That sounds like my mum's cat. She was a feral, left on the doorstep of the pub.
She'll hiss and growl at everything, but you just distract her with a toy, then it's all purrs and snuggles.She has a weird obsession with licking faces, which evolved from biting faces.
Two movies that usually appear on lists like this, but I don't see them: The Fountain, and The Fall.