maggs's - Rented List

It is the autumn of 1913 and Europe stands on the brink of the war to end all wars. A country house party assembles to celebrate a world that is passing into history; and gunfire in the depths of the English countryside will soon be heard in the killing fields of Flanders.

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On the cusp of turning 40, relentlessly laced into corsets by her exasperated staff, the uptight world of the Austrian monarchy is the last thing Empress Sisi (Vicky Krieps) cares about.

Decadence is far more exciting - so she heads off on a grand trip across Europe to call on old friends (and old flames). But the strings tying her to royal duty continue to tighten, and her attempts to make life more exciting turn into acts of rebellion. A vibrant, refreshingly mischievous take on the period drama with an award-winning lead in Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), 'Corsage' is the stunning, stylish new film from acclaimed director Marie Kreutzer.

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Based on Boris Johnson's tumultuous first months as Prime Minister, 'This England' traces the impact on the country of the first wave of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The drama takes us inside the halls of power, as Johnson (Kenneth Branagh) grapples with Covid-19, Brexit, and a controversial personal and political life. Interwoven are stories from around the country: scientists racing to understand the virus; the doctors, nurses and care-home workers on the frontline; and ordinary people whose lives were thrown into turmoil.

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Winner of numerous festival prizes all over the world, 'When I Saw You' is the second film from the Jordan-based Palestinian film-maker Annemarie Jacir, (and Palestine's 2012 Oscar' entry) and is set in 1967 when thousands of Palestinian refugees fled to camps in Jordan in the wake of the June War.

The 11 year-old Tarek, along with his mother Ghaydaa, has been separated from his father in the general chaos. Stifled and bored in the refugee camp, Tarek goes in search of his father in the forest around and ends up with a group of fedayeen who adopt him as a kind of mascot. Soon his mother arrives too, and they try to make their way home, leaving behind victimhood with a new-found sense of hope and freedom.

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Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Bela Tarr's epic rendering of Laszlo Krasznahorkai's novel, about the decline of Communism in Eastern Europe, is a unique and visionary masterpiece that defies classification and transcends genre.

Set in a struggling Hungarian agricultural collective, a group of lost souls reeling from the collapse of their Communist utopia face an uncertain future, until the arrival of a charismatic stranger in whom they believe lies their salvation. The collective's individual experiences and fates are gradually revealed in Tarr's immaculately composed, brilliantly photographed and bleakly comic tour-de-force, which confirmed his place as one of contemporary cinema's few genuine auteurs.

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Klaus Haro's "The Fencer" is a touching true life drama about Endel Nelis, a young man who arrives in Haapsalu, Estonia, in the early 1950s. Having left Leningrad to escape the secret police, he finds work as a teacher and founds a sports club for his students.

Endel becomes a father figure to his students and starts teaching them his great passion - fencing, which causes a conflict with the school's principal. Envious, the principal starts investigating Endel's background... Endel learns to love the children and looks after them; most are orphans as a result of the Russian occupation. Fencing becomes a form of self-expression for the children and Endel becomes a role model. The children want to participate in a national fencing tournament in Leningrad, and Endel must make a choice; risk everything to take the children to Leningrad or put his safety first and disappoint them.

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The stunning debut from Scottish writer-director Charlotte Wells, 'Aftersun' juxtaposes a hopeful coming-of-age story with a poignant, intimate family portrait that leaves an indelible impression.

At a fading vacation resort in the late 1990's, 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (Paul Mescal). As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender recollections of their last holiday become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father, she knew with the man she didn't, in Charlotte Wells' superb and searingly emotional debut film.

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From writer-director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) comes a unique film starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

Although Padraic (Farrell) and CoIm (Gleeson) have been lifelong friends, they find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, bringing alarming consequences for both of them.

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Laura (Penelope Cruz) and her children travel from Buenos Aires to the small Spanish village where she was born to attend her sister's wedding. Unexpected events soon lead to a crisis that exposes the family's hidden past.

Suspicions mount, loved ones begin to turn on one another, and dark secrets long hidden threaten to come to light, revealing shocking truths.

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To her friends, Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) leads a quiet and routine life. But her happy and upbeat exterior hides a secret double life as a committed environmental activist.

Known to others as "The Mountain Woman", she wages a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry to protect the stunning highland landscape that is under threat. Just as she begins planning her biggest and boldest operation yet, she receives an unexpected letter that will change everything. She will be forced to choose between her environmental crusade and the chance of fulfilling her dream of becoming a mother. Funny, moving and utterly unique, 'Woman at War' follows Halla as she juggles the adoption of a beautiful little girl whilst planning her final act of industrial sabotage.

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Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) runs a dairy farm with her husband in a remote valley of Iceland where they work long hours for a tight income due to their buyers, a money-grubbing monopoly known as the co-op.

However, when Inga's husband tragically dies she learns her debts are even greater than she thought and takes it upon herself not to repay them but to expose the co-op's greed and corruption by any means necessary.

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1950, Korea. At the height of the Korean war, the 7th Infantry Company of the Chinese voluntary army are sent to blow up a bridge, preventing US forces from regrouping at nearby Xingnan Port.

A series of gruelling clashes and a tense battle of wills ensues, with both sides determined to hold their position at any cost, in the harshest weather conditions.

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"Emily" tells the imagined life of one of the world's most famous authors, Emily Brontë. The film stars Emma Mackey as Emily, a rebel and misfit, as she finds her voice and writes the literary classic Wuthering Heights.

"Emily" explores the relationships that inspired her – her raw, passionate sisterhood with Charlotte (Alexandra Dowling) and Anne (Amelia Gething); her first aching, forbidden love for Weightman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and her care for her maverick brother (Fionn Whitehead) whom she idolises. Frances O'Connor makes her directorial debut with "Emily," from her own original screenplay.

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"Maxine" is a true crime drama, which examines the investigation of school assistant Maxine Carr (Jemma Carlton) and her caretaker fiancé Ian Huntley (Scott Reid), who was later imprisoned for the double murder of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the tragic case that shocked the nation.

Viewing their tumultuous relationship through Maxine's perspective; the series explores why she lied for him and how she became public enemy No.1, as well as reflecting the scale of the police investigation and subsequent media frenzy around the biggest manhunt ever seen in British history.

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"Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris" tells a humorously heartwarming tale about a London housecleaner Ada Harris (Lesley Manville), who thinks her lonely life might turn around if she can become the owner of a Christian Dior gown.

Saying goodbye to friends like Archie (Jason Isaacs) won't be easy, and neither will be winning over elite people in Paris from Madame Colbert (Isabelle Huppert) to idealistic accountant André (Lucas Bravo). But Ada's irrepressible charm just might end up saving the whole House of Dior in this uplifting story of how an ordinary woman becomes an extraordinary inspiration by daring to follow her dreams.