Fun, Feel-Good, and Mercifully Short

Not all "great films" are three-hour slogs. Here are five 90-minute crowd-pleasers you probably haven't seen. Plus: Lit Hub / CrimeReads Editor OLIVIA RUTIGLIANO talks WAKING NED DEVINE.

Filthy yaks huddle on a vast, windswept steppe, watching the Mongolian orphan girl plow the frozen earth. After ten minutes of futile struggle, she starts coughing. Is it the return of her cruel, unspecified illness?

It is a Saturday afternoon, and I am crammed between flabby, phlegmy strangers and their crinkly Duane Reade bags, squinting at white subtitles against tundra. My left leg has gone numb. My right is fidgeting restlessly. I don’t have to pee, but I kind of wish I did.

Hours pass. Someone is snoring. The yaks have all died, presumably from boredom. Finally, the orphan faints. Has she died too? Please? Please die so this can be over.

There’s a time for long, sad arthouse films. Some of them I love and will gleefully inflict on you in future editions of Underexposed. But there’s also a time for joy. And sometimes, there’s not much time at all.

That’s why this week, I present to you five feel-good films that are 90 minutes short.

The first was chosen by our special guest, the brilliant Olivia Rutigliano, film writer and editor at LitHub, Crimereads and Grove Atlantic. Olivia recently earned a PhD from Columbia University’s Departments of Theatre, English and Comparative Literature, where she specialized in crime and detective fiction. Today, we’ll be discussing the much-acclaimed (but little-seen) 1998 Irish comedy, Waking Ned Devine. Here is a video of that discussion…

Waking Ned Devine (1998)

Waking Ned Devine (aka Waking Ned outside of the US) is available to rent on Amazon Prime, or buy on DVD.

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Short and Sweet: Four More Feel-Good Films

4. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (2021, 89 mins.) is a charming, wise and deeply moving reflection on how to live a good life, tucked into an adorable talking shell. It Ends With Us show-stealer Jenny Slate, who voices Marcel, created the character with her boyfriend, Dean Fleischer-Camp, in the aftermath of being fired from SNL. The two made a viral short, which was healing, Slate confessed in an interview. “Nobody can stop you from being creative,” she added. Fleischer-Camp and Slate collaborated on making the film for seven years, even after they had broken up as a couple. This PG-rated stop motion / live action hybrid is for the introspective grownups as much as the kiddos.

3. Trouble in Paradise (1932, 83 mins.) is a rom-com heist from Ernst Lubitsch, one of the sharpest comedy minds of all time (and Billy Wilder’s idol). Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins play “partners in crime and love” who decide to rob their employer, a perfume executive (Kay Francis). If you’re the type to balk at black and white, I implore you to give this one a shot. A product of the pre-Code era, this movie has serious bite. I saw it with a full house at MOMA a few years back. The crowd was roaring, and I may have laughed more than I ever have in a movie.

2. Little Manhattan (2003, 90 mins.) is a little-seen gem starring a Josh Hutcherson as Gabe, a 10-year-old boy experiencing love for the first time while this parents are going through a divorce. It’s a funny, heartfelt, offbeat, beautiful depiction of first love set on the Upper West Side, and it is one of my personal favorite “New York” movies. It co-stars Charlotte Ray Rosenberg, Cynthia Nixon and Bradley Whitford, and was shot by David Gordon Green’s original cinematographer, Tim Orr.

1. My Octopus Teacher (2020, 90 mins.) is a documentary about a South African free diver, an octopus he visits every day for a year, and the intricate bond they form. A brisk, reviving plunge into the natural world, this film reminds us just how much fellow creatures have to teach us, if we’re willing to learn. Directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed.

News Reel

• Can cinema cure boredom? A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology General suggests that swiping through short clips may actually add to our boredom, while watching full movies, TV shows, and long-form videos are shown to reduce it.

• In The Prism this week, Gurwinder Bhogal bemoans the rise of neotoddlerism: “Just as convenience culture has led us from hours-long films, to half-hour-long TV shows, to minutes-long YouTube videos, to seconds-long TikTok clips, so the same dumbing-down is happening to politics: the arduous process of discussion and debate is giving way to the instant hit of shocking outbursts and other viral moments.”

• Strange Darling is in theaters now, and the rumors are true - it’s a lot of fun. Check out the trailer, or better yet, go in cold. Support original thrillers on the big screen!

• “Maybe we’re at a point in history where we should pump the brakes on our so-called progress and start making deliberate choices for the things we want to exist.” Obsolete Media on Why We Need Video Stores More Than Ever.

• How Streaming Destroyed TV. Adam Conover has a loud, information-rich 20-minute video essay on YouTube explaining how we got here. Worth a watch.

Join the Discussion

Last week’s interview with Jennifer Esposito was the most popular edition of Underexposed so far. Welcome, new subscribers! A short clip posted on Instagram is getting strong engagement, despite the fact that social media platforms are now suppressing posts with outside links, especially those leading to newer (and better) platforms like Substack.

All this to say: If you’re enjoying Underexposed, please spread the word. And be sure to drop into our Substack Notes, where this week we discussed the best River Phoenix films, early Sam Fuller, Monica Vitti memes and more.

… That’s all for this week’s free edition. In the bonus video below for premium subscribers, Olivia and I unpack our love for 90s movies, “problematic” classic TV, and Olivia’s troubling fixation with character actor Paul Lynde. Sign up here to join us:

Thank you for reading. See you next Friday. If you’re wondering about next week’s Underexposed Movie Pick, the graphic below offers a clue. Any guesses? The first correct answer gets a free premium subscription.