dexterously

Clark is a gifted and nimble guitarist with a dexterously spiky playing style that contrasts with the moony smoothness of her voice.

But on that album — and its lively, dexterously picked opening track — Wellington reclaims the instrument’s African origins while adding his own modern flair.

Following his widely celebrated 2018 debut collection, “A Lucky Man” — a finalist for a National Book Award, the John Leonard Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award — “Witness” not only feels more sharply made, moving more dexterously through different lengths, registers and points of view, but also does what sometimes feels impossible in a collection of unlinked stories, which is to feel like a truly coherent book.

This idea is at the forefront in “Punch,” the feature debut of the New Zealand writer-director Welby Ings, which dexterously balances familiar emotional beats and an impressive, nimble approach to form.

Her humor, her way of switching from earnest to demonic to worried has the flavor of vintage Bausch; at their best, those performances teetered dexterously on the edge of reality and fantasy.