sog's - Rented List

Show moreShow less

Oscar nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category and the winner of five prestigious Czech Lions Awards, 'Divided We Fall' is a delicious black comedy which deftly deals with the compromises forced upon ordinary people during wartime.

Based on real life events in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia, Divided We Fall tells the tale of childless couple josef and Marie Cizek, who offer refuge to David, a young Jew fleeing from his persecutors. However when a Nazi official also takes up residence in their spare room their lives become more complicated than they ever dreamed possible...

Show moreShow less

It's 1936 and respected hero of the Bolshevik Revolution Colonel Sergei Kotov (Nikita Mikhalkov) is living an idyllic life in the Russian countryside with his wife Maroussia (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) and daughter Nadia (Nadia Mikhalkova).

One glorious summer's day his serenity is interrupted by the arrival of the mysterious Dimitri (Oleg Menshikov), a former lover of Maroussia who had disappeared from her life ten years earlier. With songs and stories their new guest charms everyone but Kotov soon begins to suspect more sinister motives for his re-appearance. Set against the growing threat of Stalin's regime of terror, Nikita Mikhalkov's poignant, Oscar-winning him lingers in the memory long after viewing.

Show moreShow less

Casim (Atta Yaqub) is a second generation Pakistani from Glasgow. Working as a DJ in Glasgow's coolest venues, Casim dreams of buying his own club.

His parents Tariq (Ahmad Riaz) and Sadia (Shamshad Akhtar) are devout Muslims and plan for him to marry his beautiful cousin Jasmine (Sunna Mirza), who is soon to arrive in the UK. Plans go awry when Casim meets Roisin (Eva Birthistle). A teacher at his sister Tahara's school, Roisin is different from any girl he's ever met. She's gorgeous, intelligent and definitely possesses a mind of her own. She and Casim soon fall deeply in love. But Casim knows all too well that, even if he wasn't due to marry, his parents would never accept a 'goree' - a white girl. As a Catholic, Roisin finds that her own community isn't very supportive either. When their relationship is discovered, the repercussions of the scandal reach far and wide and sparks fly as cultures clash and personalities collide.

Show moreShow less

In the mountain retreat of a gifted internet billionaire, a young man takes partin a strange experiment: testing an artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.

But the experiment twists into a dark psychological battle - a love triangle, where loyalties are torn between man and machine.

When a flood of biblical proportions washes its home away, a solitary cat must seek refuge with a motley crew of animals (including a dog, a capybara, a lemur and a secretarybird), who gradually learn to get along in this endearing, Oscar-nominated animation.

Show moreShow less

Miklos Jancso's symbolic re-enactment of Hungary's 1919 revolution and its suppression is a virtuoso display of cinematic skill, transforming history into a timeless, mythic struggle.

As the countryside is rocked by political upheavals, a fanatical priest emerges as leader, engulfing the local people in ceaseless waves of violence. With choreographed camerawork endlessly encircling the characters, Jancso powerfully conveys the chaos of war. A potent allegory of the rise of fascism in Hungary after WWI, the film develops into an ageless, chilling exploration of the mechanics of oppression.

Show moreShow less

Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch), a dedicated sports and math teacher, starts her first job at a high school. She stands out among the new staff because of her idealism.

When a series of thefts occur at the school and one of her students is suspected, she decides to get to the bottom of the matter on her own. Carla tries to mediate between outraged parents, opinionated colleagues and aggressive students, but is relentlessly confronted with the structures of the school system. The more desperately she tries to do everything right, the more the young teacher threatens to break.

Show moreShow less

A bittersweet, hilarious, enlightening and inspirational road trip through Japanese arthouse cinemas with independent filmmaker Hirobumi Watanabe, who also struggles to release his own movies in real life.

This delightful minimalist micro-budget dramedy ironically and truthfully depicts a sorrowful post-Covid situation in Japanese cinemas, the rapidly changing film culture and the newly (re)discovered habits of spectators as an unyielding optimist Hirobumi painstakingly and stubbornly strives to invent clever distribution methods while keeping on striving to make movies.

Show moreShow less

Hukkle is a film that defies genre and has captivated audiences around the world: it is a stunningly artful and unconventional murder mystery.

Set in a Hungarian village, it is the story of how the 'useless' members of community die one after another: those unable to work, the unemployed, the old people, the ill ones. But, behind these seemingly innocuous deaths, lay a series of murders and every woman in the village is guilty. And there are many, many hidden secrets, and surprises, to unbury.

Show moreShow less

Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson bring to life the untold true story about the origins of one of the most treasured Disney classics of all time. John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) directs this acclaimed film, which reveals the surprising backstory behind the making of Mary Poppins.

Determined to fulfill a promise to his daughters, Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) tries for twenty years to obtain the rights to author P. L. Travers' (Emma Thompson) beloved book. Armed with his iconic creative vision, Walt pulls out all the stops, but the uncompromising Travers won't budge. Only when he reaches into his own complicated childhood does Walt discover the truth about the ghosts that haunt Travers, and together, they set Mary Poppins free!

Show moreShow less

Ayse, a 19-year-old girl from the Turkish countryside, is chosen to be married to the handsome Hasan, son of formidable and house proud mother Fatma, who resides in Vienna with her husband and children.

However, what soon becomes apparent is that Ayse is to be second wife to Fatma's husband. This tight-knit family go to great lengths to preserve traditional values, and although polygamy is illegal in Austria, Ayse is welcomed. Yet, her presence in a country whose language and culture is entirely foreign to her immediately marks her as an outsider.
As Western societal norms and Muslim religious beliefs draw closer together in an ever diversifying family unit, tensions arise, resulting in an explosive stroke of fate.

Show moreShow less

Prabha (Kani Kusruti), Anu (Divya Prabha) and Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) work at a hospital in Mumbai, where they grapple daily with the opportunities and hardships of life in the city.

Balancing an immersive vérité style with a touch of the surreal, Payal Kapadia's Cannes Grand Prix-winning drama captures the many shades of life in India's largest metropolis. The result is a profound, deeply humanist meditation on urban migration and dislocation.

Show moreShow less

'People of the Mountains' is set in a remote Transylvanian community where a woodcutter lives with his young family, working the high mountain forests.

Beginning as a lyrical portrait of a long-vanished way of life, the story gives way to the catastrophic impact of industrialisation on the community and the tragedies which follow in its wake. Istvan Szots has been compared to Ford, Dovzhenko and Renoir but this film, shot almost entirely on location and using mostly non-professional actors, was also cited by De Sica and Zavattini as a model for the Italian neorealist movement of the 1940s. Disapproved of by the ruling authorities, the reputation of this powerful and elemental film has continued to grow and it is now considered one of the greatest Hungarian films of all time.

Show moreShow less

Said (Kais Nashif) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) are walking time bombs. With explosives strapped to their bodies, the two young Palestinians slip into Israel, planning a suicide mission in Tel Aviv.

Can anything or anyone change their minds? Paradise Now - sweepingly powerful and intricately detailed, highly acclaimed and widely controversial - tells the story of these two lifelong friends and their mission of doom. Hany Abu-Assad directs, shooting this harrowing thriller in locations made equally harrowing by real-life missile attacks, exploding land mines, suspicious Palestinian factions and Israeli occupied forces, and the kidnapping of a crew member. The result is a film that knows its topic up close and provides no easy answers. Instead, 'Paradise Now' lays bare the humanity and the horror for all to see, to ponder...and perhaps to change.

Show moreShow less

"The Traitor" tells the true story of Tommaso Buscetta (Pierfrancesco Favino), the man who brought down the Cosa Nostra. In the early 1980's, an all out war rages between Sicilian mafia bosses over the heroin trade. Tommaso Buscetta, a made man, flees to hide out in Brazil.

Back home, scores are being settled and Buscetta watches from afar as his sons and brother are killed in Palermo, knowing he may be next. Arrested and extradited to Italy by the Brazilian police, Buscetta makes a decision that will change everything for the Mafia: he decides to meet with Judge Giovanni Falcone (Fausto Russo Alesi) and betray the eternal vow he made to the Cosa Nostra.