WAIT, THERE'S MORE

A listful of movies, and we wish you happy hunting.

I Vitelloni (Federico Fellini, 1953).
Five young men in the seaside town of Rimini, doing their best not to grow up. This is a sublime piece of filmmaking, gentle and poetic, and I really don't understand how it became overshadowed by Fellini's later work.
-- Dave Vermillion

Jeanne Dielman
(Chantal Akerman, 1975).
This masterpiece has been called "a film about nothing," but few films are more absorbing. Essentially a portrait of three days in the life of the title character (Delphine Seyrig), Akerman uses real time extensively to immerse the audience in the day-to-day routine. By the time we become used to the routine, every small deviation from it becomes almost shocking, building up to a strangely shattering conclusion.
-- Paul B. Clark

The Secret of Roan Inish
(John Sayles, 1994).
A beautiful and charming film, set in Ireland, about a little girl who learns the amazing legends of her family.
-- Melissa B. Cummings

The Hitcher (Robert Harmon, 1986).
It's a rare thing to see a stalk and slash film with decent acting, let alone depth. There's a logic to the madness of the killer played by Rutger Hauer. He wants to be killed; he is on a rampage just to have someone stop him.
-- Mark Ashley

Dogfight (Nancy Savoca, 1991).
An unlikely romance develops between a marine (River Phoenix) and a coffee shop waitress (Lili Taylor). This is a film that strikes me as both cruel and tender. Taylor is lovely, as someone who is supposed to be "unattractive," but has a beautiful soul. When I watch her, I believe that Phoenix's character can see her beauty, despite his initial intentions. And I love the ending. Quiet, sad, and very moving.
-- Thea

La Otra Conquista
(Salvador Carrasco, 1998).
The epic that nobody saw, about the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, should have launched the carrer of the very talented Carrasco.
-- Sasha Stone

A Brief Vacation
(Vittorio de Sica, 1973).
I've only seen this once, probably when it originally came out, but I've never forgotten it; I don't think it's ever been on video. A woman (Florinda Bolkan), living in squalor, working at a factory to support her unemployed husband and his family, contracts TB and is sent to a sanatorium in the Alps, where she experiences some of the happiest days of her life. The "vacation" is shot in color, the rest of her life in black & white.
-- George Davis

Butterflies Go From
Place to Place
(P. Padmarajan, 1983[?]).
Padmarajan is the only Indian filmmaker I know of that made films for a general audience about sexual dysfunction. This one is about a rich young man who buys sex for his friends so he can watch, but is helped to grow up by a modern, very un-Indian thinking prostitute with her own agenda. Unlike Indian exploitation films, Butterflies is serious and ultimately moving, and the partners these people end up with are sympathetic too.
- Carol Slingo

The Lonely Passion
of Judith Hearne
(Jack Clayton, 1987).
Maggie Smith is a desperately unhappy, self-deluding Irish spinster; Bob Hoskins bilks her. If you think Maggie Smith just plays scenery-eating character parts in films, go see this. If you think Maggie Smith's greatest triumph was in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, this is better. I think (fear) it's the best film ever made about loneliness.
-- Les Phillips

Seven Faces of Dr. Lao
(George Pal, 1964).
An old Chinese gentleman (Tony Randall) rides into the town of Abalone, Arizona, and changes it forever, as the citizens see themselves reflected in the mirror of Lao's mysterious circus of mythical beasts. This may be the best carny movie ever, directed by one of the old masters of cinematic fantasy.
-- Ron Leming

Devi (Satyajit Ray, 1960).
One of Ray's most sensually beautiful films, about a young woman who is thrown into torment and confusion when she discovers that her father, a rich feudal landlord, believes her to be the reincarnation of the goddess Kali. A powerful portrayal of the consequences of religious fanatacism.
-- Howard Schumann

Dames
(Ray Enright & Busby Berkeley, 1934).
The fine 42nd Street gets all the attention when discussing Busby Berkeley. The story in Dames is just as thin, the songs are at least as memorable, the cast is largely the same, but Dames has more elaborate musical numbers, especially the title song and the hallucinatory "I Only Have Eyes For You."
-- Greg Sorenson

The Tall Guy (Mel Smith, 1989).
A delightful comedy starring Jeff Goldblum, with Emma Thompson in her first movie role. Goldblum's oddness is perfect for the character of the odd, unemployed American actor whose only chance for a break is the title role in the musical "Elephant!", based on the, um, cheerful story of Britain's most famous circus freak. It goes up from there.
-- Claudia Gabarain

Crooklyn (Spike Lee, 1994).
Lee's most lyrical and personal feature, co-written by his sister Joie and brother Cinque, unfolds like a Fellini memory film, but in warm primary colors, with a beautiful child performance by Zelda Harris at the center.
- Mark Netter

Voyage Surprise (Pierre Prévert, 1947).
A retired bus tour driver offers a "mystery tour" to an unsuspecting group of passengers. While the itinerary of a mystery tour is usually kept secret, in this case it is a surprise even to the driver. But along the way, chance encounters create new meetings, discoveries, loves, and growth - a metaphor of sorts for the ultimate "voyage surprise" - life itself.
-- Don Larsson