sog's - Rented List
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In this funny, uplifting tale based on an actual lie. Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi (Awkwafina) reluctantly returns to Changchun to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch, Nai-Nai. has been given mere weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell Nai Nai herself. To assure her happiness, they gather under the joyful guise of an expedited wedding, uniting family members scattered among new homes abroad. As Billi navigates a minefield of family expectations and proprieties, she finds there's a lot to celebrate: a chance to rediscover the country she left as a child, her grandmother's wondrous spirit, and the ties that keep on binding even when so much goes unspoken. With 'The Farewell', writer/director Lulu Wang has created a heartfelt celebration of both the way we perform family and the way we live it, masterfully interweaving a gently humorous depiction of the good lie in action with a richly moving story of how family can unite and strengthen us. often in spite of ourselves. - Director:
- Lulu Wang
- Cast:
- Shuzhen Zhao, Awkwafina, X Mayo
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In Rebecca Miller's witty romantic comedy, Maggie (Greta Gerwig) is a vibrant New Yorker, who without success in finding love, decides to have a child on her own. But when she meets John Harding (Ethan Hawke), an anthropology professor and struggling novelist, she falls in love for the first time. Complicating matters, John is in an unhappy marriage with Georgette (Julianne Moore), an ambitious academic who is driven by her work. With some help from Maggie's eccentric best friends, married couple Tony (Bill Hader) and Felicia (Maya Rudolph), Maggie sets in motion a new plan that intertwines their lives and connects them in surprising and humorous ways. - Director:
- Rebecca Miller
- Cast:
- Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore
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In the sublime new film from Jim Jarmusch, Adam Driver gives a career-best performance as Paterson, a bus driver in the New Jersey city of the same name. He's also a poet, recording his daily observations and thoughts into a notebook. Paterson thrives on routine: he drives his bus route, he goes home for dinner with his wife Laura (Golshifteh Farahani), he walks his dog, he visits his local bar for one beer. By contrast Laura's world is ever-changing, with new projects and ideas striking her daily. The film quietly observes the triumphs and defeats of daily life, along with the poetry evident in its smallest details. - Director:
- Jim Jarmusch
- Cast:
- Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Nellie
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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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By the Grace of God (2018)Grâce à Dieu
Francois Ozon's gripping true-life drama tells the story of three men who come together to dismantle the code of silence around historic abuse cases within the Catholic Church. Alexandre (Melville Poupaud) lives in Lyon with his wife and children. One day he learns by chance that the priest who abused him when he was in scouts is still working with children. He decides to take action and is soon joined by two other victims of the priest. Francois (Denis Menochet) and Emmanuel (Swann Arlaud). They band together to "lift the burden of silence" surrounding their ordeal. But the repercussions and consequences will leave no one unscathed. Based on events from the 2019 conviction of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon for concealing the conduct of Father Bernard Preynat, 'By the Grace of God ' is an urgent portrait of resistance. - Director:
- François Ozon
- Cast:
- Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet, Swann Arlaud
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Certain Women (2016)Untitled Kelly Reichardt Project / Livingston
The expanses of the American West take center stage in this intimately observed triptych from Kelly Reichardt. Adapted from three short stories by Maile Meloy and unfolding in self-contained but interlocking episodes, Certain Women navigates the subtle shifts in personal desire and social expectation that unsettle the circumscribed lives of its characters: a lawyer (Laura Dern) forced to subdue a troubled client; a wife and mother (Michelle Williams) whose plans to construct her dream home reveal fissures in her marriage; and a night-school teacher (Kristen Stewart) who forms a tenuous bond with a lonely ranch hand (Lily Gladstone), whose longing for connection delivers an unexpected jolt of emotional imm ediacy. With unassuming craft, Reichardt captures the rhythms of daily life in smalltown Montana through these fine-grained portraits of women trapped within the landscape's wide-open spaces. - Director:
- Kelly Reichardt
- Cast:
- Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern
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Parasite (2019)Gisaengchung
Kim Ki Taek's (Song Kang Ho) family are all unemployed and living in a squalid basement. When his son, Ki Woo, gets a tutoring job at the lavish home of the Park family, the Kim family's luck changes. One by one they gradually infiltrate the wealthy Park's home, attempting to take over their affluent lifestyle, but as their deception unravels events begin to get increasingly out of hand in ways you simply cannot imagine. - Director:
- Joon-Ho Bong
- Cast:
- Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo
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Babette's Feast (1987)Babettes gæstebud
When Babette (Stéphane Audran), a beautiful and mysterious French refugee, arrives in a remote Danish town the tight-knit, puritanical community begrudgingly let her in, providing her with shelter and work. But after the town patriarch passes away and Babette insists on preparing a feast in his honor, a magical world of sensory revelations is thrown open to the villagers, changing their lives forever... - Director:
- Gabriel Axel
- Cast:
- Stéphane Audran, Bodil Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel
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Queen and Slim (2019)Queen & Slim
While on a forgettable first date together in Ohio, a black man (Daniel Kaluuya) and a black woman (Jodie Turner-Smith), are pulled over for a minor traffic infraction. The situation escalates, with sudden and tragic results, when the man kills the police officer in self-defense. Terrified and in fear for their lives, the man, a retail employee, and the woman, a criminal defense lawyer, are forced to go on the run. But the incident is captured on video and goes viral, and the couple unwittingly become a symbol of trauma, terror, grief and pain for people across the country. As they drive, these two unlikely fugitives will discover themselves and each other in the most dire and desperate of circumstances and will forge a deep and powerful love that will reveal their shared humanity and shape the rest of their lives. - Director:
- Melina Matsoukas
- Cast:
- Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bokeem Woodbine
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American Woman (2018)The Burning Woman
"American Woman" finds poignant drama in one woman's gruelling odyssey, thanks in no small part to Sienna Miller's outstanding work in the leading role. In a blue-collar town in Pennsylvania, a 32-year-old woman's teen daughter goes missing and she is left to raise her infant grandson alone. The story is told over the course of 11 years: we journey with her from the time her daughter vanishes, through the trials-and-tribulations of subsequent years, and ultimately to the long-awaited discovery of the truth. - Director:
- Jake Scott
- Cast:
- Christina Hendricks, Aaron Paul, Sienna Miller
- Formats:
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Carlos Acosta changed dance forever when he became the first black principal dancer of The Royal Ballet. Born in Cuba, travelling to London and becoming one of the most celebrated performers of our times, this film captures both his incredible life story and footage of Acosta himself interpreting his history through dance. With beautiful recreations of Cuba under Castro, and with a script from Paul Laverty, the writer of 'I, Daniel Blake', we follow young Acosta as he bridles against a strict training regime to discover his own voice and unique talent, making sense of himself in the unfamiliar world of London. A stunning tribute to the power of dance. - Director:
- Icíar Bollaín
- Cast:
- Carlos Acosta, Santiago Alfonso, Keyvin Martínez
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Modern-day Cornish fisherman Martin (Edward Rowe) is struggling to buy a boat while coping with family rivalry and the influx of London money, Airbnb and stag parties to his harbour village. The summer season brings simmering tensions between the locals and newcomers to boiling point, with tragic consequences. - Director:
- Mark Jenkin
- Cast:
- Edward Rowe, Mary Woodvine, Simon Shepherd
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Jackie (Nadine Marshall) is expecting her second child but the maths, doesn't quite add up. It's been months since she last slept with her husband Mark (Idris Elba), so she knows it can't be his. But she also knows she hasn't slept with anybody else. Prior to Jackie's discovery, she, Mark and son JJ (Kai Francis-Lewis) are a close-knit family living in London. Then comes Jackie's seemingly Immaculate Conception. Unable to explain her pregnancy she says nothing but knows it's only a matter of time before questions are asked and accusations will start to fly. As the child inside her starts to grow, so does everyone's concern for her state of mind, until it's not only the father of the child that is in question but Jackie's sanity as well. - Director:
- Debbie Tucker Green
- Cast:
- Nadine Marshall, Idris Elba, Kai Francis Lewis
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On a remote mountaintop, a rebel group of commandos perform military training exercises while watching over a prisoner (Julianne Nicholson) for a shadowy force known only as 'The Organization'. After a series of unexpected events drives them deep into the jungle, fracturing their intricate bond, their mission slowly begins to collapse. Set against a stunningly beautiful but dangerous landscape, Alejandro Landes' awe-inspiring film is a breathtakingly epic vision that will leave you both mesmerised and utterly gripped. - Director:
- Alejandro Landes
- Cast:
- Sofia Buenaventura, Julián Giraldo, Karen Quintero
- Formats:
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She risked everything to stop an unjust war. Her government called her a traitor. Based on true events, 'Official Secrets' tells the story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), a British intelligence specialist who received a shocking memo in 2003: the United States is enlisting Britain's help in blackmailing United Nations Security Council members so they vote in favour of the Iraq War. Unable to stand by, Gun defies her government and leaks the memo to the press, beginning an explosive chain of events that will ignite an international firestorm, expose a vast political conspiracy, and put Gun and her family in harm's way. - Director:
- Gavin Hood
- Cast:
- Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode
- Formats:
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