Sex, Lies And Videotape, USA, 1989, 100 min. Starring James Spader, Andie McDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. A shallow yuppie, his alienated wife, and the sister-in-law he's sleeping with behind her back, have their lives overturned when an old friend of his shows up and introduces them to his unique hobby – getting women to confess their sexual fantasies on video. The film could be seen simplistically as an eleventh hour skewering of that most self-centered of decades, but that would downplay its subversive idea on the true nature of sexuality, a far more cerebral and, in a way, unnerving one than is usually seen on the big screen.

Do The Right Thing, USA, 1989, 120 min. Starring Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito. Directed by Spike Lee. Controversial look at a Brooklyn neighborhood on the hottest day of the summer where things are heating up in more than a physical way, especially when tensions arise between the predominantly black residents and the Italian purveyors of the local pizza parlor. News reports about fights breaking out in theaters where this was playing somewhat overshadowed the fact that Lee had crafted a finely detailed portrait, simultaneously affectionate and cynical, of an urban neighborhood.

Time Of The Gypsies, Yugoslavia, 1989, 142 min. Starring Davor Dujmovic, Bora Todorovic. Directed by Emir Kusturica. A young Romany on the brink of manhood finds his natural innocence challenged when he gets mixed up in the dealings of the other Gypsy men around him. Not unlike what Visconti did decades earlier with his Sicilian fishermen, Kusturica populates his film with actual Gypsies, giving the viewer a rare look into an often misunderstood culture, and a beautiful story of one young man's struggle to decide where his heart truly lies.