daniel-phillips's - Rented List

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Based on a novel by George Bernanos, 'Diary of a Country Priest' marked the first in Director Robert Bresson's so-called "prison trilogy" (followed by 'Pickpocket' and 'A Man Escaped').

The film begins with the arrival of a young, sickly priest (Claude Laydu) at the godless parish of Ambricourt in Northern France. Here he becomes drawn into the complex domestic life of a wealthy Count (Jean Riveyre), his tormented wife, his manipulative daughter and his mistress, Miss Louise (Nicole Maurey). Narrated by excerpts of the priest's diary, the film follows his efforts to awaken the villagers from their spiritual lethargy, with their struggles, suffering and triumphs representing in a microcosm those of humankind itself. Bresson's intensely personal style, minimalist approach to dialogue and music, and use of non-professional actors marked a new kind of filmmaking, which was to influence such diverse directors as Paul Schrader, Richard Linklater and Andrei Tarkovsky.

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After saving the lives of his platoon during the Korean War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is hailed as a bona fide American hero.

This couldn't have come at a better time for his mother (Angela Lansbury) who is hell-bent on boosting the career of his stepfather, a senator straight from the McCarthyite wing of the US political spectrum with designs on the Presidency. So far so familiar - but why does Shaw's former captain (Frank Sinatra) have recurring nightmares that suggest that his distinguished comrade-in-arms might not be all that he seems?

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When Helene (Maria Casares) discovers her love for Jean (Paul Bernard) has become unrequited, she carefully hatches her revenge by willingly inflaming a relationship between Jean and dancer Agnes (Elina Labourdette).

However, Jean is unaware of certain aspects of Agnes' life which Helene hopes will ruin his reputation as their passions for each other grows.

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Legendary film director John Huston creates one of his most cerebral films that will stay with the viewer for a long time.

Set in the American Deep South during the post-war era, 'Wise Blood' stars Brad Dourif as Hazel Motes, an unhinged and aimless war-veteran, who decides to become a Bible-thumping preacher for a quasi-religious cult called 'The Church Without Christ'. Linking up with a fraudulent hustler from hellfire-and-brimstone preaching circuit - who pretends to be blind for the assembled believers - Motes is put under pressure by the fraudster to blind himself for real so that he can truly 'see the light'. A dark satire on religious movements that, beautifully acted by Dourif, Huston and William Hickey.

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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.

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August 1962: the latest attempt on the life of French President Charles de Gaulle by the far right paramilitary organisation, the OAS, ends in chaos, with its architect-in-chief dead at the hands of a firing squad.

Demoralised and on the verge of bankruptcy, the OAS leaders meet in secret to plan their next move. In a last desperate attempt to eliminate de Gaulle, they opt to employ the services of a hired assassin from outside the fold. Enter the Jackal (Edward Fox): charismatic, calculating, cold as ice. As the Jackal closes in on his target, a race against the clock ensues to identify and put a stop to a killer whose identity, whereabouts and modus operandi are completely unknown.

New York City detectives "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) hope to break a narcotics smuggling ring and ultimately uncover 'The French Connection'. But when one of the criminals tries to kill Doyle, he begins a deadly pursuit that takes him far outside the city limits.

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Visionary Czech director Karel Zeman is treasured by generations of filmmakers worldwide, from Terry Gilliam and Jan Svankmajer to Tim Burton and Wes Anderson.

His pioneering combination of live-action and animation makes him, alongside his Western counterpart Ray Harryhausen, one of the great masters of 20th Century fantasy cinema. Zeman's wildly inventive and comic take on the surreal adventures of Baron Munchausen explodes on to the screen in a riot of colour, visual wit and poetic verve. A celebration of human imagination, this film is widely recognised as one of cinema's timeless classics.

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The films of Karel Zeman, one of the masters of 20th Century fantasy cinema, ingeniously combine live-action and animation.

A joyous adventure that celebrates the wonders of nature, 'Journey to the Beginning of Time' sends four schoolboys on an epic and perilous voyage through prehistory, encountering cavemen, mammoths and dinosaurs along the way. Endlessly imaginative, Zeman uses a huge variety of innovative techniques to bring to life the lost worlds of the distant past, producing one of his most beguiling and magical works.

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Visionary Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman is recognised as one of the great masters of 20th Century fantasy cinema for his innovative combination of live-action and animation, along with the use of ingenious special effects.

Often described as the 'Czech Melies', his work has been a profound influence on generations of filmmakers from Jan Svankmajer to Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam to the Quay Brothers and Wes Anderson. 'A Jester's Tale' is one of Zeman's most celebrated achievements: a bold black comedy following the adventures of a ploughboy press-ganged into service on the battlefields of the devastating Thirty Years' War. Co-scripted by Pavel Juracek (Ikarie XB1, Daisies), this startlingly inventive film emerges as a sharp satire on war and human nature itself.

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Johnny (David Thewlis) is a frenetic and destructive outsider who tears through the lives of others like an emotional tornado.

On the run from Manchester, he seeks sanctuary with his ex-girlfriend Louise (Lesley Sharp) in London, where he immediately targets her vulnerable housemate Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge) with his unique blend of predatory charm. From there he embarks on a nocturnal odyssey across the city, dragging other disaffected souls into his orbit as he spirals towards his own personal apocalypse.

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From director Damian Szifron and producer Pedro Almodovar comes six stories, each exploring a different facet of revenge and the various brilliant, mad, toe-curling and hilarious flavours in which it can be dished out.

Whether it's taking out a belligerent crime lord, getting even with officious parking enforcement, retribution for infidelity, or good old fashioned road rage, 'Wild Tales' takes acts of vengeance for infuriating, often all too familiar situations and blows them out to a bitter and hysterical end in this outrageous, tense and ferociously funny dark comedy.

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After aiding in the escape of a revolutionary poet, Cuchillo (Tomas Milian) is given the location for a stash of hidden gold intended to fund the Mexican Revolution.

Pursued by mercenaries, bandits, corrupt officials, an American gunslinger, and even his fiance - Cuchillo will have to use all of his tricks to stay alive.

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From the mind of the legendary cult filmmaker, Alejandro Jodorowsky, comes an epic imaginary autobiography depicting both the wonders and the hardships of existing in the substance we all call reality.

True to form, Jodorowsky takes us on a strange, mystic, fantastic and deeply surreal journey that no one else could, except this time the subject is his own early life, being raised by his strict, Stalin-adoring father who has plans to assassinate the right-wing Chilean president.

Meantime centres on an East End family, the Pollacks - Mavis, Frank and their sons Mark and Colin — and their experience of unemployment, poverty and life in early 1980s Britain. When Colin (Tim Roth) comes under the influence of skinhead Coxy (Gary Oldman), family tensions erupt into conflict-