promessi's - Rented List

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September 16th 2011. The TV news networks, newspapers, blogs, websites and radio stations are all reporting on one story: star author Michel Houellebecq, winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 2010, has been abducted.

For the next few days, the news ripples through literary circles and members of the press, feeding buzz and speculation. A brazen kidnapping? An identity crisis? A plan to escape abroad? A schizophrenic delirium? Partly based on real-life events, blurring the line between fiction and documentary and starring Michel Houellebecq himself, this dark comedy reveals what really happened to the author...

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Described as 'a perfect film' by Susan Sontag, Jean-Luc Godard's compelling fourth feature presents 12 episodes in the life of Nana (wonderfully played by Godard's muse, Anna Karina), a young Parisian who turns to prostitution after becoming disillusioned by poverty and her failing marriage.

Stylistically innovative and boasting several of both the director's and star's most memorable moments, 'Vivre Sa Vie' is an undiminished classic of the French New Wave that is by turns both playful and sad, and which borrows the aesthetics of cinema verite to present a captivating vision of 1960's Parisian street life and pop culture.

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Anand (Kishore Kumar), a Punjabi boy comes from Jalandar to Delhi but is unable to find a place to stay as everywhere he goes people want to give their room only to a person of their caste.

Desperate, Anand masquerades as a Tamilian, Anand Kumaraswamy, and finds a place to stay with a Tamilian family. There he meets the daughter of the South Indian Cultural Association Head, Janki (Vyjayantimala). Romance develops but Anand is unable to reveal his true identity to her. Daulatram Khanna (Nasir Hussain), Anand's father and Janki's father, Subramanyam's (Nana Palsikar) superior, gets transferred to Delhi. Anand's sister Nikki (Jabeen) comes close to Anand's friend, Ashok Banerjee, a Bengali painter who teaches her art. When Daulatram finds out he kicks Ashok out. Anand makes his Tamilian servant Kumaraswamy (Dhoomal) masquerade as his father and they even meet Janki's father to discuss the marriage. But soon they are found out and Daulatram opposes the marriage. Subramanyam too turns against his daughter who tries to kill herself. She is saved by a kindly shop owner (Radhakishen) and passed off as his Punjabi niece, Mohini. Both Subramanyam and Anand are kept in the dark and are convinced Janki is no more. Subramanyam realizes his mistake but sadly he thinks it is too late. Thinking Mohini to be a good Punjabi girl, Anand's family readily agrees to his marriage with her and also fix Nikki's marriage within their community. But the marriage is almost called off when the boy's father demands a huge dowry. It is Ashok who offers his family jewels to Daulatram so that Nikki's marriage can take place. Daulatram's eyes open and he calls off the wedding and marries Nikki to Ashok. The truth about Janki/ Mohini also comes out and now that both the groups have shed their prejudices Anand marries Janki. All's well that ends well.

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When a provincial Italian couple arrives in Rome for a honeymoon, the wife sets off in search of her photo-romance magazine idol, the "White Sheik" (Alberto Sordi), and leaves her husband to wander the streets of the city alone.

When she finds the Sheik and then finds herself alone on a yacht with him, the newlyweds' weekend takes a definite turn for the worse.

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Sachi, Yoshino and Chika are three sisters living happily together in a relaxed seaside town south of Tokyo. When their long-estranged father passes away they meet their shy teenage half-sister at his funeral.

Bonding quickly, they invite the orphaned Suzu to live with them and she eagerly agrees, sparking a journey of self-discovery for all four sisters, looking back into painful pasts in order to reach forward to more hopeful futures.

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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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During the latter part of World War I, Private Charles Plumpick (Alan Bates) is chosen to go into the French town of Marville and disconnect a bomb that the German army has planted.

However, Charles is chased by some Germans and finds himself holed up at the local insane asylum, where the inmates are convinced that he is the "King of Hearts". Feeling obligated to help the inmates, Charles attempts to lead them out of town, but they are afraid to leave and frolic about the streets in gay costumes. Will Charles be able to deactivate the bomb in time and save his newfound friends?

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When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders.

Under Kenji Mizoguchi's dazzling direction, this classic Japanese story became one of cinema's greatest masterpieces, a monumental, empathetic expression of human resilience in the face of evil.

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Rookie cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) grew up in crime. That makes him the perfect mole, the man on the inside of the mob run by boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). It's his job to win Cosello's trust and help his detective handlers (Mark Wahlbery and Martin Sheen) bring Costello down.

Meanwhile, SIU officer Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) has everyone's trust. No one suspects he's Costello's mole. Now these covert lives cross and collide is at the ferocious core of the widely acclaimed The Departed. Martin Scorsese directs, guiding a cast for the ages in a visceral tale of crime and consequences. This is searing, can't-look-away filmmaking: like into the eyes of a con - or a cop - with a gun.

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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A brilliant exploration of the power of movies, Close-Up reconstructs the true story of a cinephile's attempt to become a filmmaker he admires.

Hossein Sabzian introduces himself as celebrated Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and, under the pretext of working on a film project, enters the private life of a well-to-do Teheran family and eventually faces fraud charges.

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Oscar and Golden Globe nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, "Tangerines" is a powerful and eloquent plea for peace and a poignant statement on the futility of violence stemming from racial and ethnic divisions.

Set in 1992, during the growing conflict between Georgia and Abkhazian separatists in the wake of the Soviet Union's dissolution, this compassionate story focuses on two Estonian immigrant farmers who refuse to flee Georgia, staying on to harvest their tangerine crop. When the fighting arrives on his doorstep, Ivo treats two wounded soldiers from opposite sides. During their extended period of convalescence under Ivo's roof, the enemies are forced not only to confront the reasons that fuel their hatred for each other, but also the conflict which rages around them.

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Saul Auslander (Géza Röhrig) is a member of the Sonderkommando, the Jewish prisoners forced to assist in the machinery of the Nazi concentration camps. While at work, he discovers the body of a boy he recognises as his son.

As the Sonderkommando plan a rebellion, Saul vows to carry out an impossible task: to save the child's body from the flames and to find a rabbi to offer the boy a proper burial.

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A man finds himself in love with two women. Paul (Mimi Branescu) is successful and married to Adriana (Mirela Oprisor) but is having an affair with the younger Raluca (Maria Popistasu). In the days leading to Christmas, Paul decides he needs to choose between his two lives.

Radu Muntean's frank, resonant and highly acclaimed film examines the emotional impact of adultery upon its three participants.

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In the 1920s, political activist Jimmy Gralton built a dance hall in rural Ireland. As the hall grew in popularity its free-spirited reputation brought it to the attention of the church and politicians who forced Jimmy to flee and the hall to close.

A decade later, at the height of the Depression, Jimmy returns from the US. The hall stands abandoned but as Jimmy sees the poverty and growing oppression in the village, the leader and activist within him is stirred. He decides to reopen the hall, and so takes on the established authorities of the church and the government.