault
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Against the background of the Sicilian town Bagheria, simply called Baaria by its inhabitants, director Giuseppe Tornatore unfolds a semi-autobiographical, mesmerising epic of life in Italy in the twentieth century. Following Peppino (Francesco Scianna) from his childhood in the 1930s, to his forbidden romance with the beautiful Mannina (Margareth Made), political ascent and fight against the mafia, Baaria is an emotional journey into the heart of Italy. - Director:
- Giuseppe Tornatore
- Cast:
- Francesco Scianna, Margareth Madè, Lina Sastri
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