plastic-teaspoon's - Favourites List

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Castella is a rich but lonely man. He has built up a successful business but has lost sight of himself, his wife and his family in the process. Clara is a middle-aged actress who lives for the theatre but craves for a family and some security in her life.

Clara teaches English in her spare time and this is how she meets Castella. There is no obvious attraction at first but when he just happens to see her perform in the theatre she triggers something inside him. Castella begins to pursue her aggressively, attempting to break into her social circle and even shaving off his moustache. But it into her social circle and even shaving c is only when he leaves his wife and becomes more considerate and sensitive to the people around him that Clara begins to have feelings for him.

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One fateful evening, Martina, the museum's timid night watchman (and avid film fan) comes to the aid of Amanda, on the run from the police. Martino's dream kingdom of silent movie characters becomes a sanctuary for Amanda, as she awaits rescue by her roguish, car thief boyfriend Angel.

Spellbound by the museum, Amanda develops a surprising romantic connection with Martino, who until now has only found companionship in his celluloid dreams. Torn between newfound feelings for Martino and her troubled relationship with the irresistible Angel, Amanda attempts to balance the affections of her two lovers... and to finally choose between them.

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Fin McBride (Peter Dinklage), a loner with a passion for trains, inherits an abandoned train depot in the middle of nowhere, a place that suits him just fine because all he wants is to be left alone. But that is not to be.

Soon after moving in, he meets Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), a distracted artist, and Joe (Bobby Cannavale), a friendly Cuban with an insatiable hunger for conversation who parks his hot dog truck right next door. With absolutely nothing in common, they find their isolated lives coming together in a friendship none of them could foresee.

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Bergman's masterpiece of self-doubt, identity and eroticism is an audacious example of cinematic art. The notional story centres on newly mute actor Elisabet (Liv Ullmann) recuperating at her coastal holiday home in the care of a nurse, Alma (Bibi Andersson).

As tensions between the pair grow, their very selves seem to blur, chronology becomes uncertain and what is real and unreal loses significance. Yet the true impact of Persona goes beyond mere storytelling, touching, as Bergman said, 'wordless secrets that only the cinema can discover'.

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Marcello Mastroianni is (Fellini's alter ego) Guido, a successful filmmaker who, embarking on his next film, discovers he has a complete "director's block": he has no story to tell! Harassed by his producers, his mistress (Sandra Milo) and his wife (Anouk Aimee), while struggling to find the

inspiration for his film, he increasingly retreats in dreamy recollections of his life and lovers, until fantasy, memories and reality merge in the director's mind - and on screen, in an astonishing, masterful spectacle, culminating in an electrifying triumph of optimism. As Guido-Federico says at the end of 8 1/2: "Life is a party, let's live it together!"

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Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) is an aspiring writer going nowhere fast. Taking a job as a casino croupier just to make ends meet, he finds himself seduced by the high stakes world of luck and chance.

As the job takes over his life and his relationship to girlfriend Marion (Gina McKee) begins to crumble, Jack's attention is caught by down-on-her-luck gambler Jani (Alex Kingston). Under pressure from her creditors, she asks Jack to be the inside man for a planned heist at the casino. It all sounds so easy. But even a pro can't predict the cards he will be dealt.

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This dramatisation of John Le Carre's novel proved a landmark in British Television. It received supreme critical acclaim for the screenplay by Arthur Hopcraft, the star Alec Guiness and the camerawork of Tony Pierce-Roberts.

In Alec Guiness's first major TV role he plays George Smiley, a retired agent who is secretly brought into 'the Circus' (the code name for British Secret Intelligence Service) to root out a top-level mole. Gradually piecing together the story, the weary but determined Smiley trawls through the murky waters of Cold War espionage and his own past.

Curiosity develops into voyeuristic fixation as a young writer Bill (Jeremy Theobald) follows strangers around London to research a novel. After following Cobb (Alex Haw), a well-heeled stranger who is actually a thief, Bill's obsession takes a sinister turn as he is led into a dark underworld.

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At his grandfather's funeral, 30-year-old bachelor businessman Kawachi Daikichi encounters 6 year old Rin, who is shunned by his immediate family.

As he presses his relatives for information, he discovers Rin is the child of his grandfather's mistress, a secret which brought shame on their conservative family. Daikichi doesn't like children, but the cold attitude of his relatives towards her causes Daikichi to reconsider his stance and adopt Rin and raise her as if she were his own daughter. After all, she is blood...and endearingly cute! What kind of clothes to buy her? What to feed her? What to do about nursery school? Daikichi's new life raising a 6-year-old girl is an uninterrupted stream of bewilderment.

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Jep Gambardella, a 65-year-old journalist and once promising novelist, lives his easy life among Rome's decadent high society in a swirl of rooftop parties and late-night soirees.

But when he learns of the death of his friend's wife - a woman he once loved as an 18-year-old - his life is thrown into perspective and he begins to see the world through new eyes...

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1947. A young man, Gaspard Claude (Marc Michel), is convicted for the attempted murder of his wife, although he is innocent of the crime. He is sent to the notorious Sante Prison in Paris and is placed in a cell with four hardened criminals.

The latter have decided to escape from the prison by digging their way out of their cell. Reluctantly, they take Gaspard into their confidence and labour digging their way out of their cell. Then, just when escape appears certain, Gaspard is called away to see the prison governor...

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After serial burglar Maurice Faugel (Serge Reggiani) is released from his latest stint behind bars, he quickly returns to his criminal ways and plans a robbery with Silien (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Rémy (Philippe Nahon).

After murdering an old associate in retaliation for the killing of his former girlfriend, Maurice becomes racked with suspicion and distrust of everyone around him amid rumours that Silien has become a police informant. When Maurice and Rémy carry out a robbery of their own, the police quickly close in on them and Maurice begins to unravel the deadly web of deceit that has formed around him.

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Martin Scorsese directs this true story of New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). From the American dream to corporate greed, Belfort goes from penny stocks and righteousness to IPOs and a life of corruption in the late 80s - earning him the title "The Wolf of Wall Street". Money.

Power. Women. Drugs. Temptations were for the taking and the threat of authority was irrelevant. For Jordan and his wolf pack, more was never enough.

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The third part in Eric Rohmer's 'Tales of the Four Seasons', charts the summer vacation of Gaspard, a young man who claims nothing ever happens in his life. But one summer, he discovers that nothing could be further from the truth.

In Dinard, a seaside resort in rural Brittany, Gaspard becomes romantically entangled with three beautiful young women: his classmate Lena, waitress Margot, and the outgoing Solene, whom he meets at a party. As the girls' patience with him begins to wear thin, a confused Gaspard must make the difficult choice between them.

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This stylish black-comedy thriller stars Ralph Fiennes as Harry, a vicious London crime-boss, who send his two hit-men to the picturesque Belgian City of Bruges - to lay low and wait for orders.

While Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is happy just to sight see (!), his fast-talking partner, Ray (Colin Farrell) sets out for an adventure. Before long, Ray is experiencing hilariously surreal encounters with tourists, skinheads, dwarves and prostitutes! When, at last, the call comes from Harry, the fun turns to a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions.