siddhartha's - Rented List
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Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)Yin shi nan nu
Director Ang Lee's follow-up to his surprise box-office hit 'The Wedding Banquet', and nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Foreign Film, "Eat Drink Man Woman" is an unrivalled bitter sweet comedy about food, the senses and gender politics in modern China. Senior Master Chef Chu lives in a large house in Taipei with his three unmarried daughters; Jia-Jen, an unmarried chemistry teacher cynical about men; Jia-Chien, who has ambitions to become a great chef in a male dominated world and Jia-Ning, a sexually expressive college student who falls pregnant. Life in the house revolves around the ritual of an elaborate dinner each Sunday, lovingly cooked by Chef Chu but may be all too traditional for the next generation of the family. As each meal passes the relationships between the daughters and the family as a whole evolve and change in many unexpected ways. - Director:
- Ang Lee
- Cast:
- Sihung Lung, Yu-Wen Wang, Chien-lien Wu
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When beautiful straight - A high school student Kanako goes missing, her mother asks ex-husband Akikazu - a drifting, irresponsible former cop - to find their daughter. He embarks on a desperate search in the hope of reuniting his 'perfect family' by any means necessary. But as his investigation progresses, Akikazu starts to discover the darkness that lies behind his daughter's impeccable facade. Glue by clue, revelation by revelation, he starts his descent into the hellish underworld of Kanako's secret life... - Director:
- Tetsuya Nakashima
- Cast:
- Kôji Yakusho, Nana Komatsu, Satoshi Tsumabuki
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Landscape in the Mist (1988)Topio Stin Omichli
Two children, Voula (Tania Palaiologou) and her young brother Alexander (Michalis Zeke), run away from their Athens home to search for their father, whom their mother has told them lives in Germany. Boarding an express train, the children begin an epic journey into the chaos of the world and away from the innocence of childhood. Beautifully photographed by Giorgios Arvanitis and referencing several of Angelopoulos' earlier works, this extraordinary coming of age tale paints a dark portrait of Greece in the eighties - a country caught between its past and present, struggling to find a place in the future. - Director:
- Theodoros Angelopoulos
- Cast:
- Michalis Zeke, Tania Palaiologou, Stratos Tzortzoglou
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Larks on a String (1969)Skrivánci Na Niti
Filmed in 1968 whilst Czechoslovakia enjoyed a brief moment of political liberalization, 'Larks on a String' is a searing political comedy from director Jin Menzel and writer Bohumil Hrabal. Like their earlier Oscar-winning triumph Closely Observed Trains, it audaciously combines black humour with grim reality. Set in a scrap metal yard where political dissidents are interned to be re-educated, the film is both a powerful critique of totalitarianism and a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit. - Director:
- Jirí Menzel
- Cast:
- Rudolf Hrusínský, Vlastimil Brodský, Václav Neckár
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Amsterdamned (1988)Verfluchtes Amsterdam
There is a serial killer at bay in Amsterdam's canal network and the race is on to stop him before mass hysteria grips the nation. Dick Maas's cult slasher movie starts as it means to go on when the predator leaves the protective habitat of the dark canal to claim his first victim before dragging her back into a watery grave. The Mayor is desperate for an end to the mayhem as it becomes clear that the killer could strike at any time, and Detective Eric Visser (Huub Stapel) is given the task of finding the murderer. Amsterdamned became a cult thriller classic on its original release and has stood the test of time with its great action sequences, including an unforgettable speedboat chase along the city's narrow canals, evidence of the high production values and the masterful, clever and dark witty direction of DickMaas. - Director:
- Dick Maas
- Cast:
- Huub Stapel, Monique Van De Ven, Serge-Henri Valcke
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An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty (1984)Tong chiu ho fong nui
One of the last films produced at Hong Kong's legendary Shaw Brothers studio, and absolutely one of their finest - a visually ravishing and erotically charged story of a free-spirited female poet Yu (Patricia Ha) who, frustrated by the conservative times in which she lives, refuses to behave in the ways nice young ladies are supposed to. Despite plentiful clothes-off action, this is so much more than a soft-core 'romp', boasting an artistic ambition that Shaw Brothers didn't always show in their kung fu movies. - Director:
- Eddie Ling-Ching Fong
- Cast:
- Pat Ha, Alex Man, Kuo-Chu Chang
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L'Argent (1983)Money
Bresson's classic film, adapted from a story by Tolstoy, tells of the tragic chain of events which ensue when two schoolboys pass a forged banknote in a photography shop. The note is transferred to the unwitting Yvon (Christian Patey), a delivery driver, who is arrested for possessing it. Despite being cleared by the court, Yvon loses his job and becomes trapped in a disastrous spiral of theft, imprisonment and murder. Considered to be the last masterpiece of his - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Christian Patey, Sylvie Van den Elsen, Michel Briguet
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The Quiet Girl (2022)An Cailín Ciúin
CoIm Bairead's beautifully understated feature debut finds a young girl coming to terms with loss and the importance of family in rural Ireland. Cait (Catherine Clinch), a quiet, neglected young girl, is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with relatives for the summer. At first intimidated by her new environment, she quickly blossoms in the care of Eibhlin (Carrie Crowley) and her farmer husband, Sean (Andrew Bennett). As this new home becomes an idyll for her, Cait senses that something is plaguing her new foster parents - an unspoken pain that Eibhlin and Sean never discuss, which Cait's youthful curiosity begins to uncover. - Director:
- Colm Bairéad
- Cast:
- Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett
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Goodbye, First Love. (2011)Un Amour De Jeunesse
In the Paris winter of 1999 Camille (Lola Creton) is fifteen, Sullivan is nineteen. Although they love each other passionately, Sullivan wants to go travelling for a year - a plan that fills Camille with despair. At the end of the summer, Sullivan leaves and a few months later he stops writing to Camille. Fast forward four years and Camille is fully devoted to her architectural studies when she meets a well-known architect, Lorenz, who restores her self confidence and they fall in love. It is then that Sullivan and Camille once more cross paths... - Director:
- Mia Hansen-Løve
- Cast:
- Lola Créton, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Magne-Håvard Brekke
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Isolation...alienation...happiness. In America they all go hand in hand. Buy a new TV and you will be happy. Still not happy? Experience alienation. Can't afford a new TV? Then live in isolation. 'Be happy', and if that doesn't work, pretend to make it work. For the characters in Todd Solondz' award winning, subversively funny film Happiness, the struggle to attain such a state is fraught with perils both heartbreaking and hilarious. - Director:
- Todd Solondz
- Cast:
- Jane Adams, Jon Lovitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman
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Father of My Children (2009)Le Père De Mes Enfants
Gregoire Canvel has everything a man could want: a wife he loves, three delightful children and a stimulating job as a film producer. Yet his prestigious production company seems to be on a downward spiral - too many projects, too many risks and too many debts. As storm clouds begin to gather, Gregoire ploughs on at all costs until he is finally forced to confront the reality of the situation. - Director:
- Mia Hansen-Løve
- Cast:
- Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Peter Von Poehl, Chiara Caselli
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In 1961, Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), a 60 year old taxi driver, stole Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery's history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly - he had long campaigned for pensioners to receive free television. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge - Kempton had spun a web of lies. The only truth was that he was a good man, determined to change the world and save his marriage - how and why he used the Duke to achieve that is a wonderfully uplifting tale. - Director:
- Roger Michell
- Cast:
- Jim Broadbent, Heather Craney, Stephen Rashbrook
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Youth (2015)La Giovinezza
Fred and Mick, two old friends now approaching eighty, are on holiday together in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred (Michael Caine), a retired composer, is resisting attempts to revive his greatest work, while elderly film director Mick (Harvey Keitel) is desperate to make a comeback movie starring his former favoured actress Brenda (Jane Fonda). The two friends reflect on their past, as they look with curiosity and tenderness on their children's confused lives, Mick's enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests, all of whom, it seems, have all the time that they lack. - Director:
- Paolo Sorrentino
- Cast:
- The Retrosettes, Gabriella Belisario, Harvey Keitel
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Two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant). Made to choose between belief and disbelief, they find themselves plunged into the darkest labyrinths of Reed's mind and a deadly game of cat-and-mouse in this twisted horror from writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods ("A Quiet Place") - Director:
- Scott Beck
- Cast:
- Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East
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An astonishing portrait of youth on the American fringe, 'American Honey' is told through the eyes of a vivacious teenage rebel who joins a group of fellow misfits hustling and partying their way across the country. Bursting with electric, primal energy, 'American Honey' is an immersive, exhilarating odyssey of heartbreaking beauty - a generation-defining film that celebrates the defiant resilience of youth in pursuit of the American Dream. - Director:
- Andrea Arnold
- Cast:
- Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough
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