dmb's - Rented List
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The Night Is Young (1986)Mauvais Sang
Fulfilling his early promise as one of the most gifted filmmakers of his generation, Carax's inventive second film brilliantly meshes a tale of young love with elements of science fiction thriller. Denis Lavant plays Alex, a young punk who becomes involved with a veteran criminal gang plotting to steal a serum that cures a disease that is killing lovers. But when Alex falls for Anna (Juliette Binocche), the mistress of the group's leader (Michel Piccoli), matters begin to get complicated. Darkly humorous, visually stunning and uniquely stylish. 'The Night is Young' pays imaginative homage to Carax's influences and is one of the most remarkable French films of the early '80s. - Director:
- Leos Carax
- Cast:
- Michel Piccoli, Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant
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From Mike Judge, one of the creative minds who brought you Beavis and Butt Head, King of the Hill and Office Space, comes an outrageous comedy that'll make you think twice about the future of mankind. Meet Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson). He's not the sharpest tool in the shed. But when a government hibernation experiment goes awry, Bowers awakens in the year 2505 to find a society do dumbed-down by mass commercialism and mindless TV programming that he's become the smartest guy on the planet. Now it's up to an average Joe to get human evolution back on track! Filled with razor-sharp sarcasm and outrageous sight gags, Idiocracy will make you laugh out loud whether you're an absolute genius or a complete idiot! - Director:
- Mike Judge
- Cast:
- Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard
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Election 1 (2005)Hak se wui
From acclaimed director Johnny To (The Mission, Fulltime Killer) comes a gripping action thriller set in the secret, elusive world of triad society. Election offers a rare insight into what it means to be a gangster in modern Hong Kong. The time has come, as it does every two years, for the senior members of Hong Kong's oldest Triad, The Wo Shing Society, to elect a new chairman. Although the elders of the triad, the Uncles, favour the calm and measured Lok (Simon Yam - Hong Kong Gigolo, Bullet in the Head) for the coveted position, unstable hothead Big D is convinced that he's the better candidate. Big D (Tony Leung Ka Fai - Love Will Tear Us Apart, Farewell China) will stop at nothing to win the vote and an epic battle for power is joined. When Wo Shing's ancient symbol of leadership, the Dragon's Head Baton, goes missing, the ruthless power struggle escalates and the race to retrieve the Baton threatens to tear Wo Shing in two. Can Wo Shing balance their traditional brotherhood ways with the cut-throat modern world of 21st century business? - Director:
- Johnnie To
- Cast:
- Louis Koo, Suet Lam, Tony Leung Ka Fai
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The Host (2006)Gwoemul
On the banks of the Han River, a crowd gathers to watch an unidentified object hanging onto a bridge. In an instant, the object reveals itself as a terrifying creature, turning the riverbank into a gruesome sea of blood. Amid the chaos, a little girl, Hyun-sea is snatched up by the creature right before her father, Gang-du's eyes. After receiving a mobile phone call from his daughter confirming that she has miraculously survived, the once-ordinary citizen Gang-du and his family decide to wage war against the creature, despite both Korean authorities' and U.S. army's every efforts to stop them. Combining state of the art visual effects from the team behind Superman Returns, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Sin City with the dark and offbeat humour synonymous with Korean cinema, The Host is one of the most original monster movies to emerge for decades. - Director:
- Joon-Ho Bong
- Cast:
- Kang-ho Song, Dal-su Oh, Philip Hersh
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Songs from the Second Floor (2000)Sanger fran andra vaningen
Set at the dawning of the new millennium, this hilarious masterpiece is from the brilliantly offbeat worldview of Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson, director of the acclaimed 'You, the Living'. Described by critic J. Hoberman as 'slapstick Ingmar Bergman', this witty yet resonant film unfolds as a series of comic inter-connected vignettes that portray scenes from an urban world which has ground to a halt and whose citizens teeter on the brink of madness. - Director:
- Roy Andersson
- Cast:
- Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Bengt C.W. Carlsson
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The Dream Life of Angels (1998)La Vie Rêvée Des Anges
The Dream Life Of Angels is an absorbing film about two young French women struggling to find their place in life. Isabella is twenty-one, moving from town to town with all her worldly belongings in her backpack, intelligent yet without much of a future. Marie is the same age and in the same rut, seemingly without any anchor herself... Both are solidly working class, unskilled and rootless. Circumstance has thrown them together and the film describes a two-month period as they house-sit the apartment of a car accident victim. Their prospects are not great, and each deal with the hand life has dealt them very differently. - Director:
- Erick Zonca
- Cast:
- Élodie Bouchez, Natacha Régnier, Grégoire Colin
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Though loosely-constructed, Ultranova's ostensible focal point is Dimitri (Vincent Lecuyer), a starter-home salesman who becomes the object of fascination for two local girls Cathy (Helene de Reymaeker) and Jeanne (Marie du Bled,) who are prone to flights of fantasy. Meanwhile, Dimitri's work colleagues, led by the painfully uptight Verbrugghe (Vincent Belorgey), are going through their own personal crises. - Director:
- Bouli Lanners
- Cast:
- Vincent Lecuyer, Marie du Bled, Hélène de Reymaeker
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36 (2004)36: Quai Des Orfevres
In what many have described as the French equivalent of 'Heat', two of France's heavyweights, Gerard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil star as two detectives. Once close friends, but now bitter rivals, they strive to claim the coveted position of Chief of Police by whatever means necessary... A gang of armed robbers have committed seven bloody robberies in Paris within the space of year. Klein (Depardieu) and Vrinks (Auteuil) are heading up different departments of the Police force and are told that whoever stops the gang will be awarded the title of Chief of Police. The competition between them becomes increasingly ruthless, blurring the lines of morality until there is no difference between the police and the criminals they chase. - Director:
- Olivier Marchal
- Cast:
- Daniel Auteuil, Lexie Kendrick, Robert Hoehn
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L'Humanité (1999)Humanity
Bruno Dumont's critically acclaimed, award-winning, and hauntingly powerful film follows the investigation into the brutal rape and murder of an 11 year old girl in a small town in North-East France. On the hunt for the killer is police detective Pharaon de Winter (Emmanuel Schotte), who is appalled not only by the crime, but the monstrousness of human behaviour. An introverted, almost child-like innocent, de Winter draws strength from his close, somewhat voyeuristic relationship with his neighbour Domino (Severine Caneele) and her volatile boyfriend (Philippe Tullier). One of the most startlingly original, daring and controversial films of recent times, 'L'Humanité' is a stark and visionary portrait of human nature, suffering and compassion. - Director:
- Bruno Dumont
- Cast:
- Emmanuel Schotté, Séverine Caneele, Philippe Tullier
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Time to Leave (Le Temps Qui Reste) (2005)Le temps qui reste
Acclaimed filmmaker Francois Ozon's most intimate and lyrical work, 'Time to Leave¿ features a moving performance from Melvil Poupaud as a 30 year-old man facing up to the reality of his own mortality. With his perfect life thrown into chaos by the shock diagnosis of a serious illness, fashion photographer Romain finds himself unable to share the news with his boyfriend or family, confiding instead only in his grandmother (affectingly played by screen legend Jeanne Moreau). But anger and denial give way to an acceptance of sorts when a chance encounter with a waitress (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) offers Romain a glimmer of hope and the unexpected chance to leave something of himself behind. - Director:
- François Ozon
- Cast:
- Melvil Poupaud, Jeanne Moreau, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
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Tobe, is a teenager whose aimless existence is turned upside down by a chance encounter with Harlan Carruthers, a charismatic cowboy who seems as if he would be much more at home on a ranch than in Los Angeles. Despite the difference in their ages and backgrounds, and the opposition of Tobe's father, Wade, the couple persue their passionate, furtive romance until it becomes apparent that Tobe is unprepared for the intensity of Harlan's love. Then, things take a sudden, dangerous turn when Tobe discovers Harlan is not at all whom he appeared to be. - Director:
- David Jacobson
- Cast:
- Edward Norton, Evan Rachel Wood, David Morse
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Nobody Knows (2004)Dare mo shiranai
Inspired by an infamous true story that made headlines in Japan in 1988, this tough yet tender film from writer-director, Hirokazu Koreeda, follows the lives of four children left to fend for themselves by their wayward mother. Having smuggled her family into a new apartment under the landlord's nose, Keiko (You) puts her 12 year old son Akira (Yûya Yagira) in charge of the youngsters and after a brief period of relative family harmony, disappears. Akira manages as best he can, but limited means and the cramped confines of the apartment force this unorthodox family unit to re-shape their narrow existence to suit their physical and emotional needs. - Director:
- Hirokazu Koreeda
- Cast:
- Yûya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura
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Battle in Heaven (2005)Batalla En El Cielo
Marcos and his wife kidnap a baby for ransom money, but it goes tragically wrong when the infant dies. In another world is Ana, the daughter of the general he drives for, who prostitutes herself for pleasure. Marco confesses his guilt to her in his troubled search for relief. He then finds himself on his knees amidst the multitude of believers moving slowly towards the Basilica in honour of the Lady of Guadalupe. - Director:
- Carlos Reygadas
- Cast:
- Marcos Hernández, Anapola Mushkadiz, Bertha Ruiz
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Memories of Murder (2003)Salin ui Chu-eok
In 1986 Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, after two women are found raped and murdered, Seoul detective Seo Tae-yoon (Sang-kyung Kim) is brought in to help local detective Park Doo-man (Kang-ho Song) with the investigation. As more bodies are found, the pair realise they have a serial killer on their hands. Inspired by true events, Bong Joon Ho's sophomore feature blends true-crime with social satire and even comedy is his typically masterful fashion. - Director:
- Joon-Ho Bong
- Cast:
- Kang-ho Song, Sang-kyung Kim, Roe-ha Kim
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Vital (2004)Vitâru
Following a devastating car accident that took both his memory and the life of his girlfriend (Nami Tsukamoto), Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) begins searching for answers. When he happens upon an anatomy textbook in his closet, Takagi remembers his pre-accident studies and decides to enroll in medical school. He turns the head of ambitious fellow student Ikumi (Kiki), but Hiroshi remains resistant to her advances. Then in an anatomy class, while the class dissects several bodies he realizes he has been working on the body of Ryoko, bringing back memories of their relationship. Soon Hiroshi is fully absorbed into the study of the body in front of him and the world of his memories until he cannot distinguish what is real and what is not. - Director:
- Shin'ya Tsukamoto
- Cast:
- Tadanobu Asano, Nami Tsukamoto, Kiki
- Formats:
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