SUNDAY (1997) ***

Reviewed 10/27/99

With a style between Hal Ashby and John Cassavettes, director Jonathan Nossiter makes a 1970s American film in the 1990s. And it's one of the most ambitious films of the 90s. Living out of a Queens men's shelter, Oliver (David Suchet) is mistaken by out-of-work divorced actress Madeleine (Lisa Harrow) for a famous movie director she had met in England years ago. Their one day adventure is intercut with the experiences of others from Oliver's shelter as Nossiter achieves a lyrical power uncommon in contemporary American cinema. This study of loneliness and self-worth is only hurt mildly by Nossiter's roughness as a filmmaker, but the film is aided immeasurably by the stunningly unself-conscious performances of Suchet and Harrow.