One Way or Another (Sara Gómez, 1975). One Way or Another is a totally engaging amalgam of documentary and fiction storytelling that’s greatly enlivened by moments of structural formality that recall the audacity of the French New Wave. Set in Cuba shortly after the 1959 revolution completely recalibrated the culture of the small island nation, the film loosely follows the romance between a schoolteacher (Yolanda Cuéllar) and a mechanic (Mario Balmaseda) as they weigh their own worldviews against the new regime in power. The interpersonal gets all tangled up with the political. Various prejudices come into play, as there’s a particular schism between her determination to be her own woman and his to adhere to traditional gender roles. This measured drama is intercut with vérité-style depictions of Cuban life captured plainly with a camera. Director Sara Gómez pulls it all together in a manner than emphasizes fuss-free honesty. She died before the postproduction was complete on the work, and it’s a great tragedy that this is her only feature directorial credit. Her talent is evident in every moment. She could have been the Cuban Agnès Varda.

Roofman (Derek Cianfrance, 2025). Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum) is struggling. A military veteran who feels cast aside, he just wants to find some sort of solid footing as he endures the consternation of his ex-wife (Melonie Diaz) and tries to stay in the lives of his kids. Gainful employment is hard to come by, so he resorts to burglaries that hinge on accessing businesses through their roofs. After getting arrested and escaping prison, he uses that skill set to break into and take up permanent residence in a Toys “R” Us. There, he becomes smitten with one of the weary employees (Kirsten Dunst) and uses subterfuge to woo her. Director Derek Cianfrance can’t seem to settle on a tone for much of this movie. Sometimes it’s broadly comic, sometimes it’s gently whimsical, and sometimes it taps of vein of social satire. After wandering aimlessly through those options, he finally gives in and opts for a deadening dourness. The film is based on a true story, and yet it feels detached from recognizable emotions. Against the odds, Tatum and Dunst both give strong performances.

Exotica (Atom Egoyan, 1994). This twisty drama was deservedly Atom Egoyan’s breakthrough with internatyional audiences. Egoyan deliberately keeps his narrative cryptic for as long as he can, filling in gaps only reluctantly as he goes. At the center of the film is a strip club where Christina (Mia Kirshner) is one of the star attractions. She’s a particular obsession of Francis (Bruce Greenwood), a patron who carries an obvious sorrow with him. Christina is also a point of perhaps troubling focus for the club’s murmuring DJ (Elias Koteas). In an artfully constructed trick puzzle, each revelation only makes the landscape that much more hazy. Exotica is a rumination on all the ways people are haunted by their pasts, the somberness of that thematic center sent spinning by the way Egoyan plays out the film with the sweat-beaded intensity of an erotic thriller. If a few stray moments favor moody impact over plausibility, the overall effect of the film is hypnotic and potent. Kirshner is excellent playing a character that requires a lot of shifts in emotional bearing, and a young Sarah Polley makes an impression in a small, tenderly unsettling role.