plastic-teaspoon's - Favourites List

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Set in the picture-postcard small town environs of Lumberton, Kyle MacLachlan plays the clean cut Jeffrey Beaumont, who, whilst returning from a visit to his hospitalised father, makes the shocking discovery of a severed human ear.

After reporting his discovery to a local police detective, Jeffrey decides to pursue his own line of enquiry, aided by the detective's daughter, Sandy (Laura Dern). This sets Jeffrey on a voyage of discovery that takes him to the very heart of Lumberton's seedy and sinister underworld where he encounters a collection of misfits whose various chronic compulsions to engulf him in their twisted and nightmarish world.

On the mean streets of Rome, eponymous pimp (Franco Citti) leads a hand-to-mouth existence on the very margins of society: prostituting, scrounging, exploiting. When his prize prostitute Maddalena is arrested and jailed, the pimp's fortunes dwindle, and he is forced to confront his own existence.

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Patrick Keiller's imaginative and highly original film documenting a journey undertaken by the unseen 'researcher' Robinson and his similarly unseen companion, the film's narrator (voiced by Paul Scofield).

Robinson in Space sees Robinson commissioned to undertake a study of the problem of England. Keiller’s immaculately framed images and sly deadpan narration take the viewer on an unpredictable exploration of the cultural and economic landscape.

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Based on Ronald Blythe's acclaimed oral-history book 'Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village', Peter Hall's extraordinary, long-unseen film offers a lyrical yet authentic depiction of British pastoral life.

'Akenfield' tells the story of a farming family who have lived for generations in the bucolic Suffolk village of the film's title. Real-life local farmhand Garrow Shand gives a compelling naturalistic central performance, in three roles, as farmhand Tom Rouse, his father and grandfather - a lineage which has experienced hardship, happiness and love, and struggled with the pressures of mechanisation, two world wars and shifting social mores. A profoundly romantic work of sublime poetic realism, Akenfield boasts compelling performances from its cast of non-professional actors (drawn from the living communities of several Suffolk villages) and a sweeping, rhapsodic orchestral score composed by Michael Tippett (Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli).

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This enchanting comedy of manners follows the newly formed friendship between Jeanne, a philosophy teacher, and Natasha, a music student, who meet by chance at a Paris party.

Through force of circumstance, the young women spend the next few days dividing their time between Natasha's father's city apartment and the family's second home in Fontainbleau. Inspired by the newly blossoming season, the girls' fancies turn to thoughts of love, but their friendship is threatened when Jeanne suspects Natasha of some mischievous matchmaking. 'A Tale of Springtime' is the first in Eric Rohmer's acclaimed series Tales of the Four Seasons'.

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Shot in the summer of 1975 as General Franco lay dying, Saura's masterpiece takes its title from a sinister Spanish proverb: 'Raise ravens and they'll pluck out your eyes'.

A subtle yet unmistakable indictment of the family as a repressive force in Spanish society, 'Cria cuervos' centres on an eight-year-old orphan (the spellbinding Ana Torrent) who believes herself to have poisoned her cold, authoritarian father (Hector Alterio), a high-ranking military man whom she blames for the death of her adored mother (Geraldine Chaplin).

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On holiday in Brittany, Parisian hairdresser Felicie has an idyllic romance that results in the birth of her daughter, Elise. Through a mix-up over her address, she loses touch with Elise's father, Charles, and becomes obsessed with the lost love of her life.

She finds it impossible to settle with another man and wavers between two unsatisfactory relationships, while holding onto the dream that Charles may one day return. The second in Eric Rohmer's 'Tales Of The Four Seasons' series, this charming and wonderfully acted love story has the compelling quality of a fairytale.

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Hollywood 1927. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), it seems the sky's the limit major movie stardom awaits.

The Artist tells the story of their interlinked destinies.

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Sergeant Gerry Boyle is a small-town cop with a confrontational personality, a rebellious sense of humour, a dying mother, a fondness for prostitutes, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in international cocaine smuggling ring that has brought FBI agent Wendell Everett to his door.

However, when his enthusiastic new partner disappears, his favourite hooker attempts to blackmail him and the drug-traffickers themselves try to buy him off, sergeant Boyle finally realises that he needs to take matters into his own hands.

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In this wonderfully affectionate and satirical 1986 film, Italian cinematic maestro Federico Fellini celebrates the legacy of Rogers and Astaire - and sends up tacky television - with this touching tale of two elderly dancers who model themselves on cinema's greatest dance duo, and who reunite

after 30 years for one final TV dance spectacular.

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Look closer at the most talked about film of the year. A funny, moving and shocking journey through life in suburban America. Look closer at fortysomething ad man Lester Burnham and his status-seeking wife, Carolyn, as their marriage and lives slowly unravel.

Lester's wife hates him, his daughter Jane regards him with contempt, and his boss is positioning him for the axe. Look closer as Lester decides to make a few changes in his life; the freer he gets, the happier he gets. But Lester is about to learn that the ultimate freedom comes at the ultimate price. Look closer at an acclaimed cast led by the brilliant performances from Kevin Spacey as Lester and Annette Bening as Carolyn.

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Michael Stone (David Thewlis), a husband, father and successful motivation speaker, is crippled by the mundanity of his life. On yet another business trip he checks into a clinically commonplace hotel once more.

But this time a chance meeting with Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), an unassuming, small-town sales rep, throws the dullness into disarry and Michael feels he may have actually met someone who can make a change. From the mind of Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and animation master Duke Johnson comes "Anomalisa", a tender, touching and achingly funny black comedy, filmed entirely in extraordinary stop motion animation.

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Jacques Rivette's award-winning, critically acclaimed film stars Michel Piccoli in one of his finest performances as an artist who, ten years previously, abandoned his masterpiece entitled 'La Belle Noiseuse' (The Beautiful Troublemaker), a painting of his wife (Jane Birkin).

When he encounters the beautiful and fascinating Marianne (Emmanuelle Beart), he is inspired to return to the unfinished canvas, using her as his new model. But disturbing tensions develop as the work progresses and the reasons for the painting's original rejection begin to surface.

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This delightful comedy is the debut film of director Ivan Passer and a signature work of the Czech New Wave. The film follows two old friends, both musicians, reunited when one returns to the small village where they grew up.

Finding humour in every aspect of ordinary life, the film shows true affection and understanding for all its characters. Addressing the concerns of living in a totalitarian state with a beguiling lightness of touch, and enchantingly shot by Miroslav Ondricek, 'Intimate Lighting' is a subtle and beautifully observed drama of the everyday.

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An upbeat and offbeat comedy, 'Georgy Girl' is a whimsical look at love, featuring great performances by James Mason, Alan Bates and Lynn Redgrave.

Warm, winning and fun-loving Georgy (Redgrave) doesn't like to fit into the swinging London social scene, but yearns for a traditional life and traditional romance. She rooms with the sultry, moody Meredith (Charlotte Rampling), who lives for the moment and the next available man. Currently, that man is Joe (Bates). When Meredith and Joe have a baby, Meredith is indifferent, but Georgy is thrilled and winds up taking care of the baby. Now, radiant with motherly feelings, Georgy suddenly becomes the object of desire of a wealthy widower (Mason) and - Joe!