agpw's - Rented List

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An irreverent, uplifting comedy about friendship, trust and human possibility.

Based on a true story of friendship between handicapped millionaire (Francois Cluzet) and his street smart ex-con caretaker (Omar Sy), "Untouchable" depicts an unlikely camaraderie rooted in honesty and humour between two individuals who, on the surface, would seem to have nothing in common.

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When his Hollywood producer disappears, leaving the actors and crew on the Portugese set of a sci-fi thriller with no money or film, director Friedrich Munro (Patrick Bauchau) travels to Hollywood to find him.

What he uncovers is a shady world where criminals and moguls barely differ, and the art of filmmaking is merely another money-making enterprise.

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Starring powerhouse performances from Guillaume Gallienne and Guillaume Canet and from Academy Award nominee writer/director Daniele Thompson, 'Cezanne et Moi' ls a stunning tale of friendship, love and envy.

When Paul Cezanne and Emile Zola became friends as boys, they shared everything; hopes, dreams, curiosity and doubts. One rich, one poor, they left for Paris where the art scene of 1860s Montmartre quickly enveloped them. As their careers took different directions, Cezanne as an unrecognised painter and Emile, whose fame, money and marriage moved from strength to strength, their friendship, philosophies and lives were pushed to the very boundaries of all they knew.

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Winner of 6 Academy Awards including Best Director for writer/director Damien Chazelle, and winner of a record-breaking 7 Golden Globe Awards, "La La Land" is more than the most acclaimed movie of the year - it's a cinematic treasure for the ages that you'll fall in love with again and again.

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as Mia and Sebastian, an actress and a jazz musician pursuing their Hollywood dreams - and finding each other - in a vibrant celebration of hope, dreams and love.

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Double bill featuring two of the films produced by the acclaimed partnership of composer Philip Glass and filmmaker Godfrey Reggio.

Koyaanisqatsi (1983)

Prepare to experience a truly remarkable film - a cinematic masterpiece so extraordinary that it regales the senses, stimulates the mind and actually redefines the potential of filmmaking. Celebrated director Godfrey Reggio, innovative cinematographer Ron Fricke and Golden Globe-winning composer Philip Glass have created a spellbinding film so rich in beauty and detail that with each viewing it becomes a new and different film. Unique, profound, mesmerizing, and thought-provoking, Koyaanisqatsi contrasts the tranquil beauty of nature with the frenzied hum of contemporary urban society. Uniting breathtaking imagery with a hauntingly evocative, award-winning score, it is original and fascinating.
Powaqqatsi (1988)
Hailed by audiences and critics around the world as mesmerizing, this second instalment of writer/director Godfrey Reggio's apocalyptic "qatsi" trilogy is quite simply one of the most magnificent visual and aural spectacles ever made. Combining stunning cinematography with the exquisite music of award-winning composer Philip Glass, Powaqqatsi is a breathtaking experience working on many levels - emotional, spiritual, intellectual and aesthetic! Bold, haunting and epic in scale, this extraordinary film calls into question everything we think we know about contemporary society. By juxtaposing images of ancient cultures with those of modern life, Powaqqatsi masterfully portrays the human cost of progress. It is a film that engages the soul as well as the mind - it is truly an absorbing experience.

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Ben (Viggo Mortensen), a devoted father of six, dedicates himself to raising his children in an unconventional lifestyle that is far removed from society.

When they are forced to leave their self-created paradise and drive across the country to reunite with family, both Ben and his children find themselves mystified and intrigued by the outside world. As Ben is forced to question what it means to be a parent, his children begin to discover a new and extraordinary world that they never knew existed.

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Sister Helen Prejean (Sarandon), a compassionate New Orleans nun, is the spiritual advisor to Mathew Poncelet (Penn), a vicious, angry and complex murderer awaiting execution. Her dedication is to help others, like Mathew, find salvation.

But as she attempt to navigate Mathew's dark soul, she encounters a depth of evil that makes her question how far redemption can really go. Can she stave off the fateful day of execution long enough to save Mathew, or will she discover a truth that will rock the very foundations by which she lives?

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The inspiring story of Teddy Pendergrass, who was poised to be the greatest soul singer of all time. His was the immortal voice of 'Don't Leave Me This Way', 'The Love I Lost' and 'Close the Door'.

He was also the first black male artist to have five consecutive platinum albums in the US, before a devastating accident changed his life forever. Featuring interviews with his family, friends and colleagues including Philadelphia soul legends Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, rare archive footage and a superb soundtrack, this revealing and poignant documentary charts the life of Teddy Pendergrass. His rise to fame within the complexities of 1970's America, his tragic fall and his triumphant comeback.

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Perhaps his most famous film, La Dolce Vita slices into the decadent amoral core of Roman society with Fellini's trademark attention to detail and spectacular photography.

Marcello Mastroianni plays a gossip columnist (the term 'paparazzi' derives from the in a film) who aspires to be a more serious writer but knows he never will be, because like society, he is fascinated by the decadent hedonist pursuits which are seemingly everywhere. The Vatican was appalled by the film, but the public adored it, relishing the images Fellini fed them, most notably the now infamous scene of Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg frolicking in the Trevi Fountain.

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When Anne (Julie Christie) inherits the letters of her great-aunt Olivia (Greta Scacchi), she becomes drawn to India by their revelations of a relationship with a handsome and charismatic, if not entirely scrupulous, Indian prince (Shashi Kapoor).

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's adaptation from her own Booker Prize-winning novel moves effortlessly between past and present in a sensual and evocative journey, telling the story of both women's paths to self-discovery more than half a century apart.

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Based on Eric Fenby's 1936 memoir 'Delius As I Knew Him', it traces the last years of Frederick Delius, and Fenby's dedication in giving up five years of his life to helping the blind, paralysed composer set down the unfinished scores he could hear in his head.

There are terrific performances from Max Adrian as the monstrous, tyrannical, tormented Delius, Maureen Pryor as his devoted, long-suffering wife, Jelka, and Christopher Gable (remarkably, in his first screen acting role) as the shy, intense, talented young composer thrust into this strange household.

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Good Night, And Good Luck takes place during the early days of US broadcast. It chronicles the real-life conflict between television news pioneer Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and Senator Joseph McCarthy.

With a desire to report the facts and enlighten the public, the ground-breaking Murrow, and his dedicated staff, headed by his producers Fred Friendly and Joe Wershba (George Clooney & Robert Downey Jr.) defy corporate and sponsorship pressures to examine the lies and scaremongering tactics perpetrated by McCarthy during his communist 'witch-hunts'. In this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on regardless and their tenaciousness eventually pays off when McCarthy is brought before the US Senate. Their legacy has remained intact and even reverberates today as the standard for high quality broadcast journalism.

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A desolate military checkpoint is manned by four young soldiers who all try to burn away the hours of boredom that occur between cars arriving for inspection and, every now and then, a lone camel walking by.

Meanwhile, at home, the parents of one of the boys are devastated by the news of his supposed sudden death, though the circumstances surrounding this take several unexpected twists.

From filmmaker Alex Garland comes a journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

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"Fanny and Alexander" is Bergman's dreamlike family chronicle. The Ekdahl's are an upper-middle-class theatrical family sheltered by their own theatrics from the deepening chaos of the outside world.

One tumultuous year in the life of the Ekdahl family is viewed through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve), whose imagination fuels the magical goings-on leading up to and following the death of his father. His mother's remarriage to a stern prelate banishes Alexander and his sister Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) from all known joys, and thrusts them and the movie into a kind of gothic horror. The bishop is a Bergmanesque character whose severity has gone awry - he has become sinister - and the film's round rejection of him in favour of "kindness, affection and goodness" may be Bergman's fondest farewell to cinema.