rco's - Favourites List
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Capernaum (2018)Capharnaüm / Chaos
Forced to live by his wits in order to survive, Zain's life in Beirut reaches a turning point when his parents make an unforgiveable deal that will see his younger sister (Haita 'Cedra' Izzam) married off. Left distraught by this terrible turn of event he takes to the road and whilst looking for work at a fairground, befriends a young woman who is working as a cleaner and helps to look after her adorable baby Jonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole). Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) and Jonas form a touching bond but things are about to get much more complicated when a set of circumstances force Zain to make choices that will have huge ramifications. 'Capernaum' is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit - a battle cry for the forgotten, the unwanted and the lost that offers hope in the most unexpected of places. - Director:
- Nadine Labaki
- Cast:
- Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole
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So Long, My Son (2019)Di jiu tian chang
Wang Xiaoshuai's deeply moving and intimate drama traces the lives of two interconnected families over three decades of social and political upheaval in China. The film charts the fortunes of factory workers Liyun (Yong Mei) and Yaojun (Wang Jingchun), a couple reeling from a devastating family tragedy during the tumultuous years between the 1980's and the 21st century. Constricted by the one-child national policy, their lives are gradually transformed under the impact of the country's changing identity, building to a heartbreaking revelation that exposes how political reality affects the fates of the family and the people around them. A cleverly poetic depiction of communist China, 'So Long, My Son' is a sprawling yet personal portrait of human resilience, featuring incredibly tender and award-winning performances from Mei and Jingchun. - Director:
- Xiaoshuai Wang
- Cast:
- Liya Ai, Jiang Du, Zhao-Yan Guo-Zhang
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A Man Called Ove (2015)En man som heter Ove
Based on the international bestselling novel by Fredrik Backman and nominated for 2 Oscars (including Best Foreign Language Film), 'A Man Called Ove' is a heartwarming tale of unreliable first impressions and a wonderful reminder that life is sweeter when it's shared. An ageing retiree with strict principles and a short fuse, Ove (Rolf Lassgard) is the quintessential angry old man next door. Having entirely given up on life, his days are spent in a constant monotony of enforcing housing association rules and visiting his wife Sonja's gravesite. But when a boisterous young family moves into the neighbourhood, immediately incurring his wrath, things take an unexpected turn. Pregnant Parvaneh (Bahar Pars) and her lively children are the complete antithesis of what ill-tempered Ove thinks he needs -and yet, from this inauspicious beginning an unlikely friendship blooms and Ove's past happiness and heartbreaks come to light. - Director:
- Hannes Holm
- Cast:
- Rolf Lassgård, Bahar Pars, Filip Berg
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Set in 1825, Clare (Aisling Franciosi), a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer (Sam Claflin) through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of Aboriginal tracker Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past. - Director:
- Jennifer Kent
- Cast:
- Aisling Franciosi, Jeremy Ambrum, Baykali Ganambarr
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Fourteen-year-old Tyler (Conrad Khan) attends a pupil referral unit, where he is isolated and bullied. At home he must look after his younger sister Aliyah (Tabitha Milne-Price) while his mother, Toni (Ashley Madekwe), works nights. When the preoccupied and exhausted Toni loses her job, she thrusts the family into a desperate financial situation, leaving Tyler vulnerable to a 'recruiter' who targets children to promote a drug-dealing enterprise out of the city. This powerful drama about a mother and her son who is groomed into a lethal nationwide drugs network - a 'county line' - is inspired by Henry Blake's first-hand experience as a youth worker on the frontline of child exploitation and drug trafficking in the UK. - Director:
- Henry Blake
- Cast:
- Harris Dickinson, Ashley Madekwe, Conrad Khan
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Bacurau (2019)Nighthawk
"Bacurau" is a wild, genre-blending siege thriller from Kleber Mendonga Filho (Aquarius, Neighbouring Sounds) and Juliano Dornelles. Set in the remote back-country of Brazil, it follows a tight-knit village community's bloody and brutal fight for its own survival. With unforgettable turns from Udo Kier and Sonia Braga, this is an audacious, original and spectacularly violent blend of neo-Western, revenge thriller and political allegory. - Director:
- Juliano Dornelles
- Cast:
- Barbara Colen, Thomas Aquino, Silvero Pereira
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The Ciambra (2017)A Ciambra
In 'The Ciambra', a small Romani community in Calabria, Pio Amato is desperate to grow up fast. At 14, he drinks, smokes and is one of the few to easily slide between the regions' factions - the local mafias, the African immigrants and his fellow Romani. Pio follows his older brother Cosimo everywhere, learning the necessary skills for life on the streets of their hometown. When Cosimo disappears and things start to go wrong. Pio sets out to prove he's ready to step into his big brother's shoes and in the process he must decide if he is truly ready to become a man. Filmed with participants from the local community, 'The Ciambra' offers an immersion in a world rarely seen on screen, with a level of emotion and energy captured by a unique cinematic language. - Director:
- Jonas Carpignano
- Cast:
- Pio Amato, Iolanda Amato, Koudous Seihon
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Theodore Decker is 13 years old when his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The tragedy changes the course of his life, sending him on a stirring odyssey of grief and guilt, reinvention and redemption, and even love. Through it all, he holds on to one tangible piece of hope from that terrible day... a painting of a tiny bird chained to its perch. - Director:
- John Crowley
- Cast:
- Oakes Fegley, Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman
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Honeyland (2019)Medena Zemja
In a deserted Macedonian village, Hatidze, a 50-something woman, trudges up a hillside to check her bee colonies nestled in the rocks. Serenading them with a secret chant, she gently manoeuvres the honeycomb without netting or gloves. Back at her homestead, Hatidze tends to her handmade hives and her bedridden mother, occasionally heading to the capital to market her wares. One day, an itinerant family installs itself next door, and Hatidze's peaceful kingdom gives way to roaring engines, seven shrieking children, and 150 cows. Yet Hatidze welcomes the camaraderie, and she holds nothing back - not her tried-and-true beekeeping advice, not her affection, not her special brandy. But soon Hussein, the itinerant family's patriarch, makes a series of decisions that could destroy Hatidze's way of life forever. - Director:
- Tamara Kotevska
- Cast:
- Hatidze Muratova, Nazife Muratova, Hussein Sam
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Woman at War (2018)Kona fer í stríð
To her friends, Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) leads a quiet and routine life. But her happy and upbeat exterior hides a secret double life as a committed environmental activist. Known to others as "The Mountain Woman", she wages a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry to protect the stunning highland landscape that is under threat. Just as she begins planning her biggest and boldest operation yet, she receives an unexpected letter that will change everything. She will be forced to choose between her environmental crusade and the chance of fulfilling her dream of becoming a mother. Funny, moving and utterly unique, 'Woman at War' follows Halla as she juggles the adoption of a beautiful little girl whilst planning her final act of industrial sabotage. - Director:
- Benedikt Erlingsson
- Cast:
- Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, Jóhann Sigurðarson, Juan Camillo Roman Estrada
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When Josey Aimes returns to her hometown in Northern Minnesota after a failed marriage, she needs a good job. A single mother with two children to support, she turns to the predominant source of employment in the region - the iron mines. It's an industry long dominated by men, in a place unaccustomed to change. She is prepared for the back-breaking and often dangerous work, but coping with the harassment she and the other female miners encounter from their male co-workers proves far more challenging. Based on the true story of the first sexual harassment lawsuit in the US. Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek, Woody Harrelson and Sean Bean co-star in this emotionally explosive true story. All she wanted was to make a living. Instead she made history. - Director:
- Niki Caro
- Cast:
- Charlize Theron, Jeremy Renner, Frances McDormand
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Of Horses and Men (2013)Hross í oss
Winner of the Best New Director award at the San Sebastian Film Festival, Benedikt Erlingsson's critically acclaimed debut feature 'Of Horses and Men' is a darkly comic country romance about the human streak in the horse and the horse in the human. Set in the stunning Icelandic countryside, love, death and sex become interlaced in this playful, affectionate yet unflinching portrait of a remote valley community as seen from the horses' perspective. - Director:
- Benedikt Erlingsson
- Cast:
- Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Charlotte Bøving, Steinn Ármann Magnússon
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From writer-director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) comes a unique film starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Although Padraic (Farrell) and CoIm (Gleeson) have been lifelong friends, they find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, bringing alarming consequences for both of them. - Director:
- Martin McDonagh
- Cast:
- Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon
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Down on her luck and saddled with debt, Emily (Aubrey Plaza) takes a shady gig buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi). Seduced by the quick cash and illicit thrills, they hatch a plan to take their business to the next level, ultimately leading to dangerous consequences. - Director:
- John Patton Ford
- Cast:
- Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi, Bernardo Badillo
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When a daydreaming but discontented young teacher is posted to a school in Lunana, a remote village high in the Himalayan mountains, he is disheartened to find a simple yak herding community lacking basic amenities such as electricity or even a blackboard in the classroom. But the enthusiasm of his young students and the unassuming warmth of the village folk buoy his spirits and he must decide whether to return to the city before the gruelling winter sets in or remain in this strange and captivating land. Beautifully photographed in extraordinary mountain locations, this poetic and enchanting drama earned Bhutan the country's first ever Oscar nomination and gives a fascinating insight into a region largely uncharted on screen. - Director:
- Pawo Choyning Dorji
- Cast:
- Sherab Dorji, Ugyen Norbu Lhendup, Kelden Lhamo Gurung
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