The power of Edward Yang's four hour film is hard to explain to those who haven't experienced it. Unfolding at its own pace, this tale of disaffected youth in the troubled Taiwan of the early 1960s is the cinematic equivalent of a great novel. It is often warm, funny and thrilling. But hanging over it all is the sense of inevitable, impeding doom, as events move towards a devastating final act (not to mention one of the most deeply moving endings, ever). After years as a near-legendary picture - available only in an acceptable but hardly ideal bootleg print - Criterion, after a lengthy delay due to copyright issues, released this movie last year in the beautiful edition which it richly deserves.

I urge anyone who hasn't experienced 'A Brighter Summer Day' to check it out. To my mind this is a very strong contender for greatest film of the 1990s, and one of the best pictures about youth ever made.