daniel-phillips's - Rented List
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Lancelot of the Lake (1974)Lancelot Du Luc
Winner of the International Critics' Prize at Cannes in 1974, Bresson's masterpiece has lost none of its power and continues to cast a mystical spell. In this compelling and hypnotic film about the Arthurian legend, the Knights of the Round Table, their numbers depleted by their bloody and fruitless quest for the Holy Grail, return to King Arthur's court. Once there, Lancelot's passionate relationship with Queen Guinevere causes the Knights to fall out amongst themselves, eventually leading to their downfall. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Luc Simon, Laura Duke Condominas, Humbert Balsan
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In a rural community of grinding economic and spiritual poverty, where poaching and delivering bootleg liquor supplement meagre incomes and love is absent, Mouchette is endlessly abused. She cares selflessly and without thanks for her family as her mother slowly dies, whilst she is humiliated by a teacher for singing out of tune, is called a slut by a shopkeeper and even, as she is about to speak to a young man who smiled at her on the dodgems, is slapped by her harsh, judgemental father. Finally, having sought to help the epileptic poacher Arsene, she is raped by him. Even then, she later protects him. Mouchette may not understand all that she experiences but nor is she a helpless victim. She cares for her mother and especially for her infant sibling. Ostracised by her cruel classmates, she retaliates, throwing mud at them. She also avenges herself against the woman who speaks with pious reverence of the dead and who offers Mouchette a funeral shroud for her mother and a dress for herself. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Nadine Nortier, Jean-Claude Guilbert, Marie Cardinal
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This high-octane fuelled East-End gangster comedy thriller is a journey into London's seedy underworld with brilliant street-wise dialogue and razor sharp black comedy.
- Director:
- Guy Ritchie
- Cast:
- Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran
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Through a bizarre chain of events, a jazz musician (Bill Pullman) and a young mechanic (Balthazar Getty) find their lives mysteriously entwined. On eis accused of his wife's murder, the other is drawn into a web of deceit by a temptress who is cheating on her gangster boyfriend. These two tales are bound by the fact that both women are played by the same actress (Patricia Arquette). - Director:
- David Lynch
- Cast:
- Bill Pullman, Mink Stole, Leonard Termo
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The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)Procs de Jeanne d'Arc
French cinema master Robert Bresson brings his trademark cinematic minimalism to this powerful re-telling of the story of Joan of Arc. Adapted from historical records of the trial and featuring a remarkable cast of non-professional actors, led by Florence Carrez in the title role, the film relays Joan's relentless interrogation and persecution by her captors in a direct, almost documentary-like manner. Bresson transforms Joan's oppression and human suffering into an unforgettable testament to her purity and spiritual liberation. The final images of the charred remains of the stake are among the most horrifying and moving in all cinema. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Florence Delay, Jean-Claude Fourneau, Roger Honorat
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Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese "salaryman", out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal, and that his nemesis is not in fact dead but is somehow masterminding and guiding his rage and frustration-fueled transformation.
Tetsuo II: Body Hummer (1992)
More of a companion piece to Tetsuo: The Iron Man than a sequel, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer sees Tsukamoto's disturbing vision of a world populated by man-machines explode into a stunning colour interpretation.- Director:
- Shin'ya Tsukamoto
- Cast:
- Tomoroh Taguchi, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Kei Fujiwara
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Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (1973)Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman: The Criterion Collection
The colossally popular Zatoichi films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen's great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to be a lightning-fast swordsman. As this iconic figure, the charismatic and earthy Shintaro Katsu became an instant superstar, lending a larger-than-life presence to the thrilling adventures of a man who lives staunchly by a code of honour and delivers justice in every town and village he enters. The films that feature him are variously pulse pounding, hilarious, stirring, and completely off-the-wall. This deluxe set features the string of twenty-five Zatoichi films made between 1962 and 1973. - Director:
- Kazuo Mori
- Cast:
- Shintarô Katsu, Kanbi Fujiyama, Eiko Taki
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Apocalypse Now (1979)Apocalypse Now Redux / Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier / Apocalypse Now: Final Cut
Francis Ford Coppola's stunning vision of man's heart of darkness revealed through the madness of the Vietnam War. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) receives orders to seek out a renegade military outpost led by the mysterious Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Willard's mission: "Terminate with extreme prejudice". - Director:
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Cast:
- Martin Sheen, Hattie James, Marlon Brando
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A Man Escaped (1956)Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut
Based on the true story of Resistance fighter Andre Devigny, who was imprisoned and sentenced to death by the Nazis during the Second World War, the film reconstructs his actual cell at the Lyons fortress of Montluc, and follows his meticulous plans for escape. This totally involving and thrilling tale of courage and faith is all the more authentic for its use of non-professional actors and Bresson's spare style. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock
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Exiled from their home nations, four strangers from separate corners of the earth agree to undertake a dangerous mission to transport unstable dynamite through the dense jungle of South America in order to earn their passage home. When the slightest bump in the road could equal instant death, the real question is not whether these men will survive this nerve-shredding ordeal but who will they have become if they return at all? - Director:
- William Friedkin
- Cast:
- Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal
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Diary of a Country Priest (1951)Journal d'un curé de campagne
Based on a novel by George Bernanos, 'Diary of a Country Priest' marked the first in Director Robert Bresson's so-called "prison trilogy" (followed by 'Pickpocket' and 'A Man Escaped'). The film begins with the arrival of a young, sickly priest (Claude Laydu) at the godless parish of Ambricourt in Northern France. Here he becomes drawn into the complex domestic life of a wealthy Count (Jean Riveyre), his tormented wife, his manipulative daughter and his mistress, Miss Louise (Nicole Maurey). Narrated by excerpts of the priest's diary, the film follows his efforts to awaken the villagers from their spiritual lethargy, with their struggles, suffering and triumphs representing in a microcosm those of humankind itself. Bresson's intensely personal style, minimalist approach to dialogue and music, and use of non-professional actors marked a new kind of filmmaking, which was to influence such diverse directors as Paul Schrader, Richard Linklater and Andrei Tarkovsky. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Claude Laydu, Nicole Ladmiral, Jean Riveyre
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After saving the lives of his platoon during the Korean War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is hailed as a bona fide American hero. This couldn't have come at a better time for his mother (Angela Lansbury) who is hell-bent on boosting the career of his stepfather, a senator straight from the McCarthyite wing of the US political spectrum with designs on the Presidency. So far so familiar - but why does Shaw's former captain (Frank Sinatra) have recurring nightmares that suggest that his distinguished comrade-in-arms might not be all that he seems? - Director:
- John Frankenheimer
- Cast:
- Frank Sinatra, Paul Frees, Laurence Harvey
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Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne (1945)Ladies of the Park
When Helene (Maria Casares) discovers her love for Jean (Paul Bernard) has become unrequited, she carefully hatches her revenge by willingly inflaming a relationship between Jean and dancer Agnes (Elina Labourdette). However, Jean is unaware of certain aspects of Agnes' life which Helene hopes will ruin his reputation as their passions for each other grows. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Paul Bernard, María Casares, Elina Labourdette
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Wise Blood (1979)John Huston's Wise Blood
Legendary film director John Huston creates one of his most cerebral films that will stay with the viewer for a long time. Set in the American Deep South during the post-war era, 'Wise Blood' stars Brad Dourif as Hazel Motes, an unhinged and aimless war-veteran, who decides to become a Bible-thumping preacher for a quasi-religious cult called 'The Church Without Christ'. Linking up with a fraudulent hustler from hellfire-and-brimstone preaching circuit - who pretends to be blind for the assembled believers - Motes is put under pressure by the fraudster to blind himself for real so that he can truly 'see the light'. A dark satire on religious movements that, beautifully acted by Dourif, Huston and William Hickey. - Director:
- John Huston
- Cast:
- Brad Dourif, John Huston, Dan Shor
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After his inevitable arrest (and almost immediate release), Michel (Martin LaSalle) reflects on the morality of crime, developing a vague theory that exceptional individuals are above the law. Lost in another world, he rejects his friends in favour of a life of crime and is seemingly set on finding his place in the world by engineering a head-on collision with society. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pélégri
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