#669 – Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, (Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler), 1922, Fritz Lang
Arch-criminal Dr. Mabuse, who is a master of disguise and has been hypnotising people into doing his bidding, sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.
#670 – The Adventures of Prince Achmed, (Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed), 1926, Carl Koch
Based on stories from “The Arabian Nights.” A wicked sorcerer tricks Prince Achmed into riding a magical flying horse. The heroic prince is able to subdue the magical horse, which he uses to fly off to many adventures. While travelling, he falls in love with the beautiful Princess Peri Banu, and must defeat an army of demons to win her heart. The film is animated using the silhouette technique.
#679 – Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, (봄 여름 가을 겨울 그리고 봄), 2003, Kim Ki-duk
An isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.
#680 – Phoenix, 2014, Christian Petzold
A disfigured concentration-camp survivor, unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches ravaged postwar Berlin for the husband who might have betrayed her to the Nazis.
#754 – Good Bye, Lenin!, 2003, Wolfgang Becker
An affectionate and refreshing East/West-Germany comedy about a boy who’s mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell and when she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happen (since she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#782 – Alice in the Cities, (Alice in den Städten), 1974, Wim Wenders
German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer’s block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected. After returning to Europe, the innocent friendship between Winter and Alice grows as they travel together through various European cities on a quest for Alice’s grandmother.
#802 – Russian Ark, (Русский ковчег), 2002, Aleksandr Sokurov
A French marquis wanders through a vast labyrinth of corridors, theaters and ballrooms at a reception for a Persian ambassador.
#804 – Elle, 2016, Paul Verhoeven
When Michèle, the CEO of a gaming software company, is attacked in her home by an unknown assailant, she refuses to let it alter her precisely ordered life. She manages crises involving family, all the while becoming engaged in a game of cat and mouse with her stalker.
#807 – Stroszek, 1977, Werner Herzog
Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck and they join his neighbor, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin.
#809 – The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle), 1974, Werner Herzog
The film follows Kaspar Hauser, who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat and top hat who feeds him.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 