In our DVD age, there are still movies that cry out to be seen on the big screen. This is especially true for epic-scale, large-budget films with lavish production values. Mongolian Ping Pong is a Chinese film that demands to be experienced in the theaters, but for none of those reasons. It’s a small, intimate, quiet film made on a modest budget—the kind of film that audiences often choose to watch at home on DVD.

According to Edward Norton, the star and one of the producers of Down in the Valley, he and director David Jacobson watched old movie westerns together in preparation for beginning work on the film. It figures.