mwdw's - Rented List

Show moreShow less

Poland, 1990. The winds of change are blowing in Poland. The first euphoric year of freedom, but also of uncertainty for the future. Four apparently happy women of different ages decide it's time to change their lives, fight for their happiness and fulfill their desires.

Agata (Julia Kijowska) is a young mother, trapped in an unhappy marriage, who seeks refuge in another, impossible relationship. Renata (Dorota Kolak) is an older teacher fascinated with her neighbor Marzena (Marta Nieradkiewicz) - a lonely former local beauty queen, whose husband works in Germany. Marzena's sister Iza (Magdalena Cielecka) is a headmistress in love with the father of one of her students.

Show moreShow less

East meets West in the award-winning and critically acclaimed debut feature from director Tony Bui, contrasting the old traditions with modern American influences in the 'new' Vietnam.

As young Kien An (Nguyen Ngoc Hiep) is hired to aid a reclusive spiritual master suffering from leprosy, cyclo driver Hai (Don Doung) falls for a prostitute and enters a race to win enough money for one night with her. Meanwhile, across town, street-wise hustler loses his suitcase of cheap tourist trinkets while helping a former G.I. search for the long-lost daughter he’s never met. Through these four ordinary people’s lives, the hopes and fears of a nation pulling itself out of the cultural and human devastation caused by the controversial war are highlighted with luminous warmth and heart-felt understanding in one of the most beautifully photographed movies of recent times.

Feature follows the exploits of the laconic Taisto, a newly-unemployed Lapland miner who sets off in a Cadillac convertible for a fresh start in Helsinki. Joined in his odyssey by meter maid Irmeli and her young son, Taitso's plans take a series of unexpected turns...

The film follows Asger (Jakob Cedergren), a police officer who enters a race against time when he answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. But soon he realises that he is dealing with a crime that is far bigger than he first thought.

Show moreShow less

This blackly comic minimalist masterpiece stars Kati Outinen as Iiris, a shy and dowdy young woman stuck in a dead-end job on a match factory production line.

She dreams of finding love at the local dancehall, but her attempts are constantly foiled by her selfish parents and the callous behaviour of would-be suitors. Finding herself pregnant after a one-night stand and abandoned by the father, Iiris finally decides the time has come to get even and she begins to plot her revenge.

Show moreShow less

12-year-old gymnast, Tinja (Siiri Solalinna), is desperate to please her image-obsessed mother, whose popular blog presents their family's idyllic existence.

One day, after finding a wounded bird in the woods, Tinja brings its strange egg home, nestles it in her bed, and nurtures it until it hatches. The creature that emerges becomes her closest friend and a living nightmare, plunging Tinja beneath the impeccable veneer of her family and into a twisted reality that her mother refuses to see.

Show moreShow less

Fallen Leaves is a timeless, hopeful and ultimately satisfying love story about two lonely souls' path to happiness - and the numerous hurdles they encounter along the way.

Set in contemporary Helsinki, and shot through with Kaurismaki's typically playful, idiosyncratic style and deadpan humor, this tender romantic tragicomedy is a timely reminder of the potency of movie-going from one of cinema's living legends.

Show moreShow less

During the last desperate days of WWII, a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched-earth retreat in northern Finland. When the Nazis steal his gold, they quickly discover that they have just tangled with no ordinary miner.

While there is no direct translation for the Finnish word "sisu", this legendary ex-commando will embody what sisu means: a white-knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination in the face of overwhelming odds. And no matter what the Nazis throw at him, the one-man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to get his gold back – even if it means killing every last Nazi in his path.

Show moreShow less

When her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) is mysteriously found dead in the snow below their secluded chalet, Sandra (Sandra Hüller) becomes the main suspect when the police begin to question whether he fell or was pushed.

The trial soon becomes not just an investigation, but a gripping psychological journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel's complicated marriage. With conflicting evidence and inconsistent testimony, words are wielded like weapons and shocking truths come to light...

Show moreShow less

Examining the close bond shared by an elderly couple when one of them begins to suffer from an illness, Amour tells a heart-rending story of sacrifice, devotion and the limits that love can drive us to.

Amour is one of the most honest, intimate and deeply affecting portraits of love ever committed to film.

Show moreShow less

Desperate to free herself from a loveless marriage, an Israeli woman named Viviane Amsalem files for divorce from her cruel and manipulative husband. But Israeli law and its Rabbinical court dictates that a divorce can only be granted under the husband's consent.

Determined to obtain her dignity and freedom Viviane finds herself fighting an epic and deeply dramatic psychological battle against a profoundly absurd legal system and her cold and calculating estranged husband.

The stand-out film of the 2011 Berlin Film Festival and winner of the Golden Bear is a suspenseful and intelligent drama that details the manipulations and confrontations brought into play when a couple's marriage painfully breaks down.

Show moreShow less

Ex-con Alex (Johannes Krisch) spends his days working as an assistant in a Viennese brothel. It's here he meets Ukranian prostitute Tamara. Their desperate plans for escape and a new life unexpectedly clash with the the lives of a police office and his wife - with horrific results.

Spielmann creates a tense and surprising portrait of vengeance and redemption, and a journey into the darkest forests of human nature, in which violence and beauty exist side by side.

Show moreShow less

The future looks promising for amateur actors Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) as they prepare for opening night on their production of Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman'.

However, when dangerous work on a neighbouring building forces the couple to leave their home and move into a new apartment, a case of mistaken identity sees a shocking and violent incident throw their lives into turmoil. What follows is a series of wrong turns that threaten to destroy their relationship irreparably. Academy-Award winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) returns with 'The Salesman', a characteristically taut drama exploring how unexpected cracks can form in the foundations of a seemingly happy marriage.

Show moreShow less

This utterly compelling psychological thriller from Michael Haneke - one of cinema's most daring original and controversial directors - stars Daniel Auteuil as Georges, a television presenter who begins to receive mysterious and alarming packages containing covertly filmed videos of himself and his

family. To the mounting consternation of Georges and his wife (Juliette Binoche) the footage on the tapes - which arrive wrapped in drawings of disturbingly violent images - becomes increasingly personal, and sinister anonymous phone calls are made. Convinced he knows the identity of the person responsible, Georges embarks on a rash and impulsive course of action that throws up some unpleasant facts about his past and leads to shockingly unexpected consequences.