Shot in black-and-white 16-millimeter for only $10,000, this delightfully deadpan comedy about unrequited romantic obsession scores through a combination of behavioral charm and compositional rigor. It was written and directed by UCLA film students Caveh Zahedi and Greg Watkinswho also play themselves in restaged real-life eventsand focuses on Zahedi’s nerdish and awkward but indefatigable campaign to gain the romantic interest of an art student. The camera keeps its distance, and the limited number of locations and situations only intensifies the tight focus of the plot and the single-mindedness of the hero (1990). (JR)