Momo

Momo (1986) is a West German-Italian family fantasy you can watch online on iFILM, adapted from Michael Ende's 1973 novel by director Johannes Schaaf. John Huston plays Master Hora, the guardian of time.

Momo is a small girl with no papers and no family, living in the ruins of a Roman amphitheater on the edge of an Italian city. Her one unusual skill: she listens — really listens — and people come from across the neighborhood just to talk to her. Then the Men in Grey appear, dressed identically and carrying briefcases, and begin quietly stealing the one thing nobody thought to protect: their spare time. The city grows rushed and cold. Momo is the only one who notices what's been taken.

Ende's novel is an allegory about consumer culture and time as a commodity, and Schaaf keeps that argument intact — this is a children's film that actually means something. Armin Mueller-Stahl and Mario Adorf round out the cast, and Ende himself turns up in a brief cameo. Stream Momo (1986) online on iFILM.