Film

This exhilaratingly imaginative DIY landmark of Filipino cinema—acclaimed by Werner Herzog as “one of the most original and poetic works of cinema made anywhere in the seventies”—stars director Kidlat Tahimik as a starry-eyed jitney driver obsessed with American culture (particularly its space program). During a sojourn in Paris, he gets a crash course in the failures of globalization. Shot through with offbeat wit and invention, Perfumed Nightmare wraps a cogent critique of Western capitalism in the guise of a surreal, satiric picaresque.

Werner Herzog’s deeply empathetic study of outsiderhood stars the great Bruno S., a troubled street musician whose soulful vulnerability lends poignant dimension to his indelible portrayal of the title character, a real-life 19th-century German foundling who was raised until the age of 17 in almost total isolation. As he is reintegrated into society, Hauser’s journey reveals the cruelties and hypocrisies of the supposedly “civilized” world. Look out for an appearance by Perfumed Nightmare director Kidlat Tahimik in a small role.