promessi's - Rented List

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A satirical, subversive, surreal and irreverent story of rebellion, Vera Chytilova's classic film is arguably the most adventurous and anarchic Czech movie of the 1960's.

Two young women, both named Marie, revolt against a degenerate and decayed society by attacking symbols of wealth and bourgeois culture in hilarious and mind-warpingly innovative ways. Defiant feminist statement? Nihilistic, avant-garde comedy? Refreshingly uncompromising, Daisies is a riotous, punk-rock poem of a film that remains a cinematic enigma and continues to provoke, stimulate and entertain audiences and influence filmmakers even today.

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The friendship between two girls is tested to its absolute limits in this utterly compelling drama set in the twilight years of Communist-era Romania. Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), young and naive, is pregnant.

She turns to her more pragmatic room mate Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) for help and a meeting is arranged in a downtown hotel with the shady Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov). Entering a dangerous and illegal underworld where the stakes are high and nothing is as it seems, the girls are set for a life-changing experience that neither will ever forget.

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Oppressed by her family setting, dead-end school prospects and the boys law in the neighbourhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her style, and quits school to be accepted in the gang, hoping that this will be a way to freedom.

As she falls further under their gang lifestyle, she begins to make foolish choices that could impact her life forever.

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"Watch them closely, for these are the last hours of their lives," announces a narrator, foretelling the tragedy that unfolds as a war-ravaged company of Home Army resistance fighters tries to escape the Nazi onslaught through the sewers of Warsaw.

Determined to survive, the men and women slog through the hellish labyrinth, piercing the darkness with the strength of their individual spirits. Based on true events, Kanal was the first film ever made about the Warsaw Uprising and brought director Andrzej Wajda to the attention of international audiences, earning the Special Jury Prize in Cannes in 1957.

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Millionaire's wife Raffaella is a loathsome woman who used to getting exactly what she wants.

On Holiday aboard a private yacht in the Mediterranean with group of friends and bored of lounging around and playing cards, she demands that the deckhand Gennarino takes her to nearby island to go swimming. When the motor on the boat dies, the two end up stranded and drifting, finally coming to rest on a desolate beach. Stuck on a deserted island and now having to rely on Gennarino for food and shelter, the relationship shifts. With her fortune now counting for nothing, Raffaella has to cope with this reversal of power in order to survive.

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Clelia (Eleonora Rossi-Drago) embarks from Rome to set up a fashion-salon in Torino.

Shortly after arrival, she finds herself caught up in the (melo) dramas of a bourgeoise circle of acquaintances (including the iconic Valentina Cortese), and their attendant attempts at suicide, their class prejudices, and the romantic alliances that threaten to transform the social clique into an emotional tar-pit.

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Paola (Lucia Bose) is a strikingly beautiful young woman married to a rich older industrialist who decides to have her past investigated. The detective's enquiry reaches Paola's former lover, Guido (Massimo Girotti), prompting him to seek her after seven years, and they reignite their passion.

Antonioni, who defined cool modernism on screen, chronicles the love affair, observing without judgement.

Peter Willems, a disreputable, immoral man is on the run from a scandal in Makassar. He finds refuge in a hidden native village, only to betray his benefactors over his desire for the tribal chief's daughter.

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Widely misunderstood and shamefully denigrated at the time of its original release, but now recognised as not simply one of Rossellini's greatest films but as one of the key works of modern cinema, 'Journey to Italy' is a deceptively simple piece.

There is little plot to speak of: a marriage is breaking up under the strains of a trip to Italy, and we watch. But in its deliberate rejection of many aspects of 'classic' Hollywood narrative and its stubborn pursuit of a quite different aesthetic, its meandering story line creates space for ideas and time for reflection.

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In the acclaimed new film by Abderrahmane Sissako (Bamako) the people of the Malian city, Timbuktu, struggle against an oppressive regime of terror inflicted upon them by invading Jihadists who prohibit every enjoyable indulgence of life.

Meanwhile, Kidane lives a peaceful life in the nearby dunes, but when he has an altercation with a neighbour the extremists take it upon themselves to deliver their brand of draconian justice.

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In 1930s Korea, during Japanese occupation, Sookee (Tae-ri Kim) is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life on an enchanting and lavish estate with her domineering uncle.

Yet Sookee has a secret, she has been recruited by a swindler posing as an illustrious Count to spy on the Lady so he can eventually seduce her and steal her fortune. However, this swindler is not the only one with a desire to seduce.

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Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and Boris (Aleksey Rozin) are going through a vicious divorce marked by resentment, frustration and recriminations.

Already embarking on new lives, each with a new partner, they are impatient to start again, to turn the page - even if it means threatening to abandon their 12-year-old son Alyosha (Matvey Novikov). Until, after witnessing one of their fights, Alyosha disappears.

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Regarded by many as the world's finest director, and renowned for his exact, formalist style, Yasujiro Ozu made his first film in 1927 and went on to direct 55 films before his death in 1963.

It was only during his final years, however, that his genius as a film-maker was recognised in the West alongside such contemporaries as Bunuel, Bergman and fellow countryman Kurosawa. Early Summer (1951) further explores Noriko's relationship with her family, and examines her role as a modern woman in a traditional society.

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Two best friends who grew up together in an orphanage are emotionally reunited after years apart. Voichita has taken religious orders while Alina wants them to both relocate to a new life of freedom in Germany.

While staying together in Voichita's remote and austere nunnery their relationship and sexuality begin to tear apart the tight-knit fabric of the sect, resulting in a terrifying act that would send a shockwave through the church.

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Marina Vidal's life is thrown into turmoil following the sudden death of her partner, Orlando. Met with suspicion from the police and contempt from her lover's relatives. As tensions rise between her and Orland's family, she is evicted from their shared home and banned from attending his funeral.

But faced with the threat of losing everything, Marina finds the strength to fight back. Sebastián Lelio returns with a groundbreaking, deeply humane and Oscar-winning story about a trans woman's fight for acceptance. Anchored by a powerhouse performance from rising star Daniela Vega, 'A Fantastic Woman' is an urgent call for compassion.