max's - Rented List

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A love story about divorce. A marriage coming apart and a family coming together. 'Marriage Story' is a hilarious and harrowing, sharply observed and deeply compassionate film from the acclaimed writer-director Noah Baumbach.

Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson deliver tour-de-force performances as Charlie, a charismatic New York theater director wedded to his work, and Nicole, an actor, who is ready to change her own life. Their hopes for an amicable divorce fade as they are drawn into a system that pits them against each other and forces them to redefine their relationship and their family. Featuring bravura, finely drawn supporting turns from Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, and Laura Dern - who won an Academy Award for her performance here - as the trio of lawyers who preside over the legal battle, 'Marriage Story' (nominated for six Academy Awards including best picture) is a work of both intimacy and scope that ultimately invokes hope amid the ruins.

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"Marshall" is based on a pinnacle moment in the life of Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman), which paved his way to becoming the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

As the nation teeters on the brink of WWII, a nearly bankrupt NAACP sends Marshall to conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur against his wealthy socialite employer in a highly publicised sexual assault and attempted murder trial. In need of a high-profile victory, but muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall is partnered with Samuel Friedman (Josh Gad), a young Jewish lawyer who has never tried a case. Marshall and Friedman struggle against a hostile storm of fear and prejudice, and are driven to discover the truth in the sensationalized trial which helped set the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement to come.

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Fourteen-year-old Tyler (Conrad Khan) attends a pupil referral unit, where he is isolated and bullied. At home he must look after his younger sister Aliyah (Tabitha Milne-Price) while his mother, Toni (Ashley Madekwe), works nights.

When the preoccupied and exhausted Toni loses her job, she thrusts the family into a desperate financial situation, leaving Tyler vulnerable to a 'recruiter' who targets children to promote a drug-dealing enterprise out of the city. This powerful drama about a mother and her son who is groomed into a lethal nationwide drugs network - a 'county line' - is inspired by Henry Blake's first-hand experience as a youth worker on the frontline of child exploitation and drug trafficking in the UK.

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Adapted from the classic novel by Charles Dickens, 'The Personal History of David Copperfield' brings to life one of the author's most cherished characters.

From birth to infancy, from adolescence to adulthood, the good-hearted David Copperfield (Dev Patel) is surrounded by kindness, wickedness, poverty and wealth, as he meets an array of remarkable characters in Victorian England. As David sets out to be a writer, in his quest for family, friendship, romance and status, the story of his life is the most seductive tale of all.

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"Hotel Salvation", the award-winning first feature from up-and-coming director Shubhashish Bhutiani, is a charming, life-affirming drama set in contemporary India that tackles serious matters with a light and often joyous touch.

This gently humorous film follows Rajiv (Adil Hussain), an overworked middle-aged son who is forced to accompany his 77-year-old father, Daya (Lalit Behl), as e see s salvation in the holy city of Varanasi. The simple pleasures of this timeless place are explored as the pair belatedly come o now each other in the enforced intimacy of their cramped hotel room and the teeming streets. While rooted in Indian values and culture, 'Hotel Salvation' transcends borders with its themes of family ties, intergenerational relationships and the quest for contentment in later life.

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"Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami" takes the viewer on an intimate and electrifying journey that moves between four cinematic layers - performance, family, artist and traveller - to explore the fascinating world of this pop cultural phenomenon.

Jones' bold aesthetic echoes throughout unique musical performances that include hit songs Slave to the Rhythm and Pull Up to the Bumper. Larger than life, wild, scary and androgynous, Grace Jones plays all these parts - yet here we also discover her as lover, daughter, mother, sister and even grandmother, allowing us to explore the world inside the icon.

In South Carolina's Sea Islands at the dawn of the 20th century, a multi-generational family of the Gullah community - former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors' Yoruba traditions - struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland and even further from their roots.

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'Do we get stupider as we grow up?' In his wildly popular Broadway show 'American Utopia', David Byrne reflects on human connections, life and how on earth we work through it. He joins the dots with his music and it all starts making sense.

Spike Lee here transforms the production into immersive, dynamic cinema that radiates with astounding performances, inventive contemporary dance and political urgency. 'American Utopia' flows like an iridescent dream vision. Work by James Baldwin, Janelle Monáe and Kurt Schwitters is highlighted among exhilarating renditions of Byrne's solo work, as well as Talking Heads classics. According to the multi-hyphenate, we love looking at humans more than anything else. Anti-fascist and anti-racist, Byrne illuminates our responsibility to care for one another as he and his co-performers burn down the house.

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Thelma (Eili Harboe) has just left her religious family to study at a university in Oslo. A sudden bout of violent seizures coincides with her growing affections for fellow student Anja (Kaya Wilkins), who reciprocates Thelma's attraction.

As it becomes clear that the seizures are symptoms of mysterious and dangerous psychological abilities, Thelma is confronted with secrets from her past and the terrifying implications of her newfound powers.

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Author turned private detective, Ryota (Hiroshi Abe), struggles to make ends meet as he flitters away all the money he earns on gambling, barely able to pay child support for his son.

After his father passes away his mother (Kiki Kirin) seems to have moved on, but family tensions are high with both Ryota and his sister believing each other is taking advantage of their mother. When a typhoon hits, holed-up in his mother's house with his estranged wife and son, Ryota attempts to rekindle his relationships with his family. A sensitive and powerful story of family ties remade, 'After the Storm' stands with the best of Kore-eda's work.

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Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore.

The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood's golden age.

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Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas) has just been appointed to a key ministerial position in the shadow cabinet the crowning achievement of her political career. She and her husband Bill (Timothy Spall) plan to celebrate this with a few close friends.

As the guests arrive at their home in London the party takes an unexpected turn when Bill suddenly makes some explosive revelations that take everyone present by surprise. Love, friendships and political convictions are soon called into question in this hilarious comedy of tragic proportions

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On a remote mountaintop, a rebel group of commandos perform military training exercises while watching over a prisoner (Julianne Nicholson) for a shadowy force known only as 'The Organization'.

After a series of unexpected events drives them deep into the jungle, fracturing their intricate bond, their mission slowly begins to collapse. Set against a stunningly beautiful but dangerous landscape, Alejandro Landes' awe-inspiring film is a breathtakingly epic vision that will leave you both mesmerised and utterly gripped.

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When devout university student Nour (Shaden Kanboura) moves in with successful lawyer Laila (Mouna Hawa) and club DJ Salma (Sana Jammelieh), she is shocked by their lifestyle.

As Laila fights to retain her freedom in the face of a new relationship, Salma falls for beautiful trainee doctor Dounia (Ashlam Canaan), a romance she must hide from her family. Nour is set for an arranged marriage to Wissam, an exemplary member of the community who may not be as respectable as he appears. 'In Between' follows the lives of these strong, independent minded Palestinian-lsraeli women in Tel Aviv. Away from the constraints of their families and enforced tradition, they find themselves 'in between' the free and unfettered lives they aspire to lead and the restrictions imposed on them by a blinkered society. First-time director Maysaloun Hamoud's exhilarating depiction of the lives of 'liberated' Palestinian women in Israel earned her the first Palestinian fatwa in 70 years.

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In 1828, as if out of nowhere, a young man appeared in Nuremberg's town square. He had no history, spoke only a few words, and could not stand upright. Having been locked in a basement for 17 years, Kaspar Hauser was more beast than man.

Who was he, and where did he come from? Despite attempts by townsfolk to understand and civilize him, Kaspar became little more than a sideshow attraction. And though the mystery of his origins remained unanswered, perhaps the biggest question of all was, why did someone want him dead?