jdl's - Rented List

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Comedy director John Sullivan (Joel McCrea) decides to give up his life of luxury and sets off on the road to research how the other half live. He plans to make "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?", a somber, social conscious movie inspired by his experiences of poverty and desperation.

A chance encounter with failed starlet (Veronica Lake) enables him to escape the studio publicity machine and learn at first hand the true value of entertainment.

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"Conclave" follows one of the world's most secretive and ancient events-selecting a new pope. The Church's most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world, locked together in the Vatican halls.

Tasked with running this covert process, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) finds himself at the centre of a conspiracy and discovers a secret that could shake the very foundation of The Church. Also starring Stanley Tuccl, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini and directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front).

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"Flee" recounts the story of Amin Nawabi as he grapples with a painful secret he's kept hidden for 20 years, one that could threaten to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon-to-be husband.

Depicted mostly through animation, the film shows Amin finally sharing the story of his extraordinary journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan with his close friend, Flee's director Jonas Poher Rasmussen.

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Michael Clayton (George Clooney) has done his law firm's dirty work for years. Now the top lawyer's gone insane and there's a conspiracy against their biggest client from the inside.

'Michael Clayton' is heart-pounding, action-packed thriller that cuts a vicious path to the darkest heart of New York City.

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Devastated by the brutal murder of his wife, John Luther returns to policing in a different world. After Zoe's death and best friend Ian Reed's betrayal, Luther spent some time working on cold cases.Now he's back. His old unit has gone and he's working in the newly created Serious and Serial unit.

Headed by former police complaints officer Martin Schenk (Dermot Crowley), it is Luther's chance for a fresh start. But is it one he really wants?Luther quickly gathers together his team, rescuing his old partner Detective Justin Ripley (Warren Brown) from career oblivion. Joining them is ambitious Detective Erin Gray (Nikki Amuka-Bird). She's heard of Luther's reputation, seen what's happened to Ripley and doesn't want her own job prospects tarnished in the same way. It's not long before they're dealing with their first case. A masked man wanders the streets of London, carrying out ritualistic murders in historic locations - Smithfield, Petticoat Lane... He's taking Luther on a tour through the narrow alleyways and back streets of the city, using murders to mark out his territory and working up to one final masterpiece...

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Taking place over five days in the nation's music capital Nashville, Tennessee, the film follows two-dozen characters struggling for fulfilment, both personal and professional, amongst a backdrop of country and gospel musicians, outsider political campaigning, and the peripheries of life inbetween,

building from one encounter at a time to create a wide-ranging tapestry of rich drama and human comedy.

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For Luther (Idris Elba), his profession is a vocation rather than a job. He serves his own idea of a moral order as much as the rules and codes of criminal law. John Luther is a deeply troubled man, a philosophical cop possessed by the insoluble problem of evil and justice in a Godless world.

Confronting depravity in its many terrible forms, over a succession of psychological duels between hunter and hunted, perpetrator and prey, Luther reveals his capacity for violence as well as kindness; his sudden vulnerability and dizzying, visionary mind; why his wife left him for another man, and why his colleagues are frequently left open-mouthed in awe. However as the intensity of his convictions combine with the violence of his passions, they provoke the question of whether Luther is a force for good or a man hell bent on self-destruction. Luther's confidante is his arch-enemy Alice, a beautiful multiple-murderess who evades his grasp early on, and with whom he becomes locked in a lethal battle of wits. As the stakes get ever higher and more personal, Luther's lonely path pulls him towards the very edge of temptation. Will his personal demons prove to be as dangerous as any of the criminals he pursues?

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This utterly compelling psychological thriller from Michael Haneke - one of cinema's most daring original and controversial directors - stars Daniel Auteuil as Georges, a television presenter who begins to receive mysterious and alarming packages containing covertly filmed videos of himself and his

family. To the mounting consternation of Georges and his wife (Juliette Binoche) the footage on the tapes - which arrive wrapped in drawings of disturbingly violent images - becomes increasingly personal, and sinister anonymous phone calls are made. Convinced he knows the identity of the person responsible, Georges embarks on a rash and impulsive course of action that throws up some unpleasant facts about his past and leads to shockingly unexpected consequences.

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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.

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After the death of his wife, master musician Monsieur de Sainte Colombe (Jean-Pierre Marielle) becomes a recluse, dedicating his life to his young daughters and to music. Years later, a talented young violin player arrives, asking to be Sainte Colombe's protege.

But when the master refuses, the young man embarks on an affair with Sainte Colombe's daughter and a heart-breaking tale of lust and longing unfolds.

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Based upon the graphic novels of Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis is the biographical story following the poignant and often hilarious adventures of Marji.

From a rebellious, heavy metal loving tomboy experiencing the turmoil of adolescence during the tyrannical, Iranian revolution to a teenage exile in Vienna, Austria, where she discovers the benefits of freedom can be just as shocking as the repressive regime she was forced to leave behind. Returning to Iran as an alienated adult, Marji must now decide where it is her heart and her home must lay in this complex, insightful, honest and touching story, making Persepolis one of the most sublime animated feature films you're likely to experience.

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It is turn-of-the-century Italy, and in the summer of 1900 two children are born in the rich agricultural countryside in the region of Emilia.

Olmo Dalco (Gerard Depardieu) is the bastard son of a family of farmworkers and Alfredo Berlinghieri (Robert De Niro) is heir to a wealthy family of landowners. Although they come from two different worlds, a friendship develops that will endure the sweeping changes of the 20th century.

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When charismatic English professor John Keating (Robin Williams) arrives at a strict boys academy, his unconventional teaching methods breathe new life into the curriculum steeped in tradition.

With his wit and wisdom, Keating inspires his students to pursue individual passions and make their lives extraordinary.

A wine-tasting road trip through California's Central Coast takes an unexpected detour as Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), two 30 somethings mature along the way. The comically mismatched pair soon find themselves drowning in wine, women... and laughter!

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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.