promessi's - Rented List

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When college nostalgia inspires a group of middle-aged businessmen to match-make for the widow - played with measured dignity by Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story) - of one of their friends and her daughter, they have no idea of the strife their careless interference will cause.

Late Autumn's examination of familial upheaval moves effortlessly from comedy to pathos and is amongst the finest of legendary director Yasujiro Ozu's post-war films.

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Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen) is an orthopterist who is seemingly firmly in control of her partner Evelyn (Chiara D'Anna) through a strict, dictatorial fetish life behind closed doors.

But as Evelyn's requests to be dominated become increasingly extreme the true nature of their relationship begins to surface. A story about power and the exploration of discomfort that people will stretch to for the ones they love, told in mesmerisingly coruscating style by one of Britain's finest contemporary auteurs, Peter Strickland.

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Eva (Swinton) puts her ambitions and career aside to give birth to Kevin, but the relationship between mother and son is difficult from the very first years.

When Kevin is 15, he does something irrational and unforgivable in the eyes of the community, leaving Eva grappling with her own feelings of grief and responsibility. Did she ever love her son? And how much of what Kevin did was her fault?

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Morvern Callar (Samantha Morton) is a 21 year old supermarket worker from a small port town in the west of Scotland. Morvern believes that life is something that you get on with as best you can with what you've got.

one morning, Morvern finds that what she's got is a dead boyfriend on the kitchen floor...

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From Marcel Carne, a comic masterpiece set in England circa 1900. Unassuming botanist Irvin Molyneux hides a dark secret: he writes lurid novels using the pseudonym Felix Chapel.

His cousin, the Bishop of Bedford, Archibald Soper condemns the books (without realising a family member has written them) and invites himself to the Molyneux house for dinner. Panic ensues as the cook has walked out leaving Irvin's wife to act like the cook to avoid social ignominy. When Irvin can't explain his wife's absence the Bishop assumes he has killed her and calls Scotland Yard and the newspaper reporters. The Molyneux' escape to a cheap local hotel where psychopath William Kramps is holed up: he being a specialist in killing butchers and blaming novelist Felix Chapel for turning him into a killer and vowing to murder him. Molyneux returns to his home to attend to his houseplants, a big mistake as Kramps is waiting in the living room...

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Set in Glasgow in the 1970s, 'Ratcatcher' is seen through the eyes of twelve-year-old James Gillespie (William Eadie), a young boy haunted by a secret.

Feeling increasingly distant from his family, his only escape comes with the discovery of a new housing development on the outskirts of town where he has the freedom to lose himself in his own world. Enticed by a gang of older boys, James is thrown together with vulnerable fourteen-year-old Margaret Anne (Leanne Mullen) and the pair strike up an unlikely friendship which becomes their hesitant but touching experience of first love...

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Detective Inspector Martineau (Stanley Baker) is tough, hardworking and one of Manchester's top policemen.

So when Martineau hears of a jailbreak involving ruthless criminal and jewel thief Don Starling (John Crawford), whom he helped to put away, he is convinced Starling will come back to Manchester for one last heist. But when a simple robbery turns to murder, Martineau is on the case, obsessed with catching Starling, his pursuit consumes all parts of his life. But Starling won't be caught easily, and will go to any lengths not to go back to jail, whatever the price...

Focusing on four families working and living on the farm of a landowner in the Bergamo region of northern Italy, Ermanno Olmi presents a year in their lives, charting their daily activities and the natural flow of existence: birth, marriage, death, and the trials and tribulations in between.

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As part of a job that he is promised, Xavier (Romain Duris), an economics student in his twenties, signs on to a European exchange programme to gain a working knowledge of the Spanish language.

Promising that they'll remain close, he says farewell to his loving girlfriend (Amelie's Audrey Tautou), then heads to Barcelona. An English girl (Kelly Reilly) and her brother (Kevin Bishop), a young woman from Belgium (Cecile de France), an Italian, a boy from Denmark, a German and a girl from Tarragona all join him in a series of adventures that serve as an initiation to life.

Gerard Depardieu stars as the hapless Alphonse who, through a chance meeting with a total stranger, is drawn into a surreal universe of bizarre logic and black humour.

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Romeo (Adrian Titieni), a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza (Maria-Victoria Dragus) with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study abroad in the UK.

But on the day before Eliza's first entrance exam to university, she is assaulted in an attack which threatens to jeopardise her entire future. Now Romeo has a decision to make: there are ways of solving her predicament, but not without betraying the moral principles that he, as a father, has taught Eliza throughout her life.

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Melodrama is a word rarely associated with Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, whose beautifully constructed films capture the poetry of everyday life. Spanning his career, this collection demonstrates the director's ability to apply his exquisite style to darker themes.

Woman of Tokyo (1933)
This silent drama sees Ozu experimenting with the cutaways that would become so associated with his later style. Chikako (Yoshiko Okada) works hard to pay her brother Ryoichi's (Ureo Egawa) college fees, but disaster looms when he learns the true nature of her work.
Early Spring (1956)
Made after 'Tokyo Story' (1953), 'Early Spring' focuses on the problems of young salaried workers. Shoji (Rye Ikebe) and his wife Masako (Chikage Awashima), struggle with a family tragedy. When Shoji's interest turns to the office flirt, the couple's fragile peace is threatened.
Tokyo Twilight (1957)
Ozu's last black and white film is a masterpiece of atmospheric chiaroscuro. Abandoned by their mother, sisters Akiko (Ineko Arima) and Takako (Setsuko Hara) live with their father Shukichi (Chishu Ryu). When Akiko falls into desperate trouble, she turns away from her family.

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Winner of the 1952 Venice Film Festival silver lion award, Kenji Mizoguchi's tragic tale, set in the 17th Century, of a young noblewoman's fall from grace established his reputation as one of Japan's greatest directors.

Kinuyo Tanaka stars as O-Haru, a beautiful courtesan who surrenders to her passion for a commoner, played by Toshiro Mifune. As punishment, she and her parents are banished into exile where O-Haru desperately attempts to escape her past. A compelling and powerful critique of feudal Japan as seen through the eyes of a woman, 'The Life of O-Haru' portrays the human dramas and historical settings with unflinching realism and atmospheric detail, demonstrating Mizoguchi's complete mastery of the medium.

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Based on the profoundly moving true story that captured the world's attention. 'The Sea Inside' is about Spaniard Ramon Sampedro (Javier Bardem), who fought a 30-year campaign to win the right to end his life with dignity.

The story also explores Ramon's relationships with two women and his ability to inspire them through his gift of love. A truly joyous experience, 'The Sea Inside' celebrates the nature of freedom and love, and the mystery and beauty of life.

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In this ravishing tale of romantic obsession, loneliness and friendship, Director Pedro Almodovar crafts a life affirming story of two tragic women and the men who love them. After a chance encounter at a theatre, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet at a private clinic where Benigno works.

Lydia, Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession, has been injured and is gravely ill. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in the clinic, Alicia, a young ballet student. The lives of the four characters will flow in all directions, past, present and future, urging them towards an unexpected destiny.