FILM REVIEWS : ‘Reveries’ Series at Melnitz Hall

“Reveries” is the umbrella title given to four UCLA student films screening on campus tonight at 7:30 and 9:30, and it’s a good choice. Though quite different in tone, ranging from childlike whimsy to grown-up doom ‘n’ gloom, all four feature protagonists who are profoundly alone in one way or another, given to daydreaming or wishes that can’t come true. It’s a lonely ol’ night in Melnitz Hall.

The best and most haunting of these is Bruce Muller’s “Caruthers,” which puts a severe, almost cruel spin on its theme of unrequited longing by making its hero a limping, disabled lounge drummer and the object of his affection a beautiful woman who leads him on and spurns him in equally potent doses. Set in two different desert towns, Muller’s astonishing, aching mood piece isn’t big on story but contains two great characterizations--of yearning from Tom McCray, who beguiles with a smile both compassionate and nervous, and teasing from looker Audrey Wells, who suggests tragic pain beneath the uncaring mood swings.

Also recommended are Suzanne Smith’s “One Book, One Summer,” about a schoolgirl in love with a book about pioneers, and Keping Qiu’s “Au Pair,” about a Chinese student working for an elderly Beverly Hills man. Robert Castle’s “The Water Man” completes the bill. Famed director Robert Wise (“West Side Story”) will speak as part of tonight’s program.