Top 5: Must see films at Cultureplex’s Mini Cini in December

Seven short videos make up Still Beginning, a project for the thirtieth annual Day With(out) Art intended to highlight the continued urgency of HIV/AIDS from a contemporary perspective. Featuring subjects such as public sex culture and continuing stigma around HIV/AIDS, the video program premieres around the world on Sun 1 Dec, and this Mini Cini screening will be introduced by Greg Thorpe of Superbia.

The first ‘ramen western’, this Japanese comedy is effortlessly funny and light-hearted. The main plot follows Tampopo, the owner of a roadside ramen shop and a pair of truck drivers who help her take her ramen to the next level and make her restaurant a success. Heartwarming enough on its own, but what really makes this film a feast for the senses is the food-related vignettes interspersed throughout the main story. Fair warning – you will want to eat ramen as soon as you leave the cinema after this one.

Pinning Delicatessen down to a genre is tricky – you could call it a black comedy but it’s more an exercise in the absurd, both in premise and execution. Set in post-apocalyptic France, the film follows the lives of those inhabiting an apartment block above a butcher’s shop, both owned by the morally bereft Clapet. Featuring a group of vegetarian rebels, a love story and an ex-clown as the hero, this is an intriguingly bizarre take on a dystopian future.

One of the most critically acclaimed releases of 2019, Booksmart updates the classic coming-of-age film for contemporary audiences. It follows two graduating high school seniors, Amy and Molly, who have been best friends since childhood but who panic on their last day of school when they realise they should have had more fun in high school instead of just studying all the time. It’s both deeply heartfelt and absolutely hilarious and you definitely shouldn’t miss its return to the big screen.

Bruce Willis when he still had hair, Alan Rickman as a German terrorist – nothing says Christmas like Die Hard. The festive season isn’t complete without this classic action flick –a family overcoming personal adversity and tension to come together for the holidays is the basic essence of every good Christmas film, plus Die Hard has some pretty amazing thrills to boot.