#280 – Cure, (キュア), 1997, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
A wave of gruesome murders is sweeping Tokyo. The only connection is a bloody X carved into the neck of each of the victims. In each case, the murderer is found near the victim and remembers nothing of the crime. Detective Takabe and psychologist Sakuma are called in to figure out the connection, but their investigation goes nowhere…
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#281 – Belle de Jour, 1967, Luis Buñuel
Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.
#282 – La Terra Trema, 1948, Luchino Visconti
In rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy of the greedy wholesalers. One family risks everything to buy their own boat and operate independently.
#283 – Brazil, 1985, Terry Gilliam
Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.
#284 – Sonatine, 1993, Takeshi Kitano
Kitano plays Murakawa, a Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life. Along with a few of his henchmen, he is sent by his boss to Okinawa to help end a gang war, supposedly to mediate between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, Murakawa’s headquarters are bombed and he and his gang are ambushed in a bar.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#285 – Paths of Glory, 1957, Stanley Kubrick
A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#286 – Trainspotting, 1996, Danny Boyle
Mark Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#287 – The Twilight Samurai, (たそがれ清兵衛), 2002, Yoji Yamada
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters’ life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?
#288 – Rocco and His Brothers, (Rocco e i suoi fratelli), 1960, Luchino Visconti
When a widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her sons become romantic rivals, with deadly results.
#289 – Tropical Malady, (สัตว์ประหลาด), 2004, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
‘Tropical Malady’ explores the passionate relationship between two men with unusual consequences. The film is divided in two parts. The first half charts the modest attraction between two men in the sunny, relaxing countryside and the second half charts the confusion and terror of an unknown menace lurking deep within the jungle shadows.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 