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Once a rising star of the rodeo circuit, and a gifted horse trainer, young cowboy Brady is warned that his riding days are over, after a horse crushes his skull at a rodeo. Back home on the Pine Ridge Reservation, with little desire or alternatives for a different way of life, Brady’s sense of inadequacy mounts as he is unable to ride or rodeo – the essentials of being a cowboy. In an attempt to regain control of his own fate, Brady undertakes a search for new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.
Two women, Janis and Ana, meet in a hospital where they are about to give birth. Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis, middle-aged, has no regrets and is exultant. The other, Ana, an adolescent, is scared and repentant. Janis tries to encourage her as they move like sleepwalkers through the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in these hours will create a very close link between them, which by chance will develop and complicate, changing their lives in a decisive way.
Academy Award nominations for:
From visionary director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy and Stoker) comes The Handmaiden, a sumptuous and exhilarating period thriller inspired by Sarah Waters’ best-selling novel Fingersmith. Set during the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1930s, a young handmaiden named Sookee is hired by Lady Hideko, a reclusive heiress who lives in a sprawling mansion under the watchful eye of her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But Sookee harbours a secret: she has been recruited by Fujiwara, a scheming con artist posing as a Japanese Count, to trick Hideko into entrusting him with her fortune. However, when Sookee and Hideko begin to develop unexpected emotions for each other, they start putting together a plan of their own. With breathtaking visuals, grandiose set design and frenzied humour, The Handmaiden is one of the year’s most anticipated films - an opulent and labyrinthine tale of deception, romance and triple-crossing that marks a career high for one of modern cinema’s most thrilling auteurs.
A masterful, moving and multi award-winning film from Ryusuke Hamaguchi (WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY), based on the short story of the same name by international bestselling author Haruki Murakami. Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a stage actor and director, is happily married to Oto (Reika Kirishima), a screenwriter. However, when Oto suddenly passes away, she leaves behind a secret. Two years later, Kafuku, still unable to fully cope with the loss of his wife, receives an offer to direct a play at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There, he meets Misaki (Toko Miura), a reserved young woman assigned to be his chauffeur. As they spend time together, Kafuku confronts the mystery of his wife that quietly haunts him. Winner of the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Best Screenplay in Cannes 2021 and the BAFTA for Film Not in the English Language.
The animated Isle Of Dogs tells the story of Atari Kobayashi, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.
Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and Best Picture at the Academy Awards, acclaimed director Bong Joon-ho returns with this black comedy about wealth, greed and class discrimination. Meet the Park Family: the picture of aspirational wealth. And the Kim Family, rich in street smarts but not much else. Be it chance or fate, these two houses are brought together and the Kims sense a golden opportunity. Masterminded by college-aged Ki-woo, the Kim children expediently install themselves as tutor and art therapist, to the Parks. Soon, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two families. The Kims provide “indispensable” luxury services while the Parks obliviously bankroll their entire household. When a parasitic interloper threatens the Kims’ newfound comfort, a savage, underhanded battle for dominance breaks out, threatening to destroy the fragile ecosystem between the Kims and the Parks.
Academy Award Winner
A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
There’s a theory that we should be born with a small amount of alcohol in our blood, and that modest inebriation opens our minds to the world around us, diminishing our problems and increasing our creativity. Heartened by that theory, Martin and three of his friends, all weary high school teachers, embark on an experiment to maintain a constant level of intoxication throughout the workday. If Churchill won WW2 in a heavy daze of alcohol, who knows what a few drops might do for them and their students? Initial results are positive, and the teachers’ little project turns into a genuine academic study. Both their classes and their results continue to improve, and the group feels alive again! As the units are knocked back, some of the participants see further improvement and others start to go off the rails. It becomes increasingly clear that while alcohol may have fueled great results in world history, some bold acts carry consequences. 2021 Academy Award-Winner for Best International Feature Film.
Meet Ove, an isolated retiree with strict principles and a short fuse - the quintessential angry old man next door. Having entirely given up on life, his days are spent in a constant monotony of enforcing housing association rules and visiting his beloved wife Sonja’s grave. Ove’s somewhat content existence is disrupted, however, with the arrival of a boisterous young family who move in next door. Heavily pregnant Parvaneh and her lively children are the complete antithesis of what ill-tempered Ove thinks he needs. Yet, from this unhappy beginning an unlikely friendship blooms and Ove’s past happiness and heartbreaks come to light. Based on the international bestselling novel by Fredrik Backman, the Oscar-nominated A Man Called Ove is a wistful, heartwarming tale of unreliable first impressions and a wonderful reminder that life is sweeter when it’s shared. In Swedish language with English subtitles.
From acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort, My Summer of Love) comes Ida, a poignant and powerfully told drama about 18-year-old Anna, a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, who is preparing to become a nun when she discovers that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation. This revelation triggers a heart-wrenching journey into the countryside, to the family house and into the secrets of the repressed past, evoking the haunting legacy of the Holocaust and the realities of postwar Communism. Powerfully written and eloquently shot, Ida is a masterly evocation of a time, a dilemma, and a defining historical moment. (2015 Oscar winner for: Best Foreign Language Film. Also nominated for Best Cinematography)
Kate Mercer is planning a party to celebrate her 45th wedding anniversary. One week before the celebration, however, a letter arrives for her husband, Geoff, containing news that reawakens troubling and long-hidden memories. Though Kate continues to prepare for the anniversary, she becomes increasingly concerned by Geoff's preoccupation with the letter and the ensuing revelations about his past. By the time the party comes round, there may not be a marriage left to celebrate. Anchored by sensational performances from Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, 45 Years is an intimate, moving and beautifully restrained portrait of a marriage shaken to its core by things left unspoken. Winning Best Actor and Best Actress awards at this year's Berlinale Film Festival, Andrew Haigh's 45 Years is British filmmaking at its very best. (Academy Award nomination for: Best Actress)
The winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, Blue Is The Warmest Colour is the stunning portrait of a relationship, detailed in its portrayal yet exploring emotions and situations universal to us all, this is a towering achievement in cinema. 15-year-old Adèle (a spine-tingling performance from Adèle Exarchopoulos) feels like an average teenager, with school, friends, parents and boys taking up most of her time and thoughts. That is until a chance encounter with a beguiling blue-haired girl (a luminescent Léa Seydoux) turns her world upside down, forcing her to question her desires and assert herself as a woman and as an adult. Jaw-droppingly frank in its sexual content, mesmerisingly beautiful as an artistic accomplishment and utterly compelling from start to finish, this is gripping, engrossing cinema in its rawest, purest form and one of the most celebrated and talked-about films of the year.
A man employs a lawyer, to help claim the land he lives on from the corrupt grasp of the town Mayor. But this begins a series of events that throw him into a whirlwind of problems infusing every area of his life, from his family to his home. Leviathan is a Russian, critically acclaimed domestic drama with epic themes. Nominated for the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, Palme D'or at Cannes and winner of their Best Screenplay competition. Also won Best International Film at the Munich Film Festival.
White-collar drudge by day. But by night - and any other time, likable, clever Stephane dreams. Because it's on his magic carpet of dreams where Stephane headlines Stephane TV, builds a mighty cut-and-paste wonderland, pens a bestseller and sweeps the lovely girl next door off her feet and into his arms. If only he could make his dreams (at least the last one) come true! Michel Gondry writes and directs this quirky, quixotic, constantly inventive romantic fantasy of imagination vs. logic, dreams vs. reality. Wake up and smell the possibilities. The Science Of Sleep is a movie to amaze, dare and delight you...and to whisper to the dreamer within.
Loving Vincent is a biographical drama film about the life of painter Vincent van Gogh. It is the world's first fully oil painted animated film and brings his artwork to life in an exploration of the death of one of history's most celebrated artists. A true labour of love, written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, each of the film's 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas, using the same technique as Van Gogh, created by a team of 115 painters. (Academy Award nomination for: Best Animated Picture)
From renowned provocateur Paul Verhoeven (Elle, Basic Instinct), BENEDETTA is a subversive erotic drama based on the true story of a 17th century nun entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair. Virginie Efira stars as the titular Benedetta, a nun whose religious fervor begins to manifest in increasingly sensual and violent visions of Jesus. These hallucinations arouse the suspicions of Charlotte Rampling’s shrewd abbess, Sister Felicita, whose distrust grows when a farm girl called Bartolomea (Daphné Patakia) enters the convent seeking refuge, and quickly develops an attraction to Benedetta. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, Verhoeven’s intoxicating latest is a transgressive and alluring look at faith, power and religion, and is every bit as scandalous as you would expect from the controversial filmmaker. In French with English subtitles.
Sarah Watt's Look Both Ways opens with one man being hit by a train whilst another is diagnosed with testicular cancer. And you'd be surprised to find that what follows is actually a love story. Nick, who is trying to live a normal life after being told he has cancer, ends up meeting Meryl, the only witness to the tragic train accident. Instantly drawn to one another the two share their experiences of life and death whilst their family and friends suffer their own personal crises. Look Both Ways is a commanding debut feature that successfully blends animation and live action whilst bringing a wry humour to a difficult subject matter.
From visionary director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy and Stoker) comes The Handmaiden, a sumptuous and exhilarating period thriller inspired by Sarah Waters’ best-selling novel Fingersmith. Set during the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1930s, a young handmaiden named Sookee is hired by Lady Hideko, a reclusive heiress who lives in a sprawling mansion under the watchful eye of her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But Sookee harbours a secret: she has been recruited by Fujiwara, a scheming con artist posing as a Japanese Count, to trick Hideko into entrusting him with her fortune. However, when Sookee and Hideko begin to develop unexpected emotions for each other, they start putting together a plan of their own. With breathtaking visuals, grandiose set design and frenzied humour, The Handmaiden is one of the year’s most anticipated films - an opulent and labyrinthine tale of deception, romance and triple-crossing that marks a career high for one of modern cinema’s most thrilling auteurs. (Incudes both the theatrical and extended cuts of the film)
Michael Stone, husband, father and respected author is a man crippled by the mundanity of his life. On a business trip to Cincinnati, where he's scheduled to speak at a convention of customer service professionals, Michael checks into the Fregoli Hotel and meets Lisa Hesselman, a socially awkward sales rep from Akron who may or may not be the love of his life. From Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind), comes this darkly comedic and surreal stop-motion animated journey into the mind of a man whose dark night of the soul becomes a Kaufmanesque nightmare.
The Last Station is a love story set during the last year of the life and turbulent marriage of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and his wife the Countess Sofya. Tolstoy, having rejected his title and embraced an ascetic lifestyle, finds himself increasingly at odds with Sofya. As his devoted disciple Vladimir Chertkov urges him to sign a new will leaving the rights to his work to the Russian people rather than his family, the conflict between husband and wife grows to breaking point. The Last Station is a film about the difficulty of living with love and the impossibility of living without it.
Based on one of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, The Kite Runner is a profoundly emotional tale of friendship, family, devastating mistakes and redeeming love. In a divided country on the verge of war, two childhood friends, Amir and Hassan, are about to be torn apart forever. It's a glorious afternoon in Kabul and the skies are bursting with the exhilarating joy of a kite-fighting tournament. But in the aftermath of the day's victory, one boy's fearful act of betrayal will mark their lives forever and set in motion an epic quest for redemption. Now, after 20 years of living in America, Amir returns to a perilous Afghanistan under the Taliban's iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and take one last daring chance to set things right...
Cold War is a passionate love story between a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in 1950s Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, it’s the tale of a couple separated by politics, character flaws and unfortunate twists of fate — an impossible love story in impossible times. (Academy Award nominations for: Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography)
Kaneto Shindo, one of Japan s most prolific directors, received his biggest international success with the release of Onibaba [The Demoness] in 1964. Its depiction of violence and graphic sexuality was unprecedented at the time of release. Shindo managed - through his own production company Kindai Eiga Kyokai - to bypass the strict, self - regulated Japanese film industry and pave the way for such films as Yasuzo Masumura's Mojuu (1969) and Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses (1976). Onibaba [or Onibabaa, in its alternate spelling] is set during a brutal period in history, a Japan ravaged by civil war between rivaling shogunates. Weary from combat, samurai are drawn towards the seven - foot high susuki grass fields to hide and rest themselves, whereupon they are ambushed and murdered by a ruthless mother (Nobuko Otowa) and daughter - in - law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) team. The women throw the samurai bodies into a pit, and barter their armour and weapons for food. When Hachi (Kei Sato), a neighbour returning from the wars, brings bad news, he threatens the women's partnership. Erotically charged and steeped in the symbolism and superstition of its Buddhist and Shinto roots, Kaneto Shindo's Onibaba is in part a modern parable on consumerism, a study of the destructiveness of sexual desire and - filmed within a claustrophobic sea of grass - one of the most striking and unique films of Japan's last half - century, winning Kiyomi Kuroda the Blue Ribbon Award for Cinematography in 1965. The memorably frenetic drumming soundtrack was scored by long - time Shindo collaborator Hikaru Hayashi.
Nymphomaniac is the wild and poetic story of a woman's journey from birth to the age of 50 as told by the main character, the self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe. On a cold winter's evening the old, charming bachelor, Seligman, finds Joe beaten up in an alley. He brings her home to his flat where he cares for her wounds while asking her about her life. He listens intently as Joe over the next 8 chapters recounts the lusty, branched-out and multifaceted story of her life, rich in associations and interjecting incidents. The new film from Lars von Trier, Nymphomaniac contains all the shock and controversy you would expect from the unrivalled enfant terrible of contemporary cinema. But don't let that put you off, because underneath the surface is a richly complex, fearlessly intelligent and frequently hilarious work that will provoke thoughts you never knew you had. PLEASE BE AWARE: This is a mainstream movie, but with an artistic element, and the scenes depicted are of an extremely graphic nature.
Derek Jarman struggled for seven years to bring his portrait of the 17th-century Italian artist Michelangelo da Caravaggio to the screen. The result was well worth the wait, and was greeted with critical acclaim: a freely dramatised portrait of the controversial artist and a powerful mediation on sexuality, criminality and art -a new and refreshing take on the usual biopic. The film centres on an imagined love-triangle between Caravaggio, his friend and model Ranucdo, and Ranuccio's low-life partner Lena. Conjuring some of the artist's most famous paintings through elaborate and beautifully photographed tableaux vivants, these works are woven into the fabric of the story, providing a starting point for its characters and narrative episodes. Caravaggio features wonderful performances from Nigel Terry, Sean Bean, and, in her first role, Tilda Swinton, who was to become Jarman's muse and long-time collaborator. A visual treat, it was the first major film production for award-winning costume designer Sandy Powell, with luscious production design by Christopher Hobbs. |
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