Linda Linda Linda (Criterion Channel) – This 2005 film about three Japanese (and one Korean) high school girls who form a band so they can play a short set of songs at their end-of-year school fair is a subtle, low-key, underplayed wonder. Director and co-writer Nobuhiro Yamashita never pushes the plot too hard. Instead, he uses a lot of unhurried, static wide shots to capture the three days leading up to the performance. It’s sort of like if Yasujiro Ozu made Dazed and Confused.

The Secret (W, Lee Child and Andrew Child) – Set in the era of fax machines and beepers, this is the kind of classic Jack Reacher tale I love. The plot involves Reacher and three other operatives who’re tasked with figuring out why a bunch of scientists are being assassinated.

Legends (Netflix) – This supposedly true story about a group of British customs officers who try to stop a heroin epidemic in 1990s Britian is a solid, well-acted, suspenseful series. Tom Burke (Furiosa’s Praetorian Jack) is particularly good as an agent wrestling with his legend (i.e., the undercover persona he’s adopted in order to infiltrate the Turkish gang who’s importing the drugs) and his non-legend/real persona. In a welcome break from the normal, hackneyed convention, his wife is totally understanding and fully onboard with his mission, even going so far as to encourage him to press on when he thinks he’s getting in too deep.

Last Seen (Apple TV) – The first missing-kid story I remember watching was the Kate Nelligan-starring Without a Trace (at the Richmond Square Cinemas, back in 1983). It left an indelible impression on me. Unlike Without a Trace, the TV series Last Seen doesn’t begin with a kid going missing, rather, it begins with the discovery of some remains in a forest that Ian Ridley, one-time policeman now 000-operator (Australia’s version of 911), becomes convinced is what’s left of his three-year-old daughter who was kidnapped thirteen years earlier.

I won’t spoil any more of the inherently compelling plot, except to say, 1) the show has currently aired three episodes, and they’ve advanced the narrative quite far already, so there’s the potential to soon be getting into some very interesting, not-often-explored territory, and 2) said narrative, as gripping as it is, is also heavily reliant upon a lot of very big, very unlikely coincidences (one of them, okay, I’ll accept it, but two, three, four …?).