The Independent Recommends: The Five Best Films

Ratcatcher (15) Set in the wilds of Seventies Govan, Lynne Ramsay's debut paints a haunting portrait of everyday childhood madness. The best British film we've seen all year.

Fight Club (18) David Fincher's anarchistic roller-coaster of a movie is flawed but fantastic; almost Ali-like in its loud-mouthed wit and quicksilver-cool. Ed Norton and Brad Pitt play at top volume.

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 sustained and turbulent series of domestic storms.

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

The Sixth Sense (15)

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