edward's - Favourites List

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A powerful film about a ruthless journalist and an unscrupulous press agent who'll do anything to achieve success, this fascinating, compelling story crackles with taut direction and whiplash dialogue.

Bristling with vivid performances by Curtis and Lancaster, this gutsy expose of big-city corruption is a timeless classic that cuts deep and sends a chilling message. It's late at night in the steamy, neon-lit streets of New York's Times Square, and everything's buzzing with nervous energy. But press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) is oblivious to the whirlwind of street vendors, call girls and con men bustling around him as he nervously waits for the early edition of The Globe. Whose career did gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) launch today… and whose did he destroy?

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To the enigmatic question "Who are Seconds?", the film's original poster responded: "The answer is almost too terrifying for words.... The story of a man who buys for himself a totally new life. A man who lives the age-old dream - If only I could live my life all over again.

" John Frankenheimer directs Rock Hudson as a "second": that is, the newly plastic-surgery altered "reboot" of, in this instance, a listless banker named Arthur Hamilton. Such procedures are carried out by a secret organization known only as "The Company," with the promise of giving an individual a chance at making a fresh start at life... but at what cost? Master lighting cameraman James Wong Howe provides the paranoiac atmosphere to the skewed reality of what came to be widely considered one of Frankenheimer's very best films.

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From acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski comes "Ida", a poignant and powerfully told drama about 18-year-old Anna, a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, who is preparing to become a nun when she discovers that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation.

This revelation triggers a heart-wrenching journey into the countryside, to the family house and into the secrets of the repressed past, evoking the haunting legacy of the Holocaust and the realities of postwar Communism. Powerfully written and eloquently shot, "Ida" is a masterly evocation of a time, a dilemma, and a defining historical moment.

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In Ronald Neame's film of Joyce Cary's classic novel, Alec Guinness transforms himself into one of cinema's most indelible comic figures: the somewhat vulgar but dedicated painter in search of his artistic vision, Gulley Jimson.

As the ill-behaved Jimson searches for a perfect canvas, he determines to let nothing come between himself and the realization of his exalted ideal. Jimson is a man, who's given up all else, including health, wealth and conventional relationships to live in a leaky houseboat. As the story develops it, like all great literature, manages to puncture almost all of life's rationalizing balloons.

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After a successful shoplifting spree, Osamu (Lily Franky) and his son rescue a little girl in the freezing cold and invite her home with them. Osamu's wife Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) reluctantly agrees to shelter her.

Although the family is poor, they live happily together until an unforeseen incident upsets the delicate balance they have created, revealing long-buried secrets...

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It is the fall of 1957 in Connecticut, Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) is returning home from a day of errands. Her husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid), is expected home for a dinner engagement. There's only one problem, no one has heard from Frank all afternoon.

What begins as a curious shapshot of 1950's American values is soon transformed into a tangle of competing conflicts, igniting Cathy's friendships with her formidable gardner, Raymond (Dennis Haysbert), her plucky best friend and her maid. As secrets are revealed, Cathy is faced with choices that spur hatred and gossip within the community.

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Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, an ageing silent film queen, and William Holden as the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screen's most memorable characters in Sunset Boulevard.

Winner of three Academy Awards, director Billy Wilder's orchestration of the bizarre tale is a true cinematic classic. From the unforgettable opening sequence through the inevitable unfolding of tragic destiny, the film is the definitive statement on the dark and desperate side of Hollywood. Erich von Stroheim as Desmond's discoverer, ex-husband and butler, and Nancy Olson as the bright spot in unrelenting ominousness, are equally celebrated for their masterful performances.

A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders.

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When Carol (Cate Blanchett) walks into a New York City department store and meets Therese (Rooney Mara) an unlikely friendship sparks. Carol is an elegant socialite going through a bitter divorce while Therese is just starting out in life; unsure of who she wants to be.

Mesmerized by each other, they face a choice: deny their hearts desires or defy society's conventions but in doing so, risk life as they know it.

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With stunning performances from Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen and Marion Bailey this film also gave several of a new generation of British actors their first lead roles on the big screen including: Sally Hawkins, James Corden and Daniel Mays.

Following different tales of melancholy, alcoholism, a violent abusive boyfriend and a frustrated unemployed youth - there seems to be no hope for a brighter future and no chance of escape yet glimmers of joy and humour still prevail. An authentic and deeply enjoyable Mike Leigh classic.

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Set in the glamour of 1950's post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) are at the centre of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants and dames with the distinct style of The House of

Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock's life until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by the scariest curse of all...love. And so begins a Gothic Romance of twists, turns and power struggles of "pure, delicious pleasure" that is "devilishly funny and luxuriantly sensuous".

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Fifteen-year-old Charley (Charlie Plummer) lives with his alcoholic father Ray (Travis Fimmel) in a run-down house in the outskirts of Portland, Oregon.

In an effort to help his dad stay afloat, Charley takes a job at a local racetrack where he befriends jaded trainer Del (Steve Buscemi) and burnt-out jockey Bonnie (Chloe Sevigny) while caring for an aging horse named Lean on Pete. But as things break down at home and Del announces Pete will be sold to an uncertain fate, the burden becomes too great for Charley to bear and he heads out into the vast American wilderness with Pete in tow.

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Ten year old Laure isn't like most girls. She prefers football to dolls and sweaters to dresses. When her family move to a new neighbourhood, local girl Lisa mistakes Laure to be a boy.

Indulging in this exciting new identity, Laure becomes Michael, and so begins a summer of long sunny afternoons, playground games and first kisses. But with the school term fast approaching, how long can Laure keep her secret?

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In this ravishing tale of romantic obsession, loneliness and friendship, Director Pedro Almodovar crafts a life affirming story of two tragic women and the men who love them. After a chance encounter at a theatre, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet at a private clinic where Benigno works.

Lydia, Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession, has been injured and is gravely ill. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in the clinic, Alicia, a young ballet student. The lives of the four characters will flow in all directions, past, present and future, urging them towards an unexpected destiny.

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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.