ncobb-watched's - Rented List
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The Return of Martin Guerre (1982)Le retour de Martin Guerre
Based on a true story from 16th century France, Martin Guerre (Gérard Depardieu) who, after a pre-arranged marriage, abandons his family to fight in the war. Then, following an 8-year absence, suddenly returns to his native village. Martin's personality however, has mysteriously changed; where once he neglected and abused his wife, Bertrande (Nathalie Baye), he now acts lovingly and gently toward her. This startling transformation leads some of Martin's relatives to suspect the man of being an impostor. Bertrand insists otherwise, despite mounting evidence against her "husband". Soon the villagers have dragged Martin and Bertrande to court in order to uncover the truth. - Director:
- Daniel Vigne
- Cast:
- Gérard Depardieu, Nathalie Baye, Maurice Barrier
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Spirited Away (2001)Sen to chihiro no kamikakushi
Chihiro, a headstrong 10-year-old girl, is unhappy that her family are moving house and that she will have to make new friends. As they make their way to the new home, Chihiro's father takes a detour to explore a mysterious tunnel in the woods. On the other side is what seems to be a deserted theme park but is in fact a ghostly town. Unwittingly, they have strayed into the Land of the Spirits, a world of dreamlike scenery inhabited by ancient gods and magical beings, ruled over by the sorceress, Yubaba. With her parents held captive and Yubaba set on enslaving them forever, Chihiro must use all her energy to survive in this strange new place. With the help of Haku, a brave young spirit, she is forced to overcome her Pears and join an epic battle for her family's freedom. - Director:
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast:
- Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino
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The Insect Woman / Nishi Ginza Station (1963)Nippon konchûki (1963) / Nishi Ginza ekimae (1958)
"My heroines are true to life - just look around you at Japanese women. They are strong, and they outlive men", director Shôhei Imamura once observed. And so an audacious, anthropological approach to filmmaking came into full maturity with the director's vast 1963 chronicle of pre- and post-war Japan, The Insect Woman (Nippon-konchûki, or An Account of Japanese Insects). Comparing his heroine, Tome Matsuki (played by Sachiko Hidari, who won the "Best Actress" award at the 1964 Berlin Film Festival for the role) to the restlessness and survival instincts of worker insects, the film is an unsparing study of working-class female life. Beginning with Tome's birth in 1918, it follows her through five decades of social change, several improvised careers, and male-inflicted cruelty. Elliptically plotted, brimming over with black humour and taboo material, and immaculately staged in crystalline NikkatsuScope, The Insect Woman is arguably Imamura's most radical and emphatic testament to female resilience. - Director:
- Shôhei Imamura
- Cast:
- Emiko Aizawa, Setsuko Amamiya, Tomio Aoki
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The Naked Island (1960)Hadaka no shima
Filmed on the virtually deserved Setonaikai archipelago in south-west Japan. The Naked Island tells the story of a small family unit and their subsistence as the only inhabitants of an arid, sun-baked island. Daily chores, captured as a series of cyclical events, result in a hypnotizing, moving, and beautiful film harkening back to the silent era. - Director:
- Kaneto Shindô
- Cast:
- Nobuko Otowa, Taiji Tonoyama, Shinji Tanaka
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Kwaidan (1964)Kaidan / Weird Tales / Ghost Stories
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, 'Kwaidan' features four nightmarish tales (adapted from Lafcadio Hearn's classic Japanese ghost stories) about mortals caught up in forces beyond their comprehension when the supernatural world intervenes in their lives. Breathtakingly photographed entirely on hand-painted sets, the film is an abstract wash of luminescent colours from another world. - Director:
- Masaki Kobayashi
- Cast:
- Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Rentarô Mikuni
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The Life of O-Haru (1952)Saikaku ichidai onna
Winner of the 1952 Venice Film Festival silver lion award, Kenji Mizoguchi's tragic tale, set in the 17th Century, of a young noblewoman's fall from grace established his reputation as one of Japan's greatest directors. Kinuyo Tanaka stars as O-Haru, a beautiful courtesan who surrenders to her passion for a commoner, played by Toshiro Mifune. As punishment, she and her parents are banished into exile where O-Haru desperately attempts to escape her past. A compelling and powerful critique of feudal Japan as seen through the eyes of a woman, 'The Life of O-Haru' portrays the human dramas and historical settings with unflinching realism and atmospheric detail, demonstrating Mizoguchi's complete mastery of the medium. - Director:
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Cast:
- Kinuyo Tanaka, Tsukie Matsuura, Ichirô Sugai
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Voyage to Cythera (1984)Taxidi sta Kythira
Returning to Greece after years of exile in Russia, an old civil war fighter returns to his remote mountain village and struggles to re-acquaint himself with the family and country that he once knew. When he refuses to join the other villagers in selling his land to a developer, thwarting plans to turn the area into a ski resort, he is ostracized. The furor draws the attention of the authorities and, when the old man is unable to prove his Greek citizenship, they move to deport him. Theo Angelopoulos' poetic and moving film examines the enduring social and political issues that have rocked Greece since the Second World War. - Director:
- Theodoros Angelopoulos
- Cast:
- Manos Katrakis, Mary Chronopoulou, Michalis Yannatos
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The Crucified Lovers (1954)Chikamatsu Monogatari
The movie tells the hauntingly tragic story of a forbidden love affair between a merchant's wife, Osan (Kyôko Kagawa), and her husband's employee, Mohei (Kazuo Hasegawa), in an era when the punishment for adultery was crucifixion. When a series of innocent events lead to the false accusation of an affair between Osan and Mohei, the accused pair are forced to flee an almost certain death sentence. On the run, the outlaw couple grow closer together, drawn inexorably towards the romantic crime of which they are accused. - Director:
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Cast:
- Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô
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The Woman of Rumour (1954)Uwasa No Onna
The film offers a contrasting portrait of attitudes and mores concerning love and relationships. Set in a modern Kyoto geisha house, the eponymous woman in the rumour is Hatsuko, madame of her own geisha house. When Hatsuko ends up pursuing the same man as her daughter, Yukiko, both women are forced to confront their attitudes towards each other and the family business. - Director:
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Cast:
- Kinuyo Tanaka, Tomoemon Otani, Yoshiko Kuga
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A Geisha (1953)Gion bayashi
Mizoguchi's Gion Bayashi - made directly between Ugetsu Monogatai and Sansho Dayu - is set in the world of the courtesan. Contrasting two different types of geisha - on one hand, Eiko (Wakao Ayako), a sixteen-year old orphan wishing to be taken in and trained; on the other, Miyoharu (Kogure Michiyo), an older, more experienced geisha, who agrees to mentor the younger woman - they live under the same roof in difficult personal circumstances. 'Gion Bayashi' is a fascinating, subtle insight into the loves of these women in 1950's Japan. - Director:
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Cast:
- Michiyo Kogure, Ayako Wakao, Seizaburô Kawazu
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The Lady of Musashino (1951)Musashino fujin
Set in post-war Japan, 'The Lady of Musashino' tells the story of Michiko, a disillusioned young woman trapped in a loveless marriage. She confides in her younger cousin, Tsutomo, and the two become close, but decide not to consummate their affair. He instead becomes involved with the flirtatious Tomiko, who is also conducting an affair with Michiko's husband. When Michiko finds that her husband has abandoned her, she decides to take fate into her own hands. Kinuyo Tanaka gives an impassioned performance in Mizoguchi's compelling and powerful drama. - Director:
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Cast:
- Kinuyo Tanaka, Yukiko Todoroki, Masayuki Mori
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After Life (1998)Wandâfuru raifu
"After Life" revolves around an intriguing premise. At a half way station between heaven and earth, guides greet the newly dead. Over the next three days, they will help them sift through their memories to find the one defining moment of their lives - an old woman remembers dancing for her older brother's friends as a child; a man recollects the breeze felt on a tram ride the day before summer vacation; a young girl wants to ride the Splash Mountain at Disneyland. The chosen moment will be recreated on film and relieved for eternity. - Director:
- Hirokazu Koreeda
- Cast:
- Arata Iura, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima
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The Cranes Are Flying (1957)Letyat Zhuravli
This landmark film by the virtuosic Mikhail Kalatozov was heralded as a revelation in the post-Stalin Soviet Union and the international cinema community alike. It tells the story of Veronica (Tatiana Samoilova) and Boris (Alexei Batalov), a couple who are blissfully in love until World War II tears them apart. With Boris at the front, Veronica must try to ward off spiritual numbness and defend herself from the increasingly forceful advances of her beau's draft-dodging cousin. - Director:
- Mikhail Kalatozov
- Cast:
- Tatyana Samoylova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasiliy Merkurev
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In the Fog (2012)V Tumane
Set in German-occupied Belarus in 1942, the interplay of people and events slowly bind the characters into a trap: Sushenya has apparently collaborated with the Germans and is taken off into the woods by two partisans. Through flashbacks the truth, and the moral complexities behind it, is gradually revealed. - Director:
- Sergey Loznitsa
- Cast:
- Vladimir Svirskiy, Vladislav Abashin, Sergey Kolesov
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Tokyo Godfathers (2003)Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
In Tokyo, three homeless people's lives are changed forever when they discover a baby girl in a garbage dump on Christmas Eve. As the New Year fast approaches, these three forgotten members of society band together to solve the mystery of the abandoned child and the fate of her parents. Along the way, encounters with seemingly unrelated events and people force them to confront their own haunted pasts, as they learn to face their future together. - Director:
- Satoshi Kon
- Cast:
- Tôru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Aya Okamoto
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