mervyn-verstellung's - Rented List
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It Must Be Heaven (2019)De repente, el paraíso
In Elia Suleiman's first film for a decade, his alter-ego ES escapes from Palestine seeking an alternative homeland, only to find that Palestine is trailing behind him. The promise of a new life turns into a comedy of errors: however far he travels, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of home. A comic saga exploring identity, nationality and belonging, in which Suleiman asks the fundamental question: where is the place we can truly call home? - Director:
- Elia Suleiman
- Cast:
- Elia Suleiman, Tarik Kopty, Kareem Ghneim
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Sonya (Aimee Lou Wood) and her Uncle Vanya (Toby Jones) throw their lives into maintaining the crumbling family estate, only visited occasionally by the radical and inspiring local doctor Astrov (Richard Armitage). However, when Sonya's father, Professor Serebryakov (Roger Allam), suddenly returns with his restless, alluring, new wife Yelena (Rosalind Eleazar), long-hidden truths start to emerge. - Director:
- Ross MacGibbon
- Cast:
- Roger Allam, Richard Armitage, Anna Calder-Marshall
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Millennium Actress (2001)Sennen Joyû
Thirty years on from her disappearance from the limelight, one question lingers - why did she end her career and vanish at the peak of her acting powers? The truth lies within a key found by Genya many years prior... a key that is far more than just a memento, and instead serves as an emblem of her entire raison d'etre. As Chiyoko recounts her story, so Genya and his cameraman are pulled into a wide-ranging journey through the lens of her films. Interviews and recollections, acting and reality, all blur into the single rich tapestry of a remarkable life. - Director:
- Satoshi Kon
- Cast:
- Miyoko Shôji, Mami Koyama, Fumiko Orikasa
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Experienced coroner Tommy Tilden (Brian Cox) and his grown-up son Austin (Emile Hirsch) run a family-owned morgue and crematorium in Virginia. When the local Sheriff (Michael McElhatton) brings in an emergency case - an unknown female corpse nicknamed 'Jane Doe' (Olwen Catherine Kelly), found in the basement of a home where a multiple homicide took place - it seems like just another open-and-shut case. But as the autopsy proceeds, these seasoned professionals are left reeling as each layer of their inspection brings frightening new revelations. While a violent storm rages outside, it seems the real horrors lie on the inside... - Director:
- André Øvredal
- Cast:
- Brian Cox, Emile Hirsch, Ophelia Lovibond
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Redoubtable (2017)Godard Mon Amour
Set against the backdrop of an achingly chic Paris of the 1960's, 'Redoubtable' depicts the relationship between iconic filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard - leading voice of the French New Wave - and his younger wife Anne Wiazemsky (Stacy Martin), a budding actress. After the poor reception to his latest film unleashes a profound self-examination in Godard, the relationship with his leading lady is put to the test as the revolutionary events of May '68 threaten to tear them apart. - Director:
- Michel Hazanavicius
- Cast:
- Louis Garrel, Stacy Martin, Bérénice Bejo
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A submarine crew, a feared pack of forest bandits, a famous surgeon, and a battalion of child soldiers all get more than they bargained for as they wend their way toward progressive ideas on life and love. In an ode to the lost movies of the silent era, Canadian auteur Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson embark on their ultimate epic phantasmagoria in 'The Forbidden Room'. Honouring classic cinema while electrocuting it with energy and featuring appearances by Charlotte Rampling, Mathieu Amalric and Geraldine Chaplin, this Russian nesting doll of a film takes viewers high into the air, around the world, and into dreamscapes, spinning tales of amnesia, captivity, deception and murder. - Director:
- Guy Maddin
- Cast:
- Roy Dupuis, Russell Mael, Clara Furey
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Things to Come (2015)L'avenir
Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert) teaches philosophy at a high school in Paris and divides her remaining time between her family, former students and her eccentric mother. But when her husband announces he is leaving her for another woman she finds a newfound freedom suddenly thrust upon her that is simultaneously liberating and disconcerting. Featuring a remarkable performance from Huppert, 'Things to Come' is an intelligent, poetic and naturalistic exploration of one woman's pursuit of contentment in the face of adversity. - Director:
- Mia Hansen-Løve
- Cast:
- Isabelle Huppert, André Marcon, Roman Kolinka
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At Eternity's Gate (2018)Van Gogh: At Eternity's Gate
Willem Dafoe gives a mesmerising performance as legendary painter Vincent van Gogh in 'At Eternity's Gate'. Covering his time in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise, we find a complex, troubled soul who is seeking a new visual language while also struggling to make sense of himself and his connection to those around him, including friend and fellow artist Paul Gauguin (Oscar Isaac) and a confiding priest (Mads Mikkelsen). - Director:
- Julian Schnabel
- Cast:
- Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac
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VIY (1967)Viy or Spirit of Evil / Viy, King of the Ghosts
Khoma (Leonid Kuravlyov), a young novice Monk, travels across the Ukrainian countryside whilst on a break from his seminary, and stays for one night in a barn belonging to a seemingly harmless old woman. Whilst sleeping the old woman attacks him, displaying supernatural strength. The scared novice fatally wounds her while fending her off. But before dying, she transforms into a beautiful young woman. Some time later Khoma, is called to the estate of a rich Kosack landowner, grieving the death of his daughter. Khoma has been personally requested to attend, and against his wishes taken by force to the estate. There he must pray for three nights in the chapel until the body of the landowners daughter is buried. On the first night, the woman Khoma had killed rises from the coffin and tries to kill him. Khoma must use every skill he knows for the next 3 nights to prevent this from happening. - Director:
- Konstantin Ershov
- Cast:
- Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksey Glazyrin
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The haunting story of two magazine reporters on an adventure with their friend to document his journey to reunite with his estranged sister. They track her to the remote world of 'Eden Parish', a self-sustained rural utopia overseen by a mysterious leader known as 'Father'. It quickly becomes evident that this paradise may not be as it seems. - Director:
- Ti West
- Cast:
- Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Kentucker Audley
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A renowned health supplement company, run by a ruthless businesswoman (Signe Egholm Olsen), is selecting and abducting young women as part of an experiment bio-hacking babies' DNA to enable her clients to reverse the ageing process. When Mia (Sara Hjort Ditlevsen) goes to investigate, she finds herself trapped, branded and tortured in a grim underground facility. Familiar faces start to appear, and she realises that she is not alone in this. Can she somehow find inner strength and escape from the nightmare? - Director:
- Jens Dahl
- Cast:
- Sara Hjort Ditlevsen, Anders Heinrichsen, Morten Holst
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Reinventing Marvin (2017)Marvin ou la belle éducation
Marvin (Finnegan Oldfield) is different. He is a quiet, sensitive and artistic fifteen-year-old with an unwitting attraction to other boys. This makes him victim to forceful bullying, both at school and within the confines of his impoverished home, making his situation unbearable. With the support of his teacher, Marvin discovers his thirst for theatre, and its transformative power of becoming someone else. Refusing to be victimised, Marvin moves to Paris to reinvent himself. As a theatre student, he swiftly befriends the right people including legendary actress Isabelle Huppert (playing herself), and with her help, begins to exorcise the ghosts of his childhood. Winner of the Queer Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, 'Reinventing Marvin' is a powerful, uplifting story of a young man's quest, against all odds, to be himself. - Director:
- Anne Fontaine
- Cast:
- Finnegan Oldfield, Grégory Gadebois, Vincent Macaigne
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The bizarre tale of Kenneth, a socially insecure technical writer who forms an obsessive relationship with "Nikki", an anatomically accurate silicone sex doll, which he ordered from the Internet. Due to his experiences with his new toy, Kenneth's life takes a turn for the better when his newly found romantic skills attract the attention of Lisa, a girl in his office. But when the doll's jealous personality invades his consciousness, Kenneth becomes trapped in a perverse triangle, torn between the dominating silicone Nikki and the beautiful flesh and blood Lisa. - Director:
- Robert Parigi
- Cast:
- Desmond Harrington, Melissa Sagemiller, Udo Kier
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"Friedkin Uncut" offers an introspective insight into the life and artistic journey of William Friedkin, an extraordinary and offbeat director of cult films such as 'The French Connection', 'The Exorcist' and 'Sorcerer'. For the first time Friedkin opens up, guiding the audience on a fascinating journey through the themes and stories that have influenced his life and his artistic career. Thanks to an 'all-star' cast of friends and collaborators (including Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, Willem Dafoe, Matthew McConaughey, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Shannon), we discover stories, anecdotes, and discuss what being an artist really means in order to celebrate the one and only Billy Friedkin and the fun and passion of making art. - Director:
- Francesco Zippel
- Cast:
- William Friedkin, Wes Anderson, Dario Argento
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The Ascent (1977)Voskhozhdeniye
In the darkest days of World War II, two partisans, Sotnikov (Boris Plotnikov) and Rybak (Vladimir Gostyukhin) set out for supplies to sustain their beleaguered outfit, braving the blizzard swept landscape of Nazi occupied Belorussia. When they fall into the hands of German forces and come face-to-face with death, each must choose between martyrdom and betrayal, in a spiritual ordeal that lifts the film's earthy drama to the plane of religious allegory. With stark, visceral cinematography that pits blinding white snow against pitch black despair, 'The Ascent' finds poetry and transcendence in the harrowing trials of war. - Director:
- Larisa Shepitko
- Cast:
- Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Sergey Yakovlev
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