Momo

Directed by Johannes Schaaf, this German Italian production adapts Michael Ende's novel and was shot entirely at the Cinecittà studios in Rome. Momo, an orphan girl living in the ruins of an old amphitheater, listens to the people around her and keeps asking them why, a question that sends them rethinking their own behavior. Then the Men in Grey, agents of a Time Savings Bank, begin taking control of adults' time, and a nervous agent lets the secret slip to Momo: they survive by stealing people's time. Ende's relationship to this adaptation is worth noting. Dissatisfied with the film made of his previous book, he had extensive consultation rights written into the contract, is credited among the screenwriters, and appears in a small role as the passenger on the train to whom the story is told, putting the author on screen as the listener to his own tale. He said he had no real objection to the film but found it lacked the power and bite of the book. The legendary director John Huston plays Master Hora, the administrator of time, in what became his last film role released in his lifetime. It drew over two million admissions in Germany. Who it's for: Lovers of Michael Ende's world and of 1980s fantasy for children made without computer effects. Who it's not for: Not for those expecting the book's bite, since even its author felt the film did not carry it.