THE HAT HUNT

In a zany, sweet import from Sweden, an old man searches for his hat--and finds, instead, a precious, revealing memory. Grandpa, nightshirt-clad, searches his own cluttered house (where his indolent hound, Lightning, is firmly ensconced on the kitchen table) and the half-fantastic world outdoors, where animals speak, miniature characters carry on their own affairs in the underbrush, and myriad astonishing details are amusingly sprinkled. No hat--but after a whirlwind ride on a motorcycle that Grandpa has fixed in a rare burst of competence, he lands in a serene, pastoral, beautifully painted landscape where--investigating his pockets--he finds that he has collected five small objects that remind him of a long-ago trade he made for a hedgehog that he then freed: ""It did not feel especially nice, but what can you do if you love someone?"" Funny, philosophical, wise, and intriguing.