Johan Simons

The Secret Agent, 8.5: Kleber Mendonça Filho's colourful epic thriller drama is set in violent and corrupt 1977 Brazil. Wagner Mouro nails it in his yellow VW Beetle, aided by a perfect cast and zingy score. Lots of Jaws and other sharks and the legend of a hairy killer leg.

Brawler, 8.5: 9 fine stories by Lauren Groff with engaging plots, strong characterization and great dialogues on domestic violence, mental and physical disability, family issues, ghosting, various relationships, but all with human understanding for every character involved.

Die my love, 8.5: Jennifer Lawrence has never been better than in Lynn Ramsay's psychodrama on a blocked writer with post-natal depression and psychosis, supported by het struggling husband (Robert Pattinson). Photography, editing, sound design and music all reinforce the theme.

The Purple Swamp Hen, 9: classical as they may be, Penelope Lively's stories are perfect in characterization, language & plot, whether she embodies men or women, young or old, anmals or humans, linked by marital & other secrets, past or present. Masterclass for aspiring authors.

The Natural Way of Things (Charlotte Wood, 8.5): unsettling Australian dystopian novel on 10 young women, drugged, abducted and held prisoner in the desert, all sharing a history of sexual scandal in the hands of mighty men. Motifs of a horse, rabbits, mushrooms and a doll.

I Swear (Kirk Jones, 8,5): Oi! Wankers! Want to learn about Tourette's? Watch this uplifting dramedy on John Davidson (a great Robert Aramayo), misunderstood by all but a psychiatric nurse and caretaker. 1980s Scotland till now. From victim to inspirator, tics to tricks.

Emma (Autumn de Wilde, 8): the stylish British heritage approach to Jane Austen's classic not only shines visually in sets, colours and costumes and is well-cast with Anya Taylor-Joy as the match-maker, but also does credit to the social satire and wit of the 19th century romcom.

Question 7 (Richard Flanagan, 9) highly original & heartfelt mix of memoir and historical biography, joining a youth in Tasmania, a near-drowning, a Japanese POW, ex-convicts, the genocide on Aboriginals, the atomic bomb, Tchechov, HG Wells & Rebecca West, Einstein & Leo Szilard.

L'Intéret d'Adam, Laura Wandel,8: a headnurse (a great Léa Drucker) is doing her utmost to protect a mother in the interest of her underfed little boy. A wake-up call for policy makers to invest in care, as powerful as her previous film ('Un Monde') & in the Dardennes spirit.

Sugar Street (Jonathan Dee, 8): intriguing American literary thriller about a mystery man man on the run with a bag of money, dodging security cameras and renting a room with a racist woman, visiting the library & watching refugee school children walk by. Suspense & dark humour.

The Chronology of Water (Kristen Stewart, 8.5): the painful youth & life of writer Lidia Yuknavich daringly visualised in fragmented scenes on 16mm, extreme close-ups & eerie soundscapes. Fine acting by Imogen Poots & Thora Birch & some comic relief with Jim Belushi as Ken Kesey.

Night side of the River (Jeanette Winterson, 8.5): ghost stories & personal encounters in short, simple sentences that still resonate with mood, poetry, philosophy & science & where the past meets the present of App-aritions & metaverse. Devices, places & visitations by the dead.

The Disappearance Boy (Neil Bartlett, 7.5): a handy boy with a limp & a mother complex becomes the helper of an illusionist in a London & Brighton greasy theatre alongside a pretty assistant in the preparation of the 1953 Coronation. Are their lives and longings also an illusion?

No other Choice, 7: a paper worker, 'Pulp Man of the Year', loses his job & takes vengeance on his competitors. Original as always, South Korean Park Chan-wook's satirical thriller on capitalism is yet weakened by the length of the plot, lack of suspense & overdose on slapstick .

Mist (Wilfried De Jong, 7.5): een man alleen in een hoge Rotterdamse woontoren kijkt naar buiten door zijn verrekijker en ontmoet medebewoners en stadsgenoten als een Oekraïense, een sigarenman, een gewonde sierduif, een Feyenoordsupporter, een bijna-vader, een dode in de lift...

Death of the Author ( 7.5): this could have been even better if NNedi Okorafor had left out the SF novel extracts written by her fascinating protagonist, a young single black disabled American-Nigerian woman and outsider in her family, dreaming of literary success & space travel.

Marty Supreme, 8.5: Josh Safdy makes ping pong look as sexy as Formula 1 in his sporty crime dramedy with a smashing Timothéé Chalamet as a cocky Jewish conman cheating for competition cash, supported by a winning cast, 50s/80s score and gritty photography by Darius Khondji.

Twist (Colum McCann, 9): a writer meets a freediver, specialised in repairing broken internet cables under the ocean. Both men have a history of separation & severed family ties. Hemingway meets Conrad/Coppola in this intriguing novel on communication, connection and loneliness.

The Mastermind, 7: Kelly Reichardt uses the heist genre to portray a 1970 Everyman trying to find the American dream by stealing some paintings from the local museum. We follow the aftermath of the sloppy antihero (Josh O' Connor) accompanied by a jazzy score and Vietnam protest.

De Onmisbaren, 7.5: vurige ode aan de onzichtbare sociale klasse (armer, langer ziek & vroeger dood) & schotschrift aan de machthebbers door arbeiderszoon & socialistisch vakbondsman Ron Meyer, het sterkst als hij het pamflet inruilt voor persoonlijke ervaring & herinneringen.