jbp's - Favourites List
-
Girlhood (2014)Bande de filles
Oppressed by her family setting, dead-end school prospects and the boys law in the neighbourhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her style, and quits school to be accepted in the gang, hoping that this will be a way to freedom. As she falls further under their gang lifestyle, she begins to make foolish choices that could impact her life forever. - Director:
- Céline Sciamma
- Cast:
- Karidja Touré, Aurélie Vérillon, Assa Sylla
- Formats:
-
-
The White Ribbon (2009)Das Weisse Band
On the eve of World War I, the quiet order of a small protestant village in Northern Germany is disturbed by a series of mysterious and inexplicable accidents. To the mounting concern of the villagers, the events persist, becoming increasingly sinister and taking on the character of a perverse punishment ritual. But who is responsible. - Director:
- Michael Haneke
- Cast:
- Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi, Klaus Manchen
- Formats:
-
-
Waltz with Bashir (2008)Vals Im Bashir
One of the most visually dazzling, strikingly original and stunningly realised films about war ever made, this landmark in animation is an extraordinary, ingenious work of devastating intensity. Based on the true story of director Ari Folman, an Israeli 1982 Lebanon War in which he fought, the film charts his deep into the mystery, fragments of memory creep up in surreal images as the truth of what happened behind to unravel. - Director:
- Ari Folman
- Cast:
- Ari Folman, Ari Folman, Ron Ben-Yishai
- Formats:
-
-
City of God (2002)Cidade de Deus
Welcome to the world's most notorious slum: Rio de Janeiro's 'City of God'. A place where combat photographers fear to tread, where police rarely go, and residents are lucky if they live to the age of 20. This is the true story of a young man who grew up on these streets and whose ambition as a photographer is our window in and ultimately may be his only way out. - Director:
- Fernando Meirelles
- Cast:
- Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Matheus Nachtergaele
- Formats:
-
-
Fire at Sea (2016)Fuocoammare
One hundred and fifty miles south of Sicily, sits Lampedusa, a small, quaint island home to just six thousand people. But as their ordinary lives continue, Lampedusa forms the stage for a different story, one of tragedy - it is the first port of call for African and Middle-Eastern refugees whose last hope for a peaceful life is Europe. - Director:
- Gianfranco Rosi
- Cast:
- Pietro Bartolo, Samuele Caruana, Samuele Pucillo
- Formats:
-
-
Spirited Away (2001)Sen to chihiro no kamikakushi
Chihiro, a headstrong 10-year-old girl, is unhappy that her family are moving house and that she will have to make new friends. As they make their way to the new home, Chihiro's father takes a detour to explore a mysterious tunnel in the woods. On the other side is what seems to be a deserted theme park but is in fact a ghostly town. Unwittingly, they have strayed into the Land of the Spirits, a world of dreamlike scenery inhabited by ancient gods and magical beings, ruled over by the sorceress, Yubaba. With her parents held captive and Yubaba set on enslaving them forever, Chihiro must use all her energy to survive in this strange new place. With the help of Haku, a brave young spirit, she is forced to overcome her Pears and join an epic battle for her family's freedom. - Director:
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast:
- Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino
- Formats:
-
-
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)Bir zamanlar Anadolu'da
This is an epic and rigorous tale of a night and a day in a murder investigation. Police, prosecutors, a doctor and the murderers themselves try to locate a buried body through one long night in the Anatolian steppes. Many long-buried thoughts and fears are also disinterred in the minds of the investigators as they go about their thankless task. - Director:
- Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast:
- Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan, Taner Birsel
- Formats:
-
-
My Neighbour Totoro (1988)Tonari no Totoro
While their mother recovers from an illness, Satsuki and her little sister Mei (voiced in English by Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning) get away from it all in an idyllic rural retreat. Far from the bustle of the city, they discover a mysterious place of spirits and magic, and the friendship of the Totoro woodland creatures.
Conceived as a family film devoid of conflict and suffused with the carefree pleasures of the summertime, My Neighbour Totoro sees Hayao Miyazaki create a parable of friendship and imagination populated with unforgettable characters. A universal classic for all generations, My Neighbour Totoro shows Japanese animation's famous Studio Ghibli at its very best, and is an elegy to two ever-fading miracles: the fairytale world of childhood and the disappearing countryside.- Director:
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast:
- Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto
- Formats:
-
-
Amelie (2001)Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
Amelie Poulian has led a sheltered life – educated at home by over-protective parents, she retreats into a fantasy world of her own. When she finally leaves home and finds work as waitress in a Parisian café, life is pretty uneventful until a chain of extraordinary events leads her to the discovery of a thin box containing a schoolboy's long forgotten mementos. It is then that Amelie discovers her true vocation in life – helping others find love and happiness – which she sets about in her own unique and magical way. When Amelie falls in love herself, she realises that making neat solutions is not as easy as it seems… - Director:
- Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- Cast:
- Audrey Tautou, Franck-Olivier Bonnet, Mathieu Kassovitz
- Formats:
-
-
Oldboy (2003)Oldeuboi
Based on the Japanese manga of the same name, the film tells the horrific tale of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), a businessman who is inexplicably kidnapped and imprisoned in a grim hotel room-like cell for 15 years, without knowing his captor or the reason for his incarceration. Eventually released, he learns of his wife's murder and embarks on a quest for revenge whilst also striking up a romance with a young, attractive sushi chef, Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung). He eventually finds his tormentor, but their final encounter will yield yet more unimaginable horrors... - Director:
- Chan-wook Park
- Cast:
- Min-sik Choi, Joe Cappelletti, Mari Devon
- Formats:
-
-
Princess Mononoke (1997)Mononoke-hime
Young warrior Ashitaka receives a wound that refuses to heal in a battle with a cursed beast. Searching for a remedy for the supernatural injury, he leaves his remote village for the forbidding forests of the west, where he finds a human enclave under siege from divine powers: deities of times past, the wolf gods, and San, a wild girl of the forest. Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece depicts the clash between the natural world and its old gods, and the rise of humans and the beginnings of modern civilisation. It shows three elements of the Japanese psyche warring for supremacy in an epic ecological fable of stirring mythic power. - Director:
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast:
- Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka
- Formats:
-
-
The Orphanage (2007)El orfanato
Many years ago, Laura left the orphanage where she had spent her childhood. Now, thirty years later, she returns with her husband Carlos and her young son Simon, with a dream of restoring and reopening the long-abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. But the mysterious surroundings awaken Simon's imagination and the boy starts to spin a web of fantastic tales on not-so innocent games... As events take a sinister turn, Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family. - Director:
- J.A. Bayona
- Cast:
- Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep
- Formats:
-
-
Amores Perros (2000)Love's a Bitch / Love Dogs
Beginning with a kinetic, bone-crushing car accident, 'Amores Perros' imaginatively interweaves the stories of its three victims: Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) a young man who has fallen in love with his violent brother's wife; Valeria (Goya Toledo), a beautiful Mexican model for whom physical appearances are everything and El Chivo (Emilio Echevarria), a former political assassin now exiled from his family. The result is a moving, visceral eulogy to life, loss and dog fighting on Mexico's mean streets. - Director:
- Alejandro González Iñárritu
- Cast:
- Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal, Goya Toledo
- Formats:
-
-
Belleville Rendez-Vous (2003)The Triplets of Belleville / Les triplettes de Belleville
Noticing that here grandson, Champion, is a lonely little boy, Madame Souza buys him his first bicycle. Years go by, and with Madame Souza putting him through his paces, Champion becomes worthy of his name. Now, he is ready to enter the world's most famous cycling competition, the Tour de France. But, no sooner that the race has begun, two mysterious men in black kidnap him and it is up to Madame Souza and her faithful dog, Bruno, to rescue him, Soon, their quest takes them to a giant metropolis, called Belleville, where they encounter three eccentric female music hall stars of the 1930s and do battle with the evil French mafia. But can they rescue Champion? A visual treat for young and old alike, this stunning film has captured the imagination of audients the world over with its unique blend of classic animation and razor-sharp wit. - Director:
- Sylvain Chomet
- Cast:
- Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Michel Robin
- Formats:
-
-
The Return (2003)Vozvrashcheniye
The life of two brothers is shattered by the sudden appearance of their father, whom they know only from a 10 year old photograph. Is he really their father? Why has he come back after so many years? The boys find some answers on a remote and desolate island travelling with this man who turned their lives upside down. - Director:
- Andrey Zvyagintsev
- Cast:
- Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko
- Formats:
-