elasticpiriformis's - Rented List

Show moreShow less

With her first and only feature film - a hard-luck drama she wrote, directed, and starred in - Barbara Loden turned in a groundbreaking work of American independent cinema, bringing to life a kind of character seldom seen on-screen.

Set amid a soot-choked Pennsylvania landscape, and shot in an intensely intimate verite style, the film takes up with distant and soft-spoken Wanda (Barbara Loden), who has left her husband, lost custody of her children, and now finds herself alone, drifting between dingy bars and motels, where she falls prey to a series of callous men - including a bank robber who ropes her into his next criminal scheme. An until now difficult-to-see masterpiece that has nonetheless exerted an outsize influence on generations of artists and filmmakers, Wanda is a compassionate and wrenching portrait of a woman stranded on society's margins.

Show moreShow less

The stunning debut from Scottish writer-director Charlotte Wells, 'Aftersun' juxtaposes a hopeful coming-of-age story with a poignant, intimate family portrait that leaves an indelible impression.

At a fading vacation resort in the late 1990's, 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (Paul Mescal). As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender recollections of their last holiday become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father, she knew with the man she didn't, in Charlotte Wells' superb and searingly emotional debut film.

Show moreShow less

In a secluded valley in Iceland, brothers Gummi and Kiddi live side by side, tending to their prized ancestral sheep. But a long-term grudge means that they haven't spoken to each other for four decades, passing messages via the sheep dog.

When a lethal ovine disease suddenly appears in the valley, the authorities move in to cull all of the livestock. But Gummi and Kiddi don't give up easily and each brother tries to stave off the disaster in his own fashion: Kiddi by using his rifle, and Gummi by using his wits. As the authorities close in the brothers will need to come together to save the sheep - and themselves - from extinction.

From director-writer-producer Todd Field comes Tar, starring Cate Blanchett as the iconic musician, Lydia Tar. The film examines the changing nature of power, its impact and durability in our modern world.

Show moreShow less

In one of Agnes Varda's more provocative films she presents us with the dilemma faced by husband and father Francois (Jean-Claude Crouot) who finds himself falling in love with an attractive postal worker.

What follows is a detailed study of adult fidelity and happiness, which will ultimately end with major repercussions for all parties involved.

Show moreShow less

After being released from prison, Berlin street musician Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S.) finds himself lost in a world where he simply doesn't belong.

So along with his prostitute girlfriend (Eva Mattes) and an eccentric neighbor (Clemens Scheitz), Stroszek moves to America, where he's told, everyone is rich. It doesn't take long, however, after moving into a mobile home and taking a job as a mechanic, for Stroszek to realize that the streets of Railroad Flats, Wisconsin aren't paved with gold.

Show moreShow less

Lana Turner is Lora, whose search for success as an actress causes her to neglect her daughter, Susie (Sandra Dee). Juanita Moore stars as Lora's black housekeeper whose daughter repudiates her mother by trying to pass for white.

As the years pass, each of the four women realises that she has been living out an emotionally fruitless existence.

Show moreShow less

This outrageous comedy finds a rogues' gallery of wealthy guests (from business tycoons to heiresses) aboard a hyper-luxury yacht, whose downtrodden staff - under the command of their captain and avowed Marxist (Woody Harrelson) - must respond to their every belittling whim in the hope of winning

tips. Among the super-rich patrons are the oh-sobeautiful couple Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), two models and social-media influencers who have been invited on a free trip to show off the kind of lavish lifestyle many could only dream of.

Show moreShow less

Made under the Franco regime, Victor Erice's astonishing 1973 feature debut is quite simply one of the most remarkable, influential and purely poignant films to emerge from the 1970's. A bona-fide classic of European cinema, the film brought Erice instant and widespread acclaim.

An audacious critique of the disastrous legacy of the Spanish Civil War, 'The Spirit of the Beehive' is set in a rural 1940's Spanish village haunted by betrayal and regret. Following a travelling cinema's screening of James Whale's Frankenstein, seven year-old Ana (the mesmerising Ana Torrent, later to grow into an international star of some standing) becomes fascinated with Boris Karloff's monster. Obsessed with meeting the initially gentle creation, she transfers her entrancement to tending a wounded army deserter. Atmospherically rendered by legendary Director of Photography Luis Cuadrado, it's impeccably performed by both Torrent and veteran actor Fernando Fernan Gomez in the role of her emotionally scarred, bee-keeping father. Existing in a highly evocative dreamlike state, it's a powerfully symbolic, richly allegorical tale that is as unique as it is beautiful.

Show moreShow less

In 16th century Japan, amidst the pandemonium of civil war, potter Genjuro (Mori Masayuki) and samurai-aspirant Tobei (Ozawa Sakae) set out with their wives in search of wealth and military glory, respectively.

Two parallel tales ensue when the men are lured from their wives: Genjuro by the ghostly charm of Lady Wakasa (Kyo Machiko); Tobei by the dream of military glory.

Show moreShow less

It's Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee (newcomer Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is back on the block.

Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend (James Ransone) hasn't been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra (newcomer Mya Taylor), embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity.

Show moreShow less

In 2000 Agnes Varda travelled the France countryside and the markets of Paris to the study the lives of a collection of foragers and scavengers called The Gleaners. This remarkable collection of people insist of making use of materials that the public have so easily discarded.

Varda admits to being a gleaner of sorts herself, which gives this honest and intriguing documentary a very special connection.

Erik (Espen Klouman Hoiner) and Philip (Anders Danielsen Lie) have been best friends since childhood and both want to become writers. While Erik's manuscript is refused by the publishers as lacking in talent, Philip is eagerly welcomed and overnight becomes a young star in Norway's literary scene. Soon, their young dreams clash with reality.

Agnes Varda's classic 'Cleo from 5 to 7' from 1962 manages to successfully capture Paris at the height of the sixties in this intriguing tale expertly presented in real time about a singer (Corinne Marchand) whose life is in turmoil as she awaits a biopsy test result.

Show moreShow less

Based on Lionel White's novel 'Obsession', 'Pierrot le Fou' transforms a story about a couple on the run into an entertaining, existential romance. Tired of his bourgeois life, Ferdinand Griffon (Jean-Paul Belmondo) leaves his wife and elopes with his former baby sitter, Marianne (Anna Karina).

When a dead body is found in Marianne's apartment, the two lovers flee to the South of France in a futile bid to escape Marianne's dangerous past.