默默 (1986)

This film, based on a book written by Michael Ende (the German author who also wrote "The Neverending Story") takes place in a fictional, nameless town. The routine, slow-paced life of the townspeople is interrupted with the arrival of Momo, a seemingly orphaned girl without a past who quickly becomes a favorite of all of her neighbors. Among Momo's inexplainable gifts is her power of observation, with which she soon notices that something drastic is happening in the town. All of a sudden, the formerly kind, patient townspeople become obsessed with saving time and money and no longer have time for their friends, especially Momo. Momo soon finds out that those responsible for this are the "Grauen Herren", or the gray men, a group of ghost-like gentlemen who alienate Momo and her friends and are somehow stealing their saved-up time and using it to continue their own existence. After Momo tries to convince her friends of the existence of the gray men, she must flee from the town before she is abducted by the gray men. Momo finds protection in the mysterious home of Meister Hora, an old man who explains what exactly time is and confides in her that he is in control of time. After she realizes what a gift, as opposed to a chore, time is, Momo rushes home and attempts to gather what friends she has left together and convince them of the evil that the gray men are bringing to their quiet town.