(Steven Soderbergh, US 1993, 99 min.)

Growing up in Missouri during the Great Depression, Aaron Kurlander (Jesse Bradford) is left to fend for himself after his family is driven apart by poverty. Living in a decrepit hotel, Aaron fends off creditors, cops, and an eviction-happy bellboy amidst a small circle of fellow outcasts. Soderbergh’s unjustly neglected adaption of A.E. Hotchner’s memoir is quietly magical, boasting wonderful supporting performances by Adrien Brody, Lauryn Hill, and Spalding Gray as the mysterious “Mr. Mungo.”