sog's - Rented List
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The Cranes Are Flying (1957)Letyat Zhuravli
This landmark film by the virtuosic Mikhail Kalatozov was heralded as a revelation in the post-Stalin Soviet Union and the international cinema community alike. It tells the story of Veronica (Tatiana Samoilova) and Boris (Alexei Batalov), a couple who are blissfully in love until World War II tears them apart. With Boris at the front, Veronica must try to ward off spiritual numbness and defend herself from the increasingly forceful advances of her beau's draft-dodging cousin. - Director:
- Mikhail Kalatozov
- Cast:
- Tatyana Samoylova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasiliy Merkurev
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In one of cinemas most influential, and gripping, roles, James Dean plays Jim Stark, the new kid in town whose loneliness, frustration and anger mirrored those of most postwar teens - and reverberates more than 40 years later. Natalie Wood (as Jim's girlfriend Judy) and Sal Mineo (in his screen debut as Jim's tag-along pal Plato) were Academy Award nominees for their achingly true performances. - Director:
- Nicholas Ray
- Cast:
- James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo
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Threads, a shockingly realistic account of global nuclear war and its horrific aftermath. It's a normal Thursday in Sheffield when East. and West stumble into war and Britain is devastated by 200 megatons of nuclear explosive. This chilling film tells the story of a nuclear strike on Britain. Through the eyes of two Sheffield families we witness the immediate after effects of the attack - the shock, grief, radiation sickness, hypothermia and starvation. In the months that follow, hideous injuries remain untreated, looters are shot on sight, food supplies run out and many die in the intense cold of the nuclear winter. Thirteen years on reveals a depopulated Britain living below subsistence level - a devastated economy where money has no value, crops fail through lack of pesticides, no fuel and machinery, and a brutalised post war generation grows up stunted mentally, physically and emotionally. - Director:
- Mick Jackson
- Cast:
- Ed Bishop, Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale
- Formats:
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Rome, Open City (1945)Roma, città aperta
One of the greatest foreign language films ever made, Roberto Rossellini "Rome, Open City" was filmed in the direct aftermath of World War II on the war-ravaged streets of Italy. Based on real events that took place in the Nazi-occupied Italy in 1944, it examines the choices that people are forced to make in wartime. Centring on the Resistance and its members, this is a tragic and emotional exploration of human spirit and the effects of war. - Director:
- Roberto Rossellini
- Cast:
- Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero
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Uzak (2002)Distant
Nuri Bilge Ceylan's critically acclaimed film tells the story of middle-aged photographer Mahmut, who is obliged to put up in his Istanbul apartment his unemployed young cousin Yusuf, who has left his home village in search of work. Haunted by the feeling that the gap between his life and his ideals is growing. Mahmut grows increasingly irritated by his provincial young relative's encroachment into his closed and colourless world. With great wit and subtlety, 'Uzak' explores the isolation of city life and features outstanding performances from Muzaffer Ozdemir as Mahmut and Mehmet Emin Toprak as Yusuf. Tragically, Toprak was killed in a car accident shortly after completion of filming; he posthumously won, jointly with Ozdemir, the Best Actor prize at Cannes in 2003. - Director:
- Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast:
- Muzaffer Özdemir, Emin Toprak, Zuhal Gencer
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Tori and Lokita (2022)Tori et Lokita
Following a young boy Tori (Pablo Schils) and a teenage girl Lokita (Joely Mbundu) who have left their home countries of Cameroon and Benin to make a new life in Belgium, we follow their journey as they navigate a range of difficult and challenging experiences. Whether it be finding jobs on the black market or working to send money back to their families, their friendship provides an unbreakable bond that helps them survive. Hoping to get their papers to remain in the country, they soon find that there are an array of forces stacked against them. They must fight for both their friendship and their lives as their world slowly begins to crumble. Clinging to the hope of a better life, their struggle is a gripping testament to the power of the human spirit and the courage of their relationship. - Director:
- Jean-Pierre Dardenne
- Cast:
- Claire Bodson, Pablo Schils, Mbundu Joely
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A Brighter Summer Day (1991)Gu ling jie shao nian sha ren shi jian
Among the most highly praised titles in all contemporary film, this singular masterpiece of Taiwanese cinema, directed by Edward Yang, was unavailable for years and much sought after. Set in the early 1960s, 'A Brighter Summer Day' is based on the true story of a crime that rocked Taiwan. A film of both sprawling scope and tender intimacy, this novelistic, patiently observed epic centers on the gradual but inexorable fall of a young teenager (Chang Chen, in his first role) from innocence to delinquency, and is set against a simmering backdrop of restless youth, rock and roll, and political turmoil. - Director:
- Edward Yang
- Cast:
- Chen Chang, Lisa Yang, Kuo-Chu Chang
- Formats:
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Nobody Knows (2004)Dare mo shiranai
Inspired by an infamous true story that made headlines in Japan in 1988, this tough yet tender film from writer-director, Hirokazu Koreeda, follows the lives of four children left to fend for themselves by their wayward mother. Having smuggled her family into a new apartment under the landlord's nose, Keiko (You) puts her 12 year old son Akira (Yûya Yagira) in charge of the youngsters and after a brief period of relative family harmony, disappears. Akira manages as best he can, but limited means and the cramped confines of the apartment force this unorthodox family unit to re-shape their narrow existence to suit their physical and emotional needs. - Director:
- Hirokazu Koreeda
- Cast:
- Yûya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura
- Formats:
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Based on the bombshell New York Times investigation, 'She Said' follows the remarkable true story of how reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor went from underdogs to inspirations by shattering the silence surrounding sexual assault in Hollywood. Determined to expose the truth many fear to tell, Megan and Jodi's partnership shakes up the system, empowering courageous women to retake their strength through stories of survival in this extraordinary film from Emmy-winning director Maria Schrader, featuring captivating performances by two-time Academy Award nominee Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan. - Director:
- Maria Schrader
- Cast:
- Keilly McQuail, Lola Petticrew, Katherine Laheen
- Formats:
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How I Ended This Summer (2010)Kak Ya Provyol Etim Letom
The film is set on a remote weather station in the Arctic manned by old hand Sergei and the novice Pavel. When Pavel receives an important radio message, his fear of the older man prevents him telling Sergei the shocking news. From this deception, lies and suspicions poison relations between the two to such an extent that Pavel is in fear of his life, not just from the polar bears that roam the island, but from Sergei. - Director:
- Aleksey Popogrebskiy
- Cast:
- Grigoriy Dobrygin, Igor Chernevich, Artyom Tsukanov
- Formats:
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The Outfit is a gripping and masterful thriller in which an expert tailor (Mark Rylance) must outwit a dangerous group of mobsters in order to survive a fateful night.
- Director:
- Graham Moore
- Cast:
- Zoey Deutch, Dylan O'Brien, Mark Rylance
- Formats:
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No Bears (2022)Khers Nist
"No Bears" is the outstanding new film from acclaimed Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi. In the film Panahi plays himself, a filmmaker trying to direct a cast and crew in Turkey, who is forced to remain in an Iranian village close to the border. As his actors perform their own story of attempted escape to Europe, Panahi finds himself coming up against suspicion and local traditions in the village where he is staying. Panahi's latest film is a testimony to how artistry and protest can find inspiration in the very restrictions that he and other creative voices face. - Director:
- Jafar Panahi
- Cast:
- Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobasheri
- Formats:
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Johnny Saxby (Josh O'Connor) works long hours on his family's remote farm in the north of England. He numbs the daily frustration of his lonely existence with nightly binge-drinking at the local pub and casual sex. But when a handsome Romanian migrant worker (Alec Secareanu) arrives to take up temporary work on the family farm, Johnny suddenly finds himself having to deal with emotions he has never felt before. As they begin working closely together during lambing season, an intense relationship starts to form which could change Johnny's life forever. - Director:
- Francis Lee
- Cast:
- Josh O'Connor, Alec Secareanu, Gemma Jones
- Formats:
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Playground (2021)Un Monde
Nora (Maya Vanderbeque), an anxious 7-year-old, must return to school despite her distress and longing to stay with her dad. Despite Nora's age, she soon becomes responsible for her older brother, Abel (Günter Duret), who is being tormented by the other kids. This puts Nora in a quandary - should she tell the adults or remain silent out of solidarity with her brother? Once Nora discovers Abel soaking wet, she feels compelled to take action, but just makes things worse. The authorities at school generally turn a blind eye, and her father remains powerless, kept at a distance from the confines of the school. An eventual confrontation between Nora and Abel leads to a startling climax. - Director:
- Laura Wandel
- Cast:
- Maya Vanderbeque, Jean-François Ravagnan, Günter Duret
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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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