hpb's - Rented List
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Writer-director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) has crafted a 'Little Women' that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author's alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig's take, the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women each determined to live life on their own terms - is both timeless and timely. Portraying Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth March, the film stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, with Timothee Chalamet as their neighbour Laurie, Laura Dern as Marmee, and Meryl Streep as Aunt March. - Director:
- Greta Gerwig
- Cast:
- Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh
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Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, 'Harriet' tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. Haunted by memories of those she left behind, Harriet (Cynthia Erivo) ventures back into dangerous territory on a mission to lead others to freedom. With allies like abolitionist William Still (Leslie Odom, Jr.) and the entrepreneurial Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monae), Harriet risks capture and death to guide hundreds to safety as one of the most prominent conductors of the Underground Railroad. Witness the story of a woman who defied impossible odds to change the course of her life and the fate of the nation. - Director:
- Kasi Lemmons
- Cast:
- Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn
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'Sense and Sensibility' is the story of two sisters; pragmatic Elinor (Emma Thompson) and passionate, willful Mariann (Kate Winslet). When their father, Henry Dashwood, dies, by law his estate must pass to the eldest son from his first marriage. Suddenly homeless and impoverished, his current wife and daughters find themselves living in a simple country cottage. The two sisters are soon accepted into their new society. Mariann becomes swept up in a passionate love affair with the dashing Willoughby (Greg Wise), while Elinor struggles to keep a tight reign on the family purse strings and to keep her feelings for Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant), whom she left behind, hidden from her family. Despite their different personalities, they both experience great sorrow in their affairs, but they learn to mix sense with sensibility in a society that is obsessed with both financial and social status. - Director:
- Ang Lee
- Cast:
- Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, James Fleet
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A lavish adaptation of Stendhal's classic novel. Ewan McGregor is Julien Sorel seducing his way up the social ladder in post-Napoleonic France. Ewan McGregor, Alice Krige and Rachel Weisz head a top-class cast in this stylish adaptation of Stendhal's classic novel, 'Le Rouge et Le Noir'. Filmed on location in the Jura mountains and aristocratic chateaux around Lyon, 'Scarlet and Black' tells the story of Julien Sorel, son of a provincial carpenter with ambitions far above his station in life. He is inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte, the humble soldier who rose through the ranks to become Emperor. But young Julien feels that the road to power no longer lies in the army (the scarlet) but in the church (the black) and applies himself to scholarship. - Director:
- Ben Bolt
- Cast:
- Ewan McGregor, Christopher Fulford, Alice Krige
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Happy as Lazzaro (2018)Lazzaro Felice
Lazzaro (talented newcomer Adriano Tardiolo) is a beautiful peasant whose sweet nature makes people mistake him for simple-minded. He happily does the bidding of anyone in his local village, which is ruled over by the evil Marchesa (Nicoletta Braschi). He finds an unlikely friend in the Marchesa's petulant son Tancredi (Tommaso Ragno / Luca Chikovani), who convinces his hapless ally to help him stage a dramatic incident to secure a ransom. 'Happy as Lazzaro' follows the adventures of this young man living on the margins of his society, who can seemingly travel through time, arriving in the big city and appearing as a fragment of the past lost in the modern world. - Director:
- Alice Rohrwacher
- Cast:
- Adriano Tardiolo, Agnese Graziani, Alba Rohrwacher
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The Night the of Shooting Stars (1982)La Notte Di San Lorenzo
It's the summer of 1944, after the fall of Mussolini. As the Germans take control of Italy from the north and the Allies do the same from the south, ordinary Italians face a deadly conflict of loyalties. Paolo and Vittorio Taviani lived through this as teenagers, and they later turned their memories and those of countless compatriots into this extraordinarily rich and vivid evocation of the most terrifying time in their native Tuscany's history, where even the most respected authority figures can no longer be trusted and seemingly throwaway decisions can prove fatal. The Tavianis' creative masterstroke was to present all this through the eyes of a six-year-old girl, who despite the death and destruction around her is having the most exciting time of her life. - Director:
- Paolo Taviani
- Cast:
- Omero Antonutti, Margarita Lozano, Claudio Bigagli
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Career con man Roy (Ian McKellen) sets his sights on his latest mark, recently widowed Betty (Helen Mirren), who's worth millions. And he means to take it all. But as the two grow closer, what should have been another simple swindle becomes a high-stakes game of cat and mouse in this suspenseful drama about the secrets people keep and the lies they live. - Director:
- Bill Condon
- Cast:
- Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Russell Tovey
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Jane Austen's best loved characters return to our screens six years after 'Pride and Prejudice' ends. It is the eve of the Darcys' annual Lady Anne ball at their magnificent Pemberley home. Darcy and Elizabeth are relaxing with their guests after supper when the festivities are brought to an abrupt halt. A scream calls them to the window and a hysterical Lydia Bennet tumbles out of a carriage screaming murder. What follows is the sombre discovery of a dead man in Pemberley woods, a brother accused of murder, and the beginning of a nightmare which will threaten to engulf Pemberley and all the Darcys hold dear. - Director:
- Daniel Percival
- Cast:
- Matthew Rhys, Anna Maxwell Martin, Matthew Goode
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Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well" centres on the tale of Helena's quest to marry the man she loves, the rather unimpressed Bertram, who initially refuses her due to her lack of social standing. Aided by fellow conspirator Diana, Helena devises a fail-safe scheme to ensnare her man... The production, directed by John Dove, stars Sam Crane and Ellie Piercey as Bertram and Helena, and includes performances by James Garnon as troublemaker Parolles and Janie Dee as Bertram's interfering mother, the Countess of Roussillon. With lavish staging and costume, the production is a triumph that, according to The Independent, 'leaves the audience reeling with happiness by the end'. Recorded live at Shakespeare's Globe, August 2011. - Director:
- John Dove
- Cast:
- Michael Bertenshaw, Sam Cox, Sam Crane
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All 6 episodes of the classic British sitcom written by and starring John Cleese and Connie Booth. The show follows hotel manager Basil Fawlty (Cleese) as he runs the Torquay hotel 'Fawlty Towers' with the help of his wife Sibyl (Prunella Scales), chambermaid Polly (Booth) and Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs). - Director:
- Bob Spiers
- Cast:
- John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs
- Formats:
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The Housemaid (2010)Hanyo
Eun-yi (Jeon Do-youn) is hired as a nanny in an opulent mansion owned by the wealthy and handsome businessman Hoon Goh (Lee Jung-jae). He wastes no time in seducing his alluring young employee who seemingly has little choice but to comply with his sexual advances. Soon the vengeful women of the family, including a villainous matriarch and a heavily pregnant wife, plot against Eun-yi who must fight an equally devious battle to protect herself. - Director:
- Sang-soo Im
- Cast:
- Do-yeon Jeon, Jung-Jae Lee, Yeo-jeong Yoon
- Formats:
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With his eighth and most personal film, Alfonso Cuaron recreated the early-1970's Mexico City of his childhood, narrating a tumultuous period in the life of a middle-class family through the experiences of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio, in a revelatory screen debut), the indigenous domestic worker who keeps the household running. Charged with the care of four small children abandoned by their father, Cleo tends to the family even as her own life is shaken by personal and political upheavals. Written, directed, shot, and coedited by Cuaron, 'Roma' is a labor of love with few parallels in the history of cinema, deploying monumental black-and-white cinematography, an immersive soundtrack, and a mixture of professional and nonprofessional performances to shape its author's memories into a world of enveloping texture, and to pay tribute to the woman who nurtured him. - Director:
- Alfonso Cuarón
- Cast:
- Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey
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Non-Fiction (2018)Doubles Vies
An affair between actress Selena's (Juliette Binoche) and writer Leonard (Vincent Macaigne) is nearly discovered among their close friends in Leonard's thinly veiled autobiographical novel. Fortunately for them, Alain (Guillaume Canet), both Selena's husband and Leonard's publisher rejects the book and remains seemingly oblivious to the whole ordeal, maybe because he's having his own affair as well' But eventually, the group must confront their double lives in a comedy of art, affairs and midlife crises. - Director:
- Olivier Assayas
- Cast:
- Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Macaigne
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The White Crow (2018)Rudolf Nureyev Project
The incredible true story of legendary dancer Rudolf Nureyev (Oleg Ivenko) is brought vividly to life by Academy Awardy-nominee Ralph Fiennes and BAFTA-winning screenwriter David Hare. From Nureyev's poverty-stricken childhood in the Soviet city of Ufa, to his blossoming as a student dancer in Leningrad, to his nail-biting escape from the KGB and defection to the West at the height of the Cold War, The White Crow is a gripping, revelatory look at a unique artist who transformed the world of ballet forever. - Director:
- Ralph Fiennes
- Cast:
- Oleg Ivenko, Ralph Fiennes, Louis Hofmann
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Joan Castleman (Glenn Close) has spent forty years sacrificing her own talent, dreams and ambitions to support her charismatic husband Joe (Jonathan Pryce) and his stellar literary career. Ignoring infidelities and excuses made in the cause of his art, she has put up with his behaviour with undiminished grace and humour. The foundations of their marriage have, however, been built upon a set of uneven compromises and Joan has reached a turning point. On the eve of Joe's Nobel Prize for Literature, the crown jewel rewarding a spectacular body of work, Joan will confront the biggest sacrifice of her life and some long-buried secrets. 'The Wife' is a poignant, funny and emotional journey, a celebration of womanhood, self-discovery and liberation... - Director:
- Björn Runge
- Cast:
- Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Max Irons
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