A lifetime of watching films with the eccentric eye of an artist can be discerned in the writings of Barry Gifford, the prolific novelist, poet, screenwriter, and film critic. Gifford's new book Out of the Past (University Press of Mississippi, 2001, $16) is a reissue of his 1988 book of film essays, The Devil Thumbs a Ride and Other Unforgettable Films, with fifteen new essays. In cinema as in life, memory works on the level of imagination; what remains of a film is what is literally unforgettable-something either so real, or so unreal, that it strikes a chord. That gut impression gives access to a certain truth and artistic validity in the work: writ large, this is how films become "cult films"; in small, it can define the personality of film criticism. Gifford's essays preserve, to borrow Wild at Heart Lula's word, the "weirdness" of the film experience. As Elmore Leonard put it, "The essays are better than some of the films he writes about."Following the reading, Gifford will sign copies of his book, which is available in the Museum Store or at the event, where everyone gets the members' 10% discount.