#708 – The Ball at the Anjo House, (安城家の舞踏会), 1947, Kôzaburô Yoshimura
After Japan’s loss in the war, the wealthy, cultured, liberal Anjo family have to give up their mansion and their way of life. They hold one last ball at the house before leaving. The seemingly cold, cynical son secretly grieves for his defeated father and the values that the war destroyed, while the daughter tries to prevent father from taking his life and to find her own place in the new Japan.
#713 – Boy, (少年), 1969, Nagisa Ōshima
A family of four lives off of scams in which they pretend to be injured by automobiles. After suffering an injury during the war, the father believes he is an invalid. He and his wife have a 10-year-old boy and another, younger boy. The adults pretend to be injured by autos in crowded traffic, blackmailing the fearful motorists with threats to call in the police.
#716 – Ringu, (リング), 1998, Hideo Nakata
A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.
#725 – Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx, (子連れ狼 三途の川の乳母車), 1972, Kenji Misumi
In the second film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto battles a group of female ninja in the employ of the Yagyu clan and must assassinate a traitor who plans to sell his clan’s secrets to the Shogunate.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#732 – Mr. Thank You, (有りがたうさん), 1936, Hiroshi Shimizu
Japanese film about a friendly bus driver and his passengers over the duration of one journey through the mountains to the nearest train station.
#739 – Crazed Fruit, (狂った果実), 1956, Kô Nakahira
Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking, in this seminal Sun Tribe film from director Kô Nakahira. Adapted from the controversial novel by Shintarô Ishihara, and critically savaged for its lurid portrayal of the postwar sexual revolution among Japan’s young and privileged, Crazed Fruit is an anarchic outcry against tradition and the older generation.
#744 – The Devi’s Ballad, (悪魔の手毬唄), 1977, Kon Ichikawa
A serial killer responsible for 7 minors’ deaths thus far seems to kill to a particular rhythm, which the authorities must identify to catch him.
#747 – Lightning, (稲妻), 1952, Mikio Naruse
Mikio Naruse’s second adaptation of a novel by Fumiko Hayashi stars Hideko Takamine, the director’s frequent muse, as bus conductress Kiyoko Komori, the youngest daughter in a family of squabbling half-siblings. All the children are products of different fathers, though they share the same mother: a tragically weak-willed woman named Osei. The familial tension only increases when the husband of one daughter dies and leaves behind a substantial insurance policy, so Kiyoko abandons them to their quarrels and makes a go of it on her own, though she finds she can’t leave her mother behind so easily.
#773 – The Crying Game, 1992, Neil Jordan
Irish Republican Army member Fergus forms an unexpected bond with Jody, a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude and Maguire. Jody makes Fergus promise he’ll visit his girlfriend, Dil, in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic, and surprising, Dil.
#775 – Laputa: Castle in the Sky, (天空の城ラピュタ), 1986, Hayao Miyazaki
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 