dsp's - Rented List
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The Geisha House (1998)Omocha
Japan: 1958. The Japanese government is about to introduce and enforce the Anti-Prostitution Act, effectively outlawing prostitution. But the new laws do not have any effect on the Fujinoya Geisha House, still run in the traditional centuries-old manner. The Geisha treat their wealthy patrons with honour and respect and in return they are handsomely rewarded with companionship, and in some cases, even love. Helping out behind the scenes is the wide-eyes Tokiko, who has been assisting the girls for the past four years. She has dreamt of transforming gerself into a Geisha to help her poor family, and now her time has come. With the guidance of the girls of Fujinoya, Tokiko will be groomed and introduced to the ways of the Geisha when she becomes a woman and makes her debut as 'Omocha' - 'The Toy'. - Director:
- Kinji Fukasaku
- Cast:
- Maki Miyamoto, Sumiko Fuji, Kaho Minami
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Une Femme Mariee (1964)A Married Woman
Long out-of-circulation and unavailable for home viewing, Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 masterpiece Une femme mariée, fragments d'un film tourné en 1964 en noir et blanc (A Married Woman: Fragments of a Film Shot in 1964 in Black and White) has, until now, represented the ostensibly 'missing' key work from the first, zeitgeist-defining phase of JLG's filmography. The feature which bridges the gap between Bande à part and Alphaville, Une femme mariée is, nevertheless, a galaxy, or gallery, unto itself — a lucid, complex, profoundly funny series of portraits, etched with Godardian acids, of the wife that represents either a singular case, or a universal example, of "a"/"the" married woman, and the men in her orbit. Designed with Raoul Coutard's breathtaking cinematography, Godard's picture captures a moment in time — but all its mysteries, its truths, its beauty, comedy and grace, serve to resolve into a work of art for the ages. - Director:
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Cast:
- Bernard Noël, Macha Méril, Philippe Leroy-Beaulieu
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Francois is a happily married fifty year old teacher. Concerned that rebellious student Mathilde is going to be expelled he sets out to help her but is soon drawn into a passionate relationship with the enigmatic teenager. Realising it cannot go on he tries to end the affair with devastating consequences. - Director:
- Jean-Claude Brisseau
- Cast:
- Vanessa Paradis, Bruno Cremer, Ludmila Mikaël
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The Captive (2000)La captive
Acclaimed director Chantal Akerman becomes the latest filmmaker to take inspiration from Marcel Proust’s epic masterwork 'In Search of Lost Time'. Adapted from the fifth volume, 'The Captive' tells the story of Ariane, who lives under her lover Simon’s surveillance in a grandiose Parisian apartment. Simon harbours an obsessional need to know everything about her. He has her accompanied everywhere she goes and subjects her to endless questioning. Knowing of Ariane’s attraction to women, Simon imagines that she leads a double life, which only serves to increase his desire for her. Akerman’s film is an elegantly constructed and compelling meditation on love, desire and obsession. - Director:
- Chantal Akerman
- Cast:
- Stanislas Merhar, Sylvie Testud, Olivia Bonamy
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The French "With Nail and I", "Les Apprentis" is an anarchic and hilarious tale of two Parisian slackers; Frederic (Guillaume Depardieu - who won a Ceser for his performance), a shy young engine geek, and Antoine (Francois Cluzet), a hypochondriac playwright who serially fails to write a letter to the woman he loves. They live for free in a squalid flat spending their time on drunken antics and surviving on the meagre income derived from Antoine's ad hoc journalism and Frederic's pretty thievery. Their life falls apart when their absentee landlord casually announces hes Grandfather is selling the flat and they must move out. Things are further complicated when Frederic falls for Agnes (Marie Trintignant), an angelic young actress and pretends to be a brilliant photographer in order to befriend her. With a vibrant soundtrack and cracking performance, Pierre Salvadori's "Les Apprentis" is a wonderfully refreshing film that broke French box office records on its release. A must see. - Director:
- Pierre Salvadori
- Cast:
- François Cluzet, Guillaume Depardieu, Judith Henry
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The Suicide Club (2001)Jisatsu sâkuru
54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train... But this is only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Dessert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda is determined to find the answer, but this proves far harder than he had imagined... - Director:
- Sion Sono
- Cast:
- Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase, Mai Hosho
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Drunk on Women and Poetry (2002)Chihwaseon
Chihwaseon, the ninety film by Im Kwon-taek, is the story of the renowned nineteenth century painter, JANG Seung-up who is saved from a group of Drifters by KIM Byung-moon (AHN Sung-Ki). JANG offers KIM a drawing as thanks, and as KIM examines the child's picture he realises JANG'S extraordinary potential. Years later, KIM becomes JANG'S mentor and encourages him to pursue the life of an artist. JANG Seung-up leaves his home and wanders in pursuit of "True Art" finding love with a daughter of the Social Elite Class only to find heartbreak as they are forced apart through Catholic persecution. JANG Seung-up realises his greatest work comes from the greatest pleasures of women and drink and plunges himself into a life of addiction and love affairs. As JANG continues to search for artistic transcendence, he stretches the limits of traditional Korean art, rapidly becoming renowned worldwide, and one of Korea's national legends. - Director:
- Im Kwon-taek
- Cast:
- Choi Min-sik, Ahn Sung-ki, Son Ye-jin
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Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård and Emily Watson star in 'Chernobyl', the critically acclaimed five-part mini-series. On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukrainian SSSR suffered a massive explosion that released radioactive material across Belarus, Russia and Ukraine and as far as Scandinavia and Western Europe. Dramatising the true story of the 1986 nuclear accident, one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, Chernobyl shines a light on the brave men and women who fought an unprecedented war against an invisible enemy, and who suffered and sacrificed, saving millions of lives, often at the cost of their own. - Director:
- Johan Renck
- Cast:
- Jessie Buckley, Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård
- Formats:
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Addicted (2002)Jungdok
Addicted tells the story of a married couple, Eun-su and Ho-jin and the husbands younger brother, Dae-jin. Life is seemingly perfect and all three live together in harmony until tragedy strikes one fateful day. Two separate car accidents put both brothers into a coma; Dae-jin during a car race and Ho-jin on his way to the racing curcuit. Only the younger brother wakes and Eun-su is left without he...r husband. However events take a strange twist as Dae-jin demonstrates more and more of Ho-jin's behaviour leaving Eun-su questioning if her husband's soul is trapped in the body of her brother-in-law. - Director:
- Young-hoon Park
- Cast:
- Byung-hun Lee, Mi-yeon Lee, Eol Lee
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Yakuza Hunters 1: The Ultimate Battle Royale (2010)Sukeban hantâzu: Sôkatsu nagurikomi sakusen
Asami fights the treacherous Junko - a former member of her all girl gang - and she is left for dead. Returning to town after several years Asami finds that Junko now works for the Yakuza and her home town is a den of drugs and prostitution. Together with four other gun toting babes Asami gears up as Yakuza Hunters to take on the gangsters in the ultimate, all-out, battle royale to the death! - Director:
- Kazushi Nakadaira
- Cast:
- Asami, Chuck Johnson, Kenji Motomiya
- Formats:
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Song to Song (2017)Weightless
BV (Ryan Gosling) and Faye (Rooney Mara) are a song-writing couple trying to forge their way in the Austin music scene. However, their relationship grows complicated when they fall into the orbit of a big-shot producer (Michael Fassbender) and his waitress muse (Natalie Portman). With cameos from music scene stars including Florence Welch, Iggy Pop and Red Hot Chili Peppers and a soundtrack including Bob Dylan and Patti Smith, 'Song to Song' is a vibrant and alluring exploration into music, love and the turbulent Texan rock and roll scene. - Director:
- Terrence Malick
- Cast:
- Ryan Gosling, Sergine Dumais, Rooney Mara
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President's Last Bang (2005)Geuddae geusaramdeul
A fictionalized account of the events leading up to the assassination of South Korean President Park Chun-hee in 1979. Though outwardly cynical, Korean CIA chief Kim secretly nurtures a personal disgust with his dissolute president's embarrassing appetites, so improvises a conspiracy that will change the course of world politics. When Kim and his thuggish enforcer Ju make their move, they initiate a bloodbath that threatens to drown both victim and assassin. - Director:
- Sang-soo Im
- Cast:
- Jae-ho Song, Suk-kyu Han, Yun-shik Baek
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When the Last Sword Is Drawn (2004)Mibu Gishi Den
Set in the last days of the Edo period in Kyoto amongst the Shinsengumi, the guardians of the imperial capital, there is one man who shows outstanding skill as a swordsman. He is Kanichiro Yoshimura, an economic refugee from the famine in Northern Japan. His one sole pre-occupation is self preservation, to allow him to earn enough money to send home to his starving family. His fellow samurai scorn him for his dishonourable, mercenary ways. Foremost amongst his antagonists is Saito, one of the leading figures in the group. As the Kyoto government of the time disintegrates into civil war the Shinsengumi are called upon to defend their clan against the superior government troops and Kanichiro distinguishes himself time and time again in mortal combat, earning the respect of his fellow samurai and the friendship of Saito. Told in retrospective by the dual memories of Kanichiro's grandson, from tales told by his father and those of an elderly, deteriorating Saito. When The Last Sword Is Drawn is a stirring, stylish and evocative look at the last of days of a dying breed of men who held honour above all else. - Director:
- Yôjirô Takita
- Cast:
- Kiichi Nakai, Kôichi Satô, Yui Natsukawa
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Adapted from the beloved literary classic, l The Call Of The Wild vividly brings to life the story of Buck, a big-hearted dog, and the man (Harrison Ford) he must learn to trust. When he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Alaskan Yukon, Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime, ultimately finding his true place in the world. With its unique blend of intense live action and cutting-edge animation, The Call Of The Wild is "an epic adventure that will make you laugh, cry, and cheer - a must-see for the entire family". - Director:
- Chris Sanders
- Cast:
- Harrison Ford, Omar Sy, Cara Gee
- Formats:
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Visitor Q (2001)Bijitâ Q
When shamed reporter Kiyoshi Yamazaki visits one of Japan's many comfort houses to make a documentary about sex and violence amongst the nation's youth he is somewhat surprised to encounter his nubile daughter. Soon after, he meets 'Q', an enigmatic stranger, and invites him to visit his family home. Upon entering this dysfunctional world, 'Q' sets about teaching each family member a unique and special lesson. But will he succeed in creating domestic harmony? - Director:
- Takashi Miike
- Cast:
- Ken'ichi Endô, Shungiku Uchida, Kazushi Watanabe
- Formats:
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