ryan-the-american's - Rented List

In Spike Lee's dramatic and explosive treatment, Denzel Washington stars as controversial black activist, Malcolm X. From an early life as a pimp and drug-pusher, he became the leading voice of America's black consciousness, feted by some as a visionary and despised by others as a dangerous radical.

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Alexander Mackendrick's last Ealing comedy and certainly one of the best, William Rose received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Sir Alec Guinness stars in one of his most vivid disguises, in this killingly funny black comedy gem.

The villains plot to kill the old lady who discovers their robbery. But the pensioner is not as harmless as she seems! A rare colour film from Ealing in the '50s, it was premiered in 1955 at the end of the Ealing Green period.

James Caan is Frank, a jewel thief and former convict looking to settle down with his girlfriend (Tuesday Weld) and begin a family. But when his 'fence' is thrown from a window and the Chicago mafia begin to flex their muscles, his hopes of a quiet life become anything but...

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The story of family grief and bereavement. Psychiatrist Giovanni (Nanni Moretti) lives happily with his family in a small Italian coastal town.

One Sunday he is due to spend time with his son Andrea (Giuseppe Sanfelice), when he receives an anguished call from Oscar (Silvio Orlando), one of his patients, and feels he must go and see him instead; however later that afternoon Andrea accidentally drowns in a diving accident. Over the following weeks, Giovanni, his wife Paola (Laura Morante), and daughter Irene (Jasmine Trinca), remain shell-shocked with grief; with Giovanni suspending his practice, and relations between himself and Paola becoming increasingly difficult. When a letter then arrives from a girl who Andrea had met the previous summer, who none of the family knew anything about, they all become curious to learn more about this person who meant so much to their departed son and brother.

An American heart surgeon's wife suddenly vanishes in Paris. To find her, he must navigate a puzzling web of language, locale, laissez-faire cops, triplicate-form bureaucrats and a defiant, mysterious waif who knows more than she tells.

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When petty thief Olivier (played by a youthful Gerard Depardieu) breaks into an unassuming Parisian apartment, he inadvertently enters the world of leather-clad dominatrix Ariane (Bulle Ogier), who entertains clients in her black marble dungeon.

Olivier's fascination with Ariane soon turns to love, forcing him to question his own assumptions about sex, perversion and power.

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The final part of his highly acclaimed 'Living' trilogy, Roy Andersson's 'A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence' takes another sly, humorous and wholly original look at the absurdity of life.

Two travelling salesman who trade novelty items traipse glumly from one joke shop to another failing to make a living, teacher-student relationships repeatedly become inappropriate at a flamenco dance lesson, and King Charles XII of Sweden drops by a bar with an 18th century army in tow, looking for a lover and a modern day peasant to punish. This is the skewed and unique world of Roy Andersson where disparate segments of humanity are exhibited and coalesce to form a poignant and darkly funny commentary on society and how we should ultimately embrace it.

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One of the funniest and most original films of the year, this absurd and surreal comedy from acclaimed director Roy Andersson takes an amusing left-of-centre look at a delightfully eccentric assortment of characters.

Through a series of brilliantly entertaining sketches, Andersson observes with empathy and wry humour the highs, lows and tragicomic happenings that affect their everyday lives. Shot with highly distinctive visual flair, this unique and universally resonant snapshot of modern life is both touching and laugh-out-loud hilarious.

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When young understudy Betty (Cristina Marsillach) takes the lead role in a new operatic production of Verdi's Macbeth, she soon attracts the attention of a knife-wielding psycho who forces her to watch - with eyes pinned open - as he brutally despatches her friends and colleagues with sadistic

delight. Can Betty free herself from this unending nightmare or does a more terrifying fate await?

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A series of murders have been committed by ordinary people who claim to have had no control over their horrifying actions.

Following the only link - a mysterious stranger who had brief contact with each perpetrator and their victim - detective Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho) places his own sanity on the line as he tries to end the wave of inexplicable terror.

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The debonair Duc de Richleau has been trusted with the care of his deceased friends son, Simon Aron. The Duc discovers that the young man has been seduced into joining a Satanic cult headed by the diabolical Mocata, who is intent on making Simon one of the Devil's disciples.

Having rescued Simon from a bloody ritual, de Richleau is pursued by Mocata, who will stop at nothing to destroy the Due and his friends, even summoning the Angel of Death himself.

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It's time for the Christmas break, and the sorority sisters make plans for the holiday, but the strange anonymous phone calls are beginning to put them on edge. When Clare (Lynne Griffin) disappears, they contact the police, who don't express much concern.

Meanwhile Jess (Olivia Hussey) is planning to get an abortion, but boyfriend Peter (Keir Dullea) is very much against it. The police finally become concerned when a 13-year-old girl is found dead in the park. They set up a wiretap to the sorority house, but will they be in time to prevent a sorority girl attrition problem?

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From the inimitable Billy Wilder (Double Indemnify, The Lost Weekend) comes this classic comedy that mixes romance with hard-boiled wit in a story about stiff-necked Iowa congresswoman Phoebe Frost (Jean Arthur -Shane) mired in jaded postwar Berlin.

As she investigates the morale of American troops, Phoebe is cynically wooed by fellow Iowan Captain John Pringle (John Lund), who is trying to cover up his affair with Nazi-tainted chanteuse Erika von Schlutow (Marlene Dietrich). Filled with sharp dialogue and satiric jabs, 'A Foreign Affair' is one of Wilder's most beloved comedies...

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Nervous spinster Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is stunted from growing up under the heel of her puritanical Boston Brahmin mother (Gladys Cooper), and remains convinced of her own unworthiness until a kindly psychiatrist (Claude Rains) gives her the confidence to venture out into the world on a

South American cruise. On board, she finds her footing with the help of an unhappily married man (Paul Henreid). Their thwarted love affair may help Charlotte break free of her mother's grip - but will she find fulfillment as well as independence?

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Former tennis pro Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) hatches a cunning plot to get rid of his socialite wife, Margot (Grace Kelly), when he discovers that she has been having an affair with author Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings).

Wendice blackmails a corrupt former schoolmate into murdering her, but the man bungles the job, and Margot, having killed her would-be assailant in self-defence, then finds herself under suspicion of premeditated murder...