Der Voyeur

This is surely the most overlooked movie of the '90s, perhaps because of the misleading title: It's not about voyeurism, it's about love, romance, and not taking anything for granted. Director Shames uses perfect pacing and clever fantasy scenes to smooth out the bumps in the plot, while stars Kim Dawson (Brenda) and Al Sapienza (James) electrify the screen with the best performances of their careers (so far). Dawson is incandescent as a young woman who wants more from her marriage than she's getting; Sapienza is superb as a man who's baffled by his wife's dissatisfaction. It's played for comedy, but this is a smile-and-feel-good movie; it radiates warmth and affection from fade-in to fade-out. Only the poor choice of title, the lack of "bankable" stars, and abysmal marketing kept this little delight from the audiences it deserved.