(Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l’an 2000). Could this be The Big Chill for Marxists? A half-dozen Swiss citizens descend upon an organic farm—no cuckoos, no chocolates, no army knives, just a grand, post-’68 history lesson penned by the agile author John Berger, whose early collection of essays, Permanent Red, says it all. These quirky souls don’t stick to Geneva conventions; each is seeking some alternative to the corruptions of capital. There are the rural worker who says “I am labor. And so, for hire” and the supermarket clerk who gives away groceries; the secretary who overthrows the senses through tantric practice and the high-school teacher who exhorts, “revolution is the past’s revenge.” Tanner’s polemical comedy achieves the impossible, a highly animated argument for political reinvention, dressed in the colorful cloth of ever-comely characters. Looking to the future with optimism, Jonah Who Will Be . . . is like a sumptuous country dinner where large portions of political theory are served up: satisfying, lively, and always fresh.

—Steve Seid

• Written by John Berger, Tanner. Photographed by Renato Berta. With Jean-Luc Bideau, Rufus, Miou-Miou, Jacques Denis. (110 mins, In French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Swiss Films, permission New Yorker Films)