Bored by the same old selections on the shelves of your local video store or on that cable on-demand line-up? Searching for thrilling cinematic expeditions that can’t be found elsewhere? Look no further than right here. The following is my recommended cable viewing list for May 2008, of films unavailable on video – and it marks an unusual month, with the broadcast appearance of a fascinating Michael Powell film forgotten for forty years, a deeply moving and heartfelt documentary by a twentysomething tyro that checks in as one of the top three or four nonfiction films of the past decade, and oh, so much more. So as always: keep your remote handy and fire up your glitter box. We’re going channel surfing.

1. Young Man with Ideas (Mitchell Leisen, USA, 1952) This well-wrought, low-key comedy-drama, directed by Hollywood mainstay (and onetime Preston Sturges collaborator) Leisen, stars Glenn Ford as a naïve and slightly idealistic Montana attorney who decides to start over in life by moving with his wife and children to Southern California, where he will study for the state bar. Unfortunately, he’s beset by all manner of complications and gets in way over his head with an illegal bookie ring. An immensely enjoyable postwar fable that has gone almost completely overlooked. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, 5/1 at 9:30am.

2. Age of Consent (Michael Powell, Australia, 1969) – Nathan’s #1 Pick of the Month. Contrary to what one may have heard, the release of Peeping Tom didn’t quite end celebrated Briton Powell’s directorial career, though it did damn him in the eyes of the public and the British Film Industry when it bowed in the spring of 1960, and caused quite a local scandal. Powell made four additional feature films (and one short-subject narrative) in the years that followed, including Age of Consent. This erotic drama with a droll subplot and overtones weaves the tale of a painter (James Mason), who attempts to reignite his creative flame by leaving New York and moving to an island on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. In that locale, he promptly strikes up a relationship with a svelte young woman (Helen Mirren) and asks her to pose nude for him; he also runs headfirst into a bevy of eccentric and offbeat locals who provide much needed comic relief. Scriptwriter Peter Yeldham adapted a novel by “bohemian” artist Norman Lindsay, an outré Aussie figure on whose life the story is loosely based – and who, in turn, inspired John Duigan’s whimsical sex comedy Sirens in 1994. Though hugely entertaining, Age of Consent was all but buried by the annals of time. Airs on Turner Classic Movies, May 5th at 2:15am.

3. Eve and the Fire Horse (Julia Kwan, Canada, 2005) – Kwan’s gentle coming-of-age seriocomedy examines with great tenderness and restraint the spiritual changes wrought on a Buddhist household, when its two daughters, Karena (Hollie Lo) and Eve (Phoebe Jojo Kut), undergo a series of potentially debilitating family tragedies. As a coping mechanism, the girls instinctively turn to religion, opting for two very different approaches and interpretations. The older of the two, Karena, chooses straightforward, traditional Catholicism, while the younger and more imaginative, Eve, manages to cope by blending elements of Catholicism and Buddhism into a belief system utterly her own. This sweet-natured slice-of-lifer won a Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and deservedly received a plethora of Genie nominations. Airs on The Sundance Channel, 5/1 at 3:15pm and 5/6 at 3:45pm.

4. Summer of the Serpent (Kimi Takesue, USA, 2004) Japanese-American director Takesue’s 27-minute court-metrage represents one of the finest evocations of childhood outside of Dorota Kedzierzawska’s Crows and Victor Erice’s Spirit of the Beehive. The tale concerns an eight-year-old girl named Juliette who forges a most unlikely rapport with a Japanese visitor during a day at the pool, and subsequently hearkens off on an imaginative journey. Screens on The Sundance Channel, 5/3 at 11:30am, 5/6 at 11:30am, 5/9 at 11:30pm, 5/18 at 1:30pm and 5/29 at 6:30pm.

5. 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep (Ben Hopkins, Turkey/UK, 2006) Documentarist Hopkins created this visually and stylistically inventive look at the Pamir Kirghiz, a nomadic tribe rejected from nearly every Asian country given their staunch opposition to Communism. The group received two options for citizenship – one in Eastern Turkey and one in Alaska – and decided to go the Turkish route. In the film, Hopkins and Pamir Kirghiz artist Ekber Kutlu plunge into the heart of the tribe for a warm, finely-observed and frequently humorous ethnological/sociological portrait of its members; the director intercuts direct cinema footage of the group’s day to day and dramatically constructed sequences that play out events from Kirghiz history, shot in a myriad of styles. Screens on The Sundance Channel, 5/5 at 5:30am and again at 5:30pm.

6. Kill Gil, Vol. I (Gil Rossellini, Italy/Switzerland, 2005) – In a biographical saga which, on more than one level, recalls the plight of onetime Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Gil Rossellini suffered from an instantaneous physical trauma in late 2004 that scarred his world forever. As the son of Roberto Rossellini and brother of Isabella Rossellini, Gil carried show business in his blood and was in the midst of embarking on an immensely successful production career, when everything changed overnight. Upon checking into a Stockholm hotel for a festival screening, Rossellini suddenly fell into a three-week coma, the victim of a freak bacterial infection. Three weeks later, he awoke in a hospital – paralyzed, with enormous, gaping wounds covering his body. Never one to be daunted, Rossellini determined to work his way back to partially-functional, paraplegic health, and decided to capture his own remarkable rebound on a hand-held video camera, in “diary” form. As created by Rossellini and associates the resultant film serves as an unbridled tribute to the power of human courage and resilience. Screens on the Sundance Channel, 5/28 at 5am.

7. Andrew Jenks, Room 335 (Andrew Jenks, USA, 2006) – Nathan’s #2 Pick of the Month. Here’s my prediction: a decade or two from now, documentarist Andrew Jenks will have gone down as one of the legends in his field, on par with Errol Morris and D.A. Pennebaker. In the summer of 2005, the 19-year-old Jenks opted to spend a month and a half in a Florida assisted-living facility, while two college friends filmed the experience; over the following weeks, Jenks spent his days with a number of senior citizens and witnessed, firsthand, life on the “other end of the age spectrum.” Not only did Jenks create an intimate portrait of the difficulties that afflict those Americans in their golden years (such as Alzheimer’s, physically debilitating illness, and impending death) but he developed an almost instinctive level of emotional commitment to those around him that made it impossible for him to stay detached – we witness him breaking down and sobbing upon leaving his newfound friends behind. Among other accomplishments, the film creates a series of small, winning character studies of Floridian nursing home residents and fully underscores the idea that some of the most special and meaningful friendships are cross-generational ones. HBO and Cinemax picked up the broadcast rights to this documentary; it still hasn’t officially received commercial distribution (hence the inclusion on this list), though Jenks is now selling copies of the title on his website. Room 335 is a small masterpiece that somehow slipped-by mainstream labels and announces the arrival of a major new talent in the arena of documentary. Don’t miss this one! Screens on Cinemax, 5/5 at 9:30am on MAX East, 5/9 at 8am on More MAX East, 5/9 at 11am on More MAX West, and 5/24 at 4:05am on MAX East.

8. Belle Starr (Irving Cummings, USA, 1941) – Alluring Gene Tierney (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir) landed one of her most intriguing and offbeat roles as the 19th century title character – the well-to-do daughter of a southern aristocrat who sheds her glossies, marries a Confederate guerilla fighter, and hits the Old West as an outlaw. Screens on The Fox Movie Channel, 5/1 at 6am.

9. You Can’t Have Everything (Norman Taurog, USA, 1937) Here’s the bottom line: forget the skimpy plot. This Darryl Zanuck-produced opus provides the opportunity (one of several) to witness one of the most popular musical pairings of the late ’30s, Don Ameche and Alice Faye, in action; it also boasts some of the most hilarious scenes ever filmed with a brilliant but now-forgotten comedy troupe, The Ritz Brothers, who earned frequent comparisons with the Marxes but distinguished themselves via a shtick that involved acting identically and in unison. Gypsy Rose Lee also contributes a fine supporting role. Screens on The Fox Movie Channel, 5/23 at 6am.

10. Man Hunt (Fritz Lang, USA, 1941) – German import Lang turned out one of his finest American thrillers with this exciting tale of a physically imposing marksman (Walter Pidgeon) who just misses an attempt to assassinate Hitler during a European big game hunting expedition and finds himself relentlessly pursued by the Nazis – through forests and swamps, across various national borders, and eventually, back to England, where Gestapo militia prowl the streets, combing the town for him – and where he falls for a comely prostitute (Joan Bennett). Screens on The Fox Movie Channel, May 15th at 6am.

HELD OVER
The following titles, which appeared in this feature in prior months, are still screening throughout May, and highly recommended. (All, by sheer coincidence, are appearing on the same network).

Luna – Fox Movie Channel, 5/19 at 12:30am
Shock Treatment – Fox Movie Channel, 5/24 at 12pm
Kid Blue – Fox Movie Channel, 5/6 at 2pm
Down to the Sea in Ships – Fox Movie Channel, 5/29 at 11am