Jack Hughes

Return of an Adventurer (1966) – Alassane’s deceptively goofy short film expresses the grave & varied toll of Western cultural infiltration

Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) – Malle’s warm, supple filming is optimally attuned to Gregory’s intimate, naturalistic casting and staging

Tokyo Pop (Fran Rubel Kuzui, 1988)

La fauve est lache (1959) – Labro’s harassed thriller, seasoned by its evocations of past allegiances, transgressions and entrapments

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (2025) – Bronstein’s well-calibrated trauma escalation, laced with black farce, but deathly, cosmically serious

Bait (Mark Jenkin, 2019)

The Pied Piper (Jacques Demy, 1972) torontomovieguy.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-pi…

Lotte in Weimar (1975) – despite the sparkling Palmer, Gunther’s drama too often skirts boredom on the way to its well-achieved conclusion

Crazy Horse (2011) – as close as one gets to an alluring Wiseman-lite, only lightly prodding its subject’s calculated image and strictures

Armand (Halfdan Ullmann Tondel, 2024)

Paparazzi (1964) – Rozier’s not-unsympathetic short study ironically embodies the privileged access denied to its tireless protagonists

Host (2020) – Savage’s film expertly draws on Covid-era constraints and anxieties, the result impressive for its economy, spirit & intensity

Fat City (John Huston, 1972)

Count Dracula (1970) – Franco’s superficially faithful rendering, startling only in its utter lack of atmosphere, emotion or narrative drive

Lydia Lunch: the War is Never Over (2019) – Beth B’s survey more than does the job, leaving one in amused awe, and likely a little shaken

My Childhood (Bill Douglas, 1972)

Tokyo Olympiad (1965) – Ichikawa’s long, varied record, best when resisting the obligatory and embracing (albeit modest) eccentricity

F1 (2025) – Kosinski’s racing epic exudes high-end investment, stimulating on many levels notwithstanding its well-worn narrative devices

Jeanne Eagels (George Sidney, 1957)

Prisoneros de la tierra (1939) – Soffici’s gripping, tinder-box drama, intensely attuned to economic exploitation and unfulfilled longings