#340 – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962, John Ford
A senator, who became famous for killing a notorious outlaw, returns for the funeral of an old friend and tells the truth about his deed.
Author: Jumbo Cactuar
#341: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
#341 – The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, (Les parapluies de Cherbourg), 1964, Jacques Demy
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother’s chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy’s return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
#342: Last Year at Marienbad
#342 – Last Year at Marienbad, (L’Année dernière à Marienbad), 1961, Alain Resnais
In a huge, old-fashioned luxury hotel a stranger tries to persuade a married woman to run away with him, but it seems she hardly remembers the affair they may have had (or not?) last year at Marienbad.
#343: Wings of Desire
#343 – Wings of Desire, (Der Himmel über Berlin), 1987, Wim Wenders
Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds – with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk – that it might be possible for him to take human form.
#344: The Best of Youth
#344 – The Best of Youth, (La meglio gioventú), 2003, Marco Tullio Giordana
Spanning four decades, from the chaotic 1960s to the present, director Marco Tullio Giordana’s passionate epic ‘La Meglio Gioventu’ follows two Italian brothers through some of the most tumultuous events of recent Italian history.
#345: Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages
#345 – Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages, 1916, D. W. Griffith
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
#346: 35 Shots of Rum
#346 – 35 Shots of Rum, (35 rhums), 2008, Claire Denis
A widowed metro conductor, approaching retirement, lives with his beautiful grown daughter – the object of a neighbor’s romantic interest. The man’s former girlfriend also lives in their building and plays a role in their closely-knit lives. 35 Shots of Rum considers the mysterious complexities that surround evolving relationships, whether romantic or parental.
#347: Cléo from 5 to 7
#347 – Cléo from 5 to 7, (Cléo de cinq à sept), 1962, Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.
#348: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
#348 – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969, George Roy Hill
In late 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy is the affable, clever and talkative leader of the outlaw Hole in the Wall Gang. His closest companion is the laconic dead-shot ‘Sundance Kid’. As the west rapidly becomes civilized, the law finally catches up to Butch, Sundance and their gang. Chased doggedly by a special posse, the two decide to make their way to South America in hopes of evading their pursuers once and for all.
#349: Umberto D.
#349 – Umberto D., 1952, Vittorio De Sica
When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady demands her 15,000-lire rent by the end of the month or he and his small dog will be turned out onto the street. Unable to get the money in time, Umberto fakes illness to get sent to a hospital, giving his beloved dog to the landlady’s pregnant and abandoned maid for temporary safekeeping.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 