Movies You Might Have Missed: Metropolitan

METROPOLITAN (1990) - DIR. WHIT STILLMAN

"Movies You Might Have Missed" is where I will talk a little bit about 90's movies that may have slipped under the radar for the casual moviegoer. The decade was ripe with high-quality, low-budget indies that were critics' darlings but remain mostly unknown to a wider audience.

I start off with Whit Stillman's debut film "Metropolitan" because it is quite possibly my favorite indie movie of the 90's, with the exception of Hal Hartley's "Trust." I grew up in Westchester County, surrounded by a tony snobbiness that can only be found in that wealthy area of the country, all the while with my eye trained downriver to Manhattan, where a better brand of snobbiness could be found if one ventured out. Metropolitan is a sharp, funny, Henry James-esque comedy of manners that pokes fun at a certain kind of absurd sense that "the rich are different" as well as retains a warmth and fondness for its often self-absorbed characters. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1991.

From the underdog story of Tom Townsend trying to fit in with the debutante crowd, to all the boys being in love with Audrey...





...an innocent girl fetishized into being sexually active before she's ready...




...to Chris Eigeman's amazing turn as Nick Smith, who is in love with himself, this film packs a big punch for a story that is spent mostly in drawing rooms and the New York City streets.

Check out some clips from the film:









Metropolitan was reissued as a Criterion Collection DVD in February 2006. Run, don't walk to purchase this wonderful film. I leave you with one last endorsement: The song "Dry Your Eyes," by Brenda and The Tabulations is featured prominently in this movie. This 1967 minor soul hit, when my mother heard it while I was watching it one day, nearly knocked her on her bum. "How'd this white boy know about this song?!?" The song is a great aural representation of how deeply one can become attached to this elegantly restrained, yet emotional film:



Brenda and The Tabulations - "Dry Your Eyes" (1967)