Dai Sijie's beguiling, semi-autobiographical movie is set during China's Cultural Revolution, when two reactionary city students are sent to the mountains to be re-educated in the ways of Chairman Mao. But their forbidden love for Western art, music and literature is soon infecting the locals, including the tailor's beautiful daughter. Lightweight, but gorgeous to look at.
The definitive American indie-lite film from '93, made by a pre-schmaltz Lasse Hallström and starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio, this has an affecting warmth and wit. Like an anti-David Lynch movie, it sells smalltown Americana, via Johnny Depp's harried protagonist, as a confused, idiosyncratic but always humane place. John C Reilly and Crispin Glover provide heavyweight back-up.
The full-length 1989 debut from Hal Hartley (his early shorts justly made his name as an indie legend) is a smartly funny, angularly touching example of his pop-Godard technique. Rebellious teen Adrienne Shelly and enigmatic ex-con (and possible murderer) Robert Burke dare to fall in love as rumours abound in the Long Island setting. Edie Falco supports in this literate, limber love story.
This documentary about chess grand master Gary Kasparov's duel against IBM computer Deep Blue, in which man was eventually ground down by machine, appears sympathetic to Kasparov's suggestion that IBM cheated, though there appears to be scant hard evidence to support his claim. Kasparov comes across as vain and arrogant and, while this film manages to bring a certain tension to the game, you find yourself pulling for the machine.
