#330 – The Maltese Falcon, 1941, John Huston
A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
Author: Jumbo Cactuar
#331: Ghostbusters
#331 – Ghostbusters, 1984, Ivan Reitman
After losing their academic posts at a prestigious university, a team of parapsychologists goes into business as proton-pack-toting “ghostbusters” who exterminate ghouls, hobgoblins and supernatural pests of all stripes. An ad campaign pays off when a knockout cellist hires the squad to purge her swanky digs of demons that appear to be living in her refrigerator.
#332: A City of Sadness
#332 – A City of Sadness, (悲情城市), 1989, Hou Hsiao-hsien
Soon after Japan relinquishes control of Taiwan in 1945, the Lin brothers face hardships from the changing culture. Bar owner Wen-heung, the eldest brother, falls foul of local gangsters, Wen-sun disappears, and Wen-leung, scarred by his experiences in the war, ends up in an insane asylum. Deaf-mute photographer Wen-ching, the youngest brother, decides to make a stand and fight the Kuomintang government from China that is assuming power.
#333: Grave of the Fireflies
#333 – Grave of the Fireflies, (火垂るの墓), 1988, Isao Takahata
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#334: Chungking Express
#334 – Chungking Express, (重慶森林), 1994, Wong Kar-wai
Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant he frequents.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#335: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
#335 – When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, (女が階段を上る時), 1960, Mikio Naruse
Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she’s a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life’s vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she’s growing older. She’s of an age when she must choose: to seek marriage (difficult given her tarnished occupation), to be a kept woman, or to borrow money to buy a bar of her own. Each route has dangers, including investors demanding a return on their loans. Keiko has a quiet dignity that attracts men, but are they what they seem? Does she actually have choices?
#336: All the President’s Men
#336 – All the President’s Men, 1976, Alan J. Pakula
In the run-up to the 1972 elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward covers what seems to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National Headquarters. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers on the accused further arouses his suspicions. After the editor of the Post runs with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it, they find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party—and eventually into the White House itself.
#337: Rosemary’s Baby
#337 – Rosemary’s Baby, 1968, Roman Polanski
A young couple moves into an infamous New York apartment building to start a family. Things become frightening as Rosemary begins to suspect her unborn baby isn’t safe around their strange neighbors.
#338: My Neighbor Totoro
#338 – My Neighbor Totoro, (となりのトトロ), 1988, Hayao Miyazaki
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#339: Napoleon
#339 – Napoleon, (Napoléon), 1927, Abel Gance
A massive 5 1/2 hour biopic of Napoleon, tracing his career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign), his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797 (the film stops there because it was intended to be part one of six, but director Abel Gance never raised the money to make the other five). The film’s legendary reputation is due to the astonishing range of techniques that Gance uses to tell his story, culminating in the final twenty-minute triptych sequence, which alternates widescreen panoramas with complex multiple- image montages projected simultaneously on three screens.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 