elasticpiriformis's - Rented List

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Sergei Paradjanov's celebrated, dreamlike masterpiece paints an astonishing portrait of the 18th century Armenian poet Sayat Nova, the 'King of Song'. Paradjanov's aim was not a conventional biography but a cinematic expression of his work, resulting in an extraordinary visual poem.

Key moments in his subject's life are illustrated through a series of exquisitely orchestrated tableaux filled with rich colour and stunning iconography, each scene a celluloid painting alive with stylised movement. One of cinema's most revered and beautiful films, The Colour of Pomegranates is a unique and rewarding experience that haunts the memory long after viewing.

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An intoxicating, time-bending experience bathed in the golden glow of oil lamps and wreathed in an opium haze, this gorgeous period reverie by Hou Hsiao-hsien traces the romantic intrigue, jealousies, and tensions swirling around four late-nineteenth-century Shanghai "flower houses", where

courtesans live confined to a gilded cage, ensconced in opulent splendor but forced to work to buy back their freedom. Among the regular clients is the taciturn Master Wang (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), whose relationship with his longtime mistress (Michiko Hada) is roiled by a perceived act of betrayal. Composed in a languorous procession of entrancing long takes, Flowers of Shanghai evokes a vanished world of decadence and cruelty, an insular universe where much of the dramatic action remains tantalizingly offscreen - even as its emotional fallout registers with quiet devastation.

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A Tokyo suburb buzzing with gossip is the backdrop to Ozu’s cheerful comedy, 'Good Morning' (1959). Disillusioned with the meaningless talk of their elders, two brothers take a vow of silence when their parents refuse to buy them a TV.

'Good Morning' pokes fun at the silliness of everyday chatter whilst gently acknowledging its fundamental necessity. Also included here is Ozu’s superb early comedy 'I Was Born, But...' (1932) The forerunner of 'Good Morning', this silent masterpiece contains many similar themes but has a darker edge. As brothers Ryoichi and Keiji struggle to outwit the local bully and scale the pecking order in their new neighbourhood they find out that injustice does not end with school.

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'Apur Sansar', the adult Apu (Soumitra Chatterjee) hopes to become a writer, but his lack of finances force him to abandon his university studies. He meets an old friend Pulu (Swapan Mukherjee) and together they travel to the wedding of Pulu's cousin, Aparna (Sharmila Tagore).

When the bridegroom turns out to be insane and the wedding is cancelled, Apu agrees to marry Aparna to save her from ridicule. They return to his Calcutta apartment to start a new life and Apu comes to love his wife, but his happiness is soon shattered by a tragic turn of events.

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Mr. Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) is a 63 year old man who shares his apartment with his three cats. Suffering from pains in his head and stomach he calls an ambulance and whilst he waits, asks his neighbours for some pills.

Though they disapprove of his heavy drinking and the state of his home, they try their best to help. Hindered by a major bus accident the medics eventually arrive and so begins a long and increasingly frustrating night. Shuffled from pillar to post he becomes wearier and weaker in the face of the medical professions bureaucracy and casual inefficiency. A succession of colourful characters permeates the film and the combination of dry humour and 'scalpel sharp' satire make this one of the year's most deeply affecting films.

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Cited by Ray as one of his best films, this tale of a neglected housewife in Victorian-era Calcutta is adapted from a story by Rabindranath Tagore.

Sailen Mukherjee stars as a newspaper journalist who is driven more by professional ambition than the needs of his cultured and intelligent wife Charaulata (Madhabi Mukherjee). Sensing her loneliness, he enlists the help of his cousin Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), a sensitive would-be writer, to keep her company. Charu and Amal hit it off and, almost inevitably, their feelings for each other begin to deepen...

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A young girl named Teresa Banks (Pamela Gidley) is found brutally murdered. The FBI agents leading the investigation are drawn into a bizarre and dangerous world, and then disappear. The case is handed to Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan).

He knows it is only a matter of time before the killer strikes again. Welcome to Twin Peaks, an idyllic part of small-town America, one year later. A picture postcard setting, but hiding beneath the surface of this tranquil town lies an evil force. One that is praying on the towns most popular and beautiful student. Her name is Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee).

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In Taipei City, a cavernous old picture palace is about to close its doors forever. A meagre audience, the remaining few staff, and perhaps even a ghost or two, watch King Hu's wuxia classic Dragon Inn - each haunted by memories and desires evoked by cinema itself.

An exquisite, wryly funny and tender tribute to the experience of movie-going, Tsai Ming-Liang's poignant love letter to cinema is one of the most beguiling and beloved dramas of modern times and is now widely regarded as a classic.

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Struggling poet Vijay (Guru Dutt) is ridiculed by his brothers and scorned by publishers. Vijay finds encouragement in a sweet prostitute Gulabo (Waheeda Rehman). One day he meets his exgirlfriend Meena (Mala Sinha) and gets hired as servant by her husband Mr.Ghosh (Rehman) who is a publisher.

In a train mishap, the beggar clad in Vijay's coat dies while Vijay gets injured. Gulabo convinces Ghosh to print Vijay's poems, believing him to be dead. After recovering from injuries, Vijay's close friends and brothers refuse to recognize him for their ulterior motives and he is confined to mental asylum for claiming to be someone who is dead. He escapes from the mental asylum and arrives at the function held to honour him. There he denounces this corrupt and hypocrite world and declares that he is not Vijay.

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Joan Crawford plays Vienna, a saloon owner with a sordid past. Persecuted by the townspeople, Vienna must protect her life and her property when a lynch mob led by her sexually repressed rival, Emma Small (Mercedes McCambridge), attempts to frame her for a string of robberies she did not commit.

Enter Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden), a guitar-strumming ex-gunfighter who has a history with Vienna.

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Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche), an aged former playboy, has died and gone to hell. But the ruler of the realm of darkness, His Excellency, isn't convinced Van Cleve's come to the right place.

Henry proceeds to recount his life story, from his first real stirrings of passion with a French governess, to the wooing and winning of his beautiful wife, Martha (Gene Tierney). Yet, though deeply in love, he found it impossible to remain completely faithful, and is convinced his punishment will be an eternity of damnation. As his story unfolds, and a lifetime of love fills the screen, it's up to His Excellency to pass final judgement on Henry. Set in a beautifully rendered turn-of-the-century world of high society, the timeless theme of love vs. lust is handled with wit, taste and sophistication.

After being ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes embarks on a dangerous mission. Forced to confront the darkest corners of their pasts, will the group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and prevail?

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Melville's most personal film, rooted in his wartime experiences in the French Resistance, Army Of Shadows is a hard, tense drama, depicting man's capacity for both bravery and evil. In the winter of 1942-1943, as France exist s under German occupation, an underground cell operates in the shadows.

In the clandestine world of the Resistance, the freedom fighters work against their enemies under the constant risk of betrayal, ordinary men and women in an extraordinary situation. Suffused throughout with a mood of foreboding, the suspense, heightened with directorial mastery, reaches its peak as the Resistance attempt to free a prisoner from the Gestapo headquarters, in one of Melville's trademark set-pieces of iconic action.

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On the brink of Civil War, King Henry IV (John Gielgud) attempts to consolidate his reign while fretting with unease over his son's seeming neglect of his royal duties.

Hal (Keith Baxter), the young Prince, openly consorts with Sir John Falstaff (Orson Welles) and his company of "Diana's foresters, Gentlemen of the shade, Minions of the moon". Hal's friendship with the fat knight substitutes for his estrangement from his father. Both Falstaff and the King are old and tired; both rely on Hal for comfort in their final years, while the young Prince, the future Henry V, nurtures his own ambitions.

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Academy Award-winning director Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank) returns with 'Cow', a compelling portrait of the life of a dairy cow called Luma that marks her first foray into feature-length documentary film-making.

This intimate and observational work chronicles its subject's daily life, from grazing in green fields to giving birth, making milk and everything in between. A profoundly empathetic and unexpectedly moving contemplation of life and our relationship with animals, this is pure cinema shot through with Arnold's typically vivacious energy.