aka The Tourists are Coming. The wonders of the title are the Countryside Wonders — local color, local produce, etc. — being sought out by an Italian variety show eager to pimp Tuscan authenticity. But what’s worth wondering at is the way writer-director Alice Rohrwacher illustrates the private world of an authentic and genuinely loving family. Usually, the way in is through a wound: rebellious child, dead parent, drug addiction, etc. Here, the method of infiltration is less obvious — gentler, more intimate, and often, more rewarding. The central analogy is simple enough: they’re beekeepers (whose queen is adolescent daughter Gelsomina), and both hive and family are distressed by powerful external forces. The opening shot makes it clear that trying to hide from the world is futile (even if it might be worthwhile). But the film argues — quietly — that it’s still possible to endure, and even to suffer defeat without declaring surrender. In Italian, French, and German with English subtitles. (2015) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.