jwc's - Rented List
-
Winner of numerous awards including an Oscar for best foreign film, Belle Epoque is a sensual, uninhibited comedy starring Penelope Cruz. Set in a sun-drenched Spanish countryside of 1931, the film tells the story of Fernando, a deserter from the war who is befriended and given shelter by an amiable artist. When his hosts four beautiful daughters arrive a classic farce ensues as Fernando is seduced by one amorous sister after the other in this funny, sexy and heart-warming celebration of love and desire. - Director:
- Fernando Trueba
- Cast:
- Fernando Fernán Gómez, Jorge Sanz, Penélope Cruz
- Formats:
-
-
Although Dido Elizabeth Belle (Mbatha-Raw) an 18th century English woman of mixed race, is raised in privilege by her aristocratic great-uncle (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), she is denied a proper social standing because of her skin colour. But when Dido falls in love with a young idealist lawyer (Sam Reid) who aspires to create positive change, she finds herself caught between two worlds. With everything to lose, she struggles to convince those around her - and the society in which she lives - to overcome their biases and accept her fully. Only if she succeeds will she find true happiness in this exquisite masterpiece that also stars Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton and Matthew Goode. - Director:
- Amma Asante
- Cast:
- Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson
- Formats:
-
-
Wareen Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) has arrived at several of life's crossroads all at the same time. To begin with, he is retiring from a lifetime of service as an actuary for Woodmen of the World Insurance Company, and he feels utterly adrift. Furthermore, his only daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis) is about to marry a boob. And his wife Helen (June Squibb) dies suddenly after 42 years of marriage. With no job, no wife, and no family, Warren is desperate to find something meaningful in his thoroughly unimpressive life. He sets out on journey of self-discovery, exploring his roots across Nebraska in the 35-foot motor home in which he planned to drive around the country with his late wife. - Director:
- Alexander Payne
- Cast:
- Jack Nicholson, Angela Lansbury, Hope Davis
- Formats:
-
-
Our Father (2002)Abouna
Set in Haroun's native Chad, the sensuous Abouna begins with the striking image of a man in Western dress crossing a desert in the Southern Sahara. The man, who pauses briefly to powerfully stare down the camera lens, is the father of 15 year-old Tahir (Ahidjo Mahamat Moussa) and Tahir's eight-year-old brother Amine (Hamza Moctar Aguid). After being told by their beautiful mother (Zara Haroun) that he has left them, the two brothers undertake a momentous journey in an attempt to fill the void left by his absence. - Director:
- Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
- Cast:
- Ahidjo Mahamat Moussa, Hamza Moctar Aguid, Zara Haroun
- Formats:
-
-
When Maire O'Donnell adopts Tomas, a shy 8 year old orphan, she brings him home to Corrie, a remote island off the coast of Ireland where he meets her husband Alec. Alec can't hide his disappointment at Tomas' timidity and halting speech, but undiscouraged, Maire shares with Tomas the secret of the seals and teaches him that you can find magic anywhere - if you really look. In this rugged and enchanting world, Tomas thrives, but when tragedy strikes, he is faced with his greatest challenge, for he'll lose everything unless he can find - and share -the magic that's inside him. This is a magical tale about the power of love, finding acceptance, discovering ourselves, and realizing that rainbows are all around us - and within us too. - Director:
- Vic Sarin
- Cast:
- Connie Nielsen, Aidan Quinn, John Bell
- Formats:
-
-
Judy Holliday gives an unforgettable, Oscar-winning performance as Billie Dawn, the 'dumb blonde' girlfriend of corrupt millionaire junkyard tycoon Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford). A man with social ambitions, Harry is embarrassed by Billie's uncouth behaviour and lack of social refinement, so he sends her on a crash course in culture with young journalist Paul Verrall (William Holden). Billie proves to be an able student in lessons of life and love, whilst also becoming all too aware of her partner's crooked business dealings. Emboldened by her new education, she stands up to Harry and his bad ways. - Director:
- George Cukor
- Cast:
- Judy Holliday, William Holden, Broderick Crawford
- Formats:
-
-
Stalin Is Dead! And with The Soviet Union's top job now up for grabs, the men in Stalin's council are about to enter an 'interview' process unlike any other. With the prospect of absolute authority over the nation within grasp, in the days that follow, devious plotting and farcical backs tabbing are fair play, and one man will emerge with supreme power over the USSR. The question is: who? - Director:
- Armando Iannucci
- Cast:
- Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor
- Formats:
-
-
1900 (1976)Novecento
It is turn-of-the-century Italy, and in the summer of 1900 two children are born in the rich agricultural countryside in the region of Emilia. Olmo Dalco (Gerard Depardieu) is the bastard son of a family of farmworkers and Alfredo Berlinghieri (Robert De Niro) is heir to a wealthy family of landowners. Although they come from two different worlds, a friendship develops that will endure the sweeping changes of the 20th century. - Director:
- Bernardo Bertolucci
- Cast:
- Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda
- Formats:
-
-
Goodbye Lenin! (2003)Good Bye Lenin!
The year is 1989 and East and West Germany are still divided. Alex (Daniel Brhl) and his sister Ariane (Maria Simon) live in East Germany with their single mother, Christiane (Katrin Sass) who is a staunch Socialist. When Alex's mother witnesses his arrest on a protest march, she suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma for eight months, just enough time for the Berlin wall to come tumbling down along with all of East Germany's ideals. Eight months later, Christiane wakes up and things have changed. The doctors warn Alex that any shock could bring on a fatal heart attack. He then realises he must convince his mother that her beloved Communism has not been overthrown but is in fact triumphing over Capitalism. Alex then sets out to recreate every detail of the old East inside the four walls of their tiny council flat... what begins as a little white lie, soon turns into a major deception! - Director:
- Wolfgang Becker
- Cast:
- Daniel Brühl, Andreas Thieck, Katrin Sass
- Formats:
-
-
When her mother falls ill under mysterious circumstances, young Eve (Fantine Harduin) is sent to live with her estranged father's wealthy relatives in Calais. But trouble is brewing, as a series of intergenerational back-stabbings threaten to tear the family apart. Meanwhile, distracted by infidelities and betrayals, they fail to notice that their new arrival has a sinister secret of her own. - Director:
- Michael Haneke
- Cast:
- Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz
- Formats:
-
-
Sully (2016)Sully: Miracle on the Hudson
On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed the 'Miracle on the Hudson' when Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and his co-pilot (Aaron Eckhart) glided their disabled plane onto the icy waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and his career. - Director:
- Clint Eastwood
- Cast:
- Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney
- Formats:
-
-
With the integrity and depth of an epic, Shenandoah tells the dramatic story of a man caught in a dilemma. James Stewart stars as a Virginia farmer during the Civil War. He refuses to support the Confederacy because he is opposed to slavery, yet he will not support the Union because he is deeply opposed to war. When his son is taken prisoner, Stewart goes to search for the boy. Seeing first-hand the horrors of war, he is at last forced to take his stand. - Director:
- Andrew V. McLaglen
- Cast:
- James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett
- Formats:
-
-
Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen) is a man so introverted and insecure that he has developed the ability to blend perfectly into the background of any given situation, regardless of the personality or even ethnicity of the people around him. But when he inadvertently becomes famous as "the human chameleon" after the media takes too keen an interest in his therapy sessions with Dr. Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow), Zelig is faced with an unprecedented challenge: how do you fade into the background when the spotlight is firmly upon you? - Director:
- Woody Allen
- Cast:
- Woody Allen, Ed Herlihy, Mia Farrow
- Formats:
-
-
"Primer" is set in the industrial park/suburban tract-home fringes of an unnamed contemporary city where two young engineers, Abe (David Sullivan) and Aaron (Shane Carruth), are members of a small group of men who work by day for a large corporation while conducting extracurricular experiments on their own time in a garage. While tweaking their current project, a device that reduces the apparent mass of any object placed inside it by blocking gravitational pull, they accidentally discover that it has some highly unexpected capabilities - ones that could enable them to do and to have seemingly anything they want. Taking advantage of this unique opportunity is the first challenge they face. Dealing with the consequences is the next. - Director:
- Shane Carruth
- Cast:
- Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden
- Formats:
-
-
The acclaimed new film tells the startlingly original and brutally honest story of 15 year-old Mia, brilliantly played by winner Katie Jarvis. A feisty and fiercely independent outsider, Mia is ostracised from her friends and lives uneasily with her volatile mother (Kierston Wareing) in a tough Essex estate from which she longs to escape. But the unexpected arrival of her mother's handsome and charismatic new boyfriend (Michael Fassbender) sparks a catalogue of events that threaten to turn Mia's world upside down. - Director:
- Andrea Arnold
- Cast:
- Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender, Kierston Wareing
- Formats:
-