The Independent Recommends: The Five Best Films

All About My Mother (15)

Almodovar at his quirky, curious best. All About My Mother (right) offers a soaring salute to mums everywhere, not to mention a nostalgic farewell to the good old days of transvestite prostitution.

Rushmore (15)

The high-school comedy peaks with this oddbod masterpiece about a gal (Olivia Williams), a guy (Bill Murray) and the schoolboy (Jason Schwartzman) who gets between them. A genuine one-off.

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (15)

In a nutshell: Kenny gets killed, Cartman gets shock treatment, Hitler befriends Gandhi (and George Burns) and America goes to war with Canada. Oh yeah - and it's funny, too.

Strangers on a Train (PG)

Robert Walker and Farley Granger swap murders for an accelerating fairground-ride thriller. Perhaps the most quintessentially Hitchcockian of all Alfred's outings.

Late August, Early September (15)

Tangy Parisian soap-operatics, expanded on with the minimum of fuss by talented writer-director Olivier (Irma Vep) Assayas.