ncobb-watched's - Rented List
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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
- Formats:
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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
- Formats:
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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
- Formats:
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Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)Bara No Sôretsu
A feverish collision of avant-garde aesthetics and grindhouse shocks 'Funeral Parade of Roses' takes us on an electrifying journey into the nether-regions of the late-'60's Tokyo underworld. In Matsumoto's controversial debut feature, seemingly nothing is taboo: neither the incorporation of visual flourishes straight from the worlds of contemporary graphic-design, painting, comic-books, and animation; nor the unflinching depiction of nudity, sex, drug-use, and public-toilets. But of all the "transgressions" here on display, perhaps one in particular stands out the most: the film's groundbreaking and unapologetic portrayal of Japanese gay subculture. Cross-dressing club-kid Eddie (Pîtâ) vies with a rival drag-queen (Osamu Ogasawara) for the favours of drug-dealing cabaret-manager Gonda Passions escalate and blood begins to flow - before all tensions are released in a jolting climax. - Director:
- Toshio Matsumoto
- Cast:
- Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshimi Jô
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House of Fools (2002)Dom durakov
The inmates are running the asylum...literally. As a war led by local rebels surrounds their tranquil haven, the patients of a small psychiatric hospital remain blissfully cut off from the raging conflict, safely confined in their own small, restricted world. But problems ensue as the medical staff abandons the hospital, leaving the residents to fend for themselves. Janna (Julia Vysotsky), a beautiful young patient, takes it upon herself to organize the hapless group as best she can, entertaining them with her accordion and dreaming of the day when her imaginary fiance, pop musician Bryan Adams, will arrive to whisk her off to a better life. - Director:
- Andrei Konchalovsky
- Cast:
- Bryan Adams, Julia Vysotsky, Sultan Islamov
- Formats:
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The Round-Up (1965)Szegénylegények
Set in a detention camp in Hungary 1869, at a time of guerrilla campaigns against the ruling Austrians, Jancso (János Görbe) deliberately avoids conventional heroics to focus on the persecution and dehumanisation manifest in a time of conflict. Filmed in Hungary's desolate and burning landscape, Jancso uses his formidable technique to create a remarkable and terrifying picture of war and the abuse of power that is still very relevant today. - Director:
- Miklós Jancsó
- Cast:
- János Görbe, Zoltán Latinovits, Tibor Molnár
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Man of Marble (1977)Czlowiek Z Marmuru
Andrzej Wajda's dazzling Man of Marble is one of the key films of the 1970s. Often described as the 'Polish Citizen Kane', Wajda's epic masterwork operates as both an electrifying political saga and a compelling analysis of the nature of cinema itself. Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer, glorified as a State-promoted 'Worker's Hero' is subsequently removed from all official mention in 1952. In 1976 a young filmmaker, Agnieszka, obsessively pursues his story. Birkut's rise and fall and disappearance into obscurity provides Wajda with a framework for a brave reassessment of the period. Although suppressed by the authorities, Man of Marble became a milestone in Polish cinema and an undoubted influence in the dismantling of the totalitarian system in Poland. - Director:
- Andrzej Wajda
- Cast:
- Krystyna Janda, Andrzej Seweryn, Jerzy Radziwilowicz
- Formats:
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Ashes and Diamonds (1958)Popiól i Diament
On the last day of World War Two in a small town somewhere in Poland, Polish exiles of war and the occupying Soviet forces confront the beginning of a new day and a new Poland. In this incendiary environment we find Home Army soldier Maciek Chelmicki (Zbigniew Cybulski), who has been ordered to assassinate an incoming commissar. But a mistake stalls his progress and leads him to Krystyna (Ewa Krzyzewska), a beautiful barmaid who gives him a glimpse of what his life could be. Gorgeously photographed and brilliantly performed, 'Ashes and Diamonds' masterfully interweaves the fate of a nation with that of one man, resulting in one of the most important Polish films of all time. - Director:
- Andrzej Wajda
- Cast:
- Zbigniew Cybulski, Waclaw Zastrzezynski, Adam Pawlikowski
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