The Independent Recommends: The Five Best Films

East Is East (15) A stage-to-screen triumph for Ayub Khan-Din's Anglo-Asian comedy. The scene is the terraced home of the culture-clash Khans; the plot, a turbulent series of domestic storms.

Ride with the Devil (15) Loitering on the Mason-Dixon line, Ang Lee's Civil War epic unfolds in a series of volatile battle scenes and intimate interludes. Tobey Maguire plays the virginal soldier who falls for Jewel's pursed-lipped war widow.

Bowfinger (12) Renaissance-man Steve Martin scripts and stars in this frequently hilarious Hollywood send-up about a no-talent producer, a bimbo starlet (Heather Graham) and a jittery megastar (Eddie Murphy).

Tarzan (U) Farmed through the Disney dream factory, the Ape Man emerges as the sinewy centrepiece of a fast and flashy cartoon excursion (right). State-of- the-art visuals prop up a lightweight, but likeable, plotline.

The Sixth Sense (15)

A startlingly good Bruce Willis smoulders at the heart of this slow-burning horror movie. A virtuoso twist-in-the-tale ending spins the whole film on its head.

Xan Brooks