siddhartha's - Rented List

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A subtle and beautifully observed social satire that deftly balances hope and despair, 'A Blonde in Love' is widely celebrated as one of the great films of the 1960's.

This bittersweet romance from Milos Forman, the multiple Oscar-winning director of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Amadeus', unfolds as a sweetly seductive tale of young love, but also provides a wry critique of life under totalitarianism. Aided by gorgeous cinematography and naturalistic performances, the film adeptly distils universal truths from the simplest of situations, presenting them with a sharp yet compassionate eye.

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Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, this critically acclaimed South Korean film tells the story of Jongsu (Ah-in Yoo), a part-time worker who bumps into old neighbour Haemi (Jong-seo Jun).

She asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Kenya, but when she returns, Haemi introduces Ben (Steven Yeun) to Jongsu. One day, Ben visits Jongsu with Haemi and confesses his own secret hobby.

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English rose Gemma Bovery (Gemma Arterton) and her husband (Jason Flemvng) nave moved to a rustic cottage in Normandy in pursuit of the French dream. Their new neighbour, bored local baker Martin (Fabrice Luchini), is a romanticist and devotee of Flaubert.

Fie becomes transfixed by his very own 'Madame Bovary', and takes a watchful interest in her life. When a dashing young man catches Gemma's eye, Martin begins to fear that she will fall to the same fate as her literary namesake.

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In the hopes of rekindling their marriage, sophisticated American couple Port and Kit Moresby (John Malkovich and Debra Winger) set off for North Africa intending to travel through Algeria -uncertain of exactly where they are heading but determined to leave the modern world behind.

They are instead tested to their limits by the unfathomable emptiness and impassive cruelty of the desert.

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Often cited as one of the masterpieces of Chinese cinema, 'The Spring River Flows East' is an epic and tragic melodrama set in Shanghai and Chungking around the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Part one, 'Eight War-Torn Years', tells the heart-rending story of a working-class couple, Sufen (Bai Yang) and Zhang Zhongliang (Tao Jin), whose marriage is torn apart when the war forces Zhongliang to flee from Shanghai to Chungking. Part two, 'The Dawn', sees Zhongliang return to Shanghai. His fortunes transformed, he has married into a wealthy bourgeois family but his world is undone by a chance meeting with the now-destitute Sufen.

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Helene Hanff (Anne Bancroft), a feisty New York writer, mails a letter to a small London bookshop requesting some rare English classics.

Frank Doel (Anthony Hopkins), the reserved English bookseller, answers her request, beginning a touching and humorous correspondence that spans two continents and two decades. Hanff's acerbic wit starkly contrasts Doel's aloof British demeanor, but their mutual love of books forms a bond that deepens with each passing year. Their intimate, richly detailed letters draw us into their lives as Helene and Frank share their dreams, hopes, sorrows and joys — and in doing so, develop a lasting and extraordinary friendship.

Another Year is a touching story which follows happily-married couple Tom and Gerri and their friends and family over four seasons. Featuring love and warmth, joy and sadness, hope and despair, companionship and loneliness, a birth and a death...

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Miguel (Cristian Mercado), a respected local fisherman, is expecting his first child with his beautiful wife, Mariela (Tatiana Astengo).

However, their peaceful existence is threatened by Miguel's love for Santiago (Manolo Cardona), a visiting artist whose presence is viewed as a threat by the villagers. When a fatal accident befalls the community, Miguel is faced with hiding his true feelings or coming to terms with who he is and risk losing everything, including those he loves.

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Nadezhda (Margita Gosheva) is an English teacher who also works as a translator to earn extra cash. Stunned by a theft by one of her students she is determined to find the culprit. But meanwhile her personal life is put under huge pressure.

A bailiff tells her that her house is about to be seized because of unpaid mortgage payments. Determined to keep the house, she will do everything she can to get the money before it is too late. Her personal and professional life converge as she wonders, whilst her options start to run out, whether to question the principles she teaches her students.

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Julio and Tenoch are typical over-sexed and under-occupied teenagers. During a festive afternoon with their families they meet Luisa, a twenty eight year old Spaniard, and flirt with her with all the style and grace seventeen year old boys are known for.

As a joke, they invite her to accompany them on a road trip to a beach called Boca Del Cielo, neglecting to mention that they wouldn't know where to find it, even if it did actually exist. To their astonishment, she accepts.

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From acclaimed writer/director Sofia Coppola comes an atmospheric thriller that unfolds at a secluded girls' boarding school in Civil War-era Virginia.

When a wounded Union soldier, Corporal McBumey (Colin Farrell), is found near the school he's taken in by its headmistress, Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman). As the young women provide refuge and tend to his wounds, the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries when McBumey seduces several of the girls. Taboos are broken and events take an unexpected turn in this gripping and haunting thriller also starring Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning.

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After a successful shoplifting spree, Osamu (Lily Franky) and his son rescue a little girl in the freezing cold and invite her home with them. Osamu's wife Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) reluctantly agrees to shelter her.

Although the family is poor, they live happily together until an unforeseen incident upsets the delicate balance they have created, revealing long-buried secrets...

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From acclaimed director Ken Loach comes this astonishing story of triumph and adversity in modern day Britain. Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) has worked as a joiner for most of his life in Newcastle. Now, for the first time ever, he needs help from the State.

He crosses paths with single mother Katie (Hayley Squires) who is battling to keep her two young children fed. Daniel and Katie find themselves in a no-man's land, striving to pull themselves out of the welfare bureaucracy of modern day Britain.