jdl's - Rented List

Show moreShow less

"Stray" explores what it means to live as a being without status or security, following three strays as they embark on inconspicuous journeys through Turkish society.

Zeytin, fiercely independent, embarks on adventures through the city at night; Nazar, nurturing and protective, easily befriends the humans around her; while Kartal, a shy puppy living on the outskirts of a construction site, finds companions in the security guards who care for her. The strays' disparate lives intersect when they each form intimate bonds with a group of young Syrians with whom they share the streets. Director Elizabeth Lo's award-winning film is a critical observation of human civilisation through the unfamiliar gaze of dogs and a sensory voyage into new ways of seeing.

Show moreShow less

An intimate glimpse into the life and world of one of Tibet's most revered teachers: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, writer, poet, meditation master and an inspiration to all who encountered him.

He was one of the primary teachers of the Dalai Lama, and was considered the "Master of Masters" among the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. This unique portrait tells Khyentse Rinpoche's story from birth to death, from his escape following China's invasion of Tibet to his determination to preserve and share Buddhist teachings. Ten years in the making, the film began in 1989 when French photographer, Buddist monk and bestselling author Matthieu Ricard and Vivian Kurz taped extensive footage of their teacher. When Rinpoche died in 1991 they determined to share the life of their beloved teacher with the world. Many other leading film makers, artists and musicians have participated in this tribute. Shot in rarely filmed Eastern Tibet, Nepal, India, Bhutan and France, the film shows the rich and intricate tapestry of Tibetan Buddhism and is a witness to the strength, wisdom and depth of the Tibetan culture. The programme also features interviews with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. A proportion of the revenues from 'Spirit of Tibet' go to the non-profit making organisation Shechen Inc. for the support and continuation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's work.

Show moreShow less

Marcello (Marcello Fonte) is a small and gentle dog groomer who wants two things, to look after his dogs and take his daughter on exotic holidays.

But to fund this lifestyle he runs a side business which has more unsavoury clientele and he soon finds himself involved in a dangerous relationship of subjugation with Simone (Edoardo Pesce), a former violent boxer who terrorises the entire neighbourhood. When Simone exploits him too much, Marcello must make a crucial and potentially dangerous decision in order to regain his dignity.

Show moreShow less

Independent cinema darling and Cannes Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker Lola Cuevas (Penelope Cruz) is approached by ageing business mogul Humberto Suarez (Jose Luis Gomez) to make a film that he hopes will be his legacy for the world.

Intended as an adaptation of a much-loved literary work, Cuevas has more experimental intentions than some turgid piece of heritage cinema. Given carte blanche over the casting she pits acclaimed but stiflingly snobbish 'Actor' Ivan Torres (Oscar Martinez) against handsome but superficial screen icon Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas), believing that the inevitable tension between the two can only help the film's dynamic. She couldn't be more right, as the three gather lora nine-day rehearsal that sees each pushed to their wits' end and underpins Cuevas' belief that art is suffering.

Show moreShow less

"I, Tonya" tells the outrageous and at times hilarious true story of one of the biggest scandals in sporting history. Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) was a champion figure skater who's rebel attitude pushed the sport to new heights.

However, as Olympic pressure mounted, her life began to unravel - culminating in an alleged attack on her fiercest rival, un-paralleled press attention and a legacy no one would wish for.

Show moreShow less

'Petite Maman' is a sublime modern fairytale about the quiet wonder of mother-daughter relationships. After the death of her beloved grandmother (Margot Abascal), eight-year-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) meets a mysterious friend in the woods.

Together they embark on a fantastical journey of discovery which helps Nelly come to terms with this newfound loss. Celine Sciamma's new masterwork examines childhood, memory and loss with a typically delicate touch, elegantly weaved together into an enchanting and moving depiction of love and acceptance.

Show moreShow less

A couple floats over a war-town Cologne; on the way to a birthday party, a father stops to tie his daughter's shoelaces in the pouring rain; teenage girls dance outside a cafe, 'About Endlessness' is a beautiful work which Andersson presents as his final film, a kaleidoscope of all that is

eternally human, an infinite story of the vulnerability of existence.

Show moreShow less

"Final Account" is an urgent portrait of the last living generation of everyday people to participate in Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.

Over a decade in the making, the film raises vital, timely questions about authority, conformity, complicity and perpetration, national identity, and responsibility, as men and women ranging from former SS members to civilians in never-before-seen interviews reckon with - in very different ways - their memories, perceptions and personal appraisals of their own roles in the greatest human crimes in history.

Show moreShow less

An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding. Meiko (Kotone Furukawa) is startled when she realises that the man who her best friend starts to have feelings for is her ex.

Sasaki plots to trick his college professor out of revenge, using his class-friend-with-benefits Nao. Natsuko encounters a woman who seems to be someone from her past, leading the two to confess the feelings they have harboured in their hearts. Three stories about the complexities of relationships, told through coincidences that happen in the lives of women in love.

Show moreShow less

Sidney Poitier stars as Buck, an ex-Union Army Cavalry sergeant who becomes a scout for freed slaves heading to the Colorado frontier. Tagging along with him are his wife (Ruby Dee in a scene-stealing performance) and a Bible-thumping con artist known as the Preacher (Harry Belafonte).

Attacked by racist bounty hunters determined to return the former slaves to a life of sharecropping in Louisiana, Buck and his followers must summon all the courage they have in order to reach their destination and help settle the Wild West.

Show moreShow less

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...

To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you're a Ken (Ryan Gosling).

Show moreShow less

Six characters pursue solitary pleasures... Mr Pivonka builds a chicken costume and throws rocks at an effigy of his neighbour. She humiliates an effigy of him. Meanwhile, the local postwoman rolls pieces of bread up into small balls, which she sucks up her nose and ears.

Mr Beltinsky constructs rolling pin covered in intriguing textures with which to stroke himself, and his newsreader wife reads the news while having her toes sucked by two giant carp. The newsagent, obsessed with Mrs Beltinsky, builds an extension to his television that will embrace him when she appears on screen. A vision of eroticism that is both wryly comic and ineffably surreal.

Inspired by true events, writer/director Jasmila Zbanic's gripping, Oscar-nominated thriller tells the story of a United Nations translator attempting to save the lives of her family, whilst pandemonium and escalating conflict rages around them.

Show moreShow less

A masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo.

When rookie detective Murakami (Toshiro Mifune) has his pistol stolen from his pocket while on a bus, his frantic attempts to track down the thief lead him to an illegal weapons market in the Tokyo Underworld. But the gun has already passed from the pickpocket to a young gangster, and Murakami's gun is identified as the weapon in the shooting of a woman. Murakami, overwhelmed with remorse, turns for help to his older and more experienced senior, Sato (a superb performance by Takashi Shimura). The race is on to find the shooter before he can strike again...