#528 – Au Revoir les Enfants, 1987, Louis Malle
Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.
#531 – Vampyr, (Vampyr – Der Traum des Allan Grey), 1932, Carl Theodor Dreyer
Traveler Allan Gray arrives in the village of Courtempierre and takes lodgings in a small inn. Gray has a great interest in the supernatural, particularly vampires. He’s barely settled in when he feels a sinister force descending upon him. In the night an old man enters his room to tell him ‘she must not die’. One of the old man’s daughters, Leone, has been bitten by a vampire. In order to break the curse, Gray and Leone’s sister Gisele must find the original vampire and drive a stake through her heart.
#547 – Faust, (Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage), 1926, F.W. Murnau
God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.
#553 – Melancholia, 2011, Lars von Trier
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
#604 – Berlin Alexanderplatz, 1980, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Berlin Alexanderplatz, originally broadcast in 1980, is a 14-part television film adapted and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from the Alfred Döblin novel of the same name, and stars Günter Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Sukowa, Elisabeth Trissenaar and Gottfried John. The complete film is 15½ hours long.
#607 – Distant Voices, Still Lives, 1988, Terence Davies
The second film in Terence Davies’s autobiographical series (along with “Trilogy” and “The Long Day Closes”) is an impressionistic view of a working-class family in 1940s and 1950s Liverpool, based on Davies’s own family. Through a series of exquisite tableaux Davies creates a deeply affecting photo album of a troubled family wrestling with the complexity of love.
#618 – The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, (Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse), 1933, Fritz Lang
After a detective is assaulted by thugs and placed in an asylum run by Professor Baum, he observes the professor’s preoccupation with another patient, the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse the hypnotist. When Mabuse’s notes are found to be connected with a rash of recent crimes, Commissioner Lohmann must determine how Mabuse is communicating with the criminals, despite conflicting reports on the doctor’s whereabouts, and capture him for good.
#620 – Possession, 1981, Andrzej Żuławski
A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.
#633 – Autumn Sonata, (Höstsonaten), 1978, Ingmar Bergman
After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.
#643 – Dancer in the Dark, 2000, Lars von Trier
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life gets too difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, escaping life’s troubles – even if just for a moment – by dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 