#970 – Tangerine, 2015, Sean Baker
It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn’t been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity.
#971 – Night Watch, (Ночной дозор), 2004, Timur Bekmambetov
Among normal humans live the “Others” possessing various supernatural powers. They are divided up into the forces of light and the forces of the dark, who signed a truce several centuries ago to end a devastating battle. Ever since, the forces of light govern the day while the night belongs to their dark opponents. In modern day Moscow the dark Others actually roam the night as vampires while a “Night Watch” of light forces, among them Anton, the movie’s protagonist, try to control them and limit their outrage.
#972 – Dracula, 1958, Terence Fisher
After Jonathan Harker attacks Dracula at his castle (apparently somewhere in Germany), the vampire travels to a nearby city, where he preys on the family of Harker’s fiancée. The only one who may be able to protect them is Dr. van Helsing, Harker’s friend and fellow-student of vampires, who is determined to destroy Dracula, whatever the cost.
#973 – Awakenings, 1990, Penny Marshall
Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to “awaken” the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life’s simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#974 – Black Panther, 2018, Ryan Coogler
King T’Challa returns home from America to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country’s new leader. However, T’Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne by factions within his own country as well as without. Using powers reserved to Wakandan kings, T’Challa assumes the Black Panther mantel to join with girlfriend Nakia, the queen-mother, his princess-kid sister, members of the Dora Milaje (the Wakandan ‘special forces’) and an American secret agent, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.
#975 – The Long Day Closes, 1992, Terence Davies
Set in Kensington, a working-class district of Liverpool, England in mid-1950s, this is the story of eleven-year-old Bud, a sad and lonely boy. With cinema as his main source of solace, he haunts the local ‘picture-house’. All the while, his family looms large in our peripheral vision as do the menacing bullies of his school, but Bud is the centre of attention both from the camera’s angle and from his doting family.
#976 – Short Cuts, 1993, Robert Altman
Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy’s grandfather tells his son, Howard, about his past affairs. Meanwhile, a baker starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy’s birthday cake.
#977 – Cupola, Where the Furnaces Glow, (キューポラのある街), 1962, Kirio Urayama
Set in Kawaguchi in the early 60s, this simple story chronicles the lives of foundry families and one girl’s dreams of higher education.
#978 – The Good, the Bad, the Weird, (좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈), 2008, Kim Jee-woon
The story of three Korean outlaws in 1930s Manchuria and their dealings with the Japanese army and Chinese and Russian bandits. The Good (a Bounty hunter), the Bad (a hitman), and the Weird (a thief) battle the army and the bandits in a race to use a treasure map to uncover the riches of legend.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#979 – Typhoon Club, (台風クラブ), 1985, Shinji Sômai
The movie takes place in the five-day period before, during and after a ferocious, seemingly liberating typhoon, which five of the students endure while marooned in their school gymnasium.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 