Films are a form of escape the entire world subscribes to, and a phenomenal one might even change your life. Whether it be social justice issues, complex themes of humanity, or the lessons learned from love. Everyone needs to see the motions of art imitating life to be moved and reminded of who we are and our world. With that being said, here are 10 Netflix films you can watch today that will change your life.
Directed by Jérémy Clapin
Based on the book Happy Handwritten by Guillaume Laurant
Following the scrupulous stories of an escaped hand and it’s owner. I Lost My Body is a French fantasy drama film that follows a young Morrocan boy named Naoufel. His journey of the emotional and physical loss he experiences throughout his life. Out of all the animated Netflix films, this one is told through flashbacks and was even nominated for an Oscar. Moreover, the film explores the concepts of freedom and free will through the means of fantastical hand imagery and a memorable music score that evokes the feelings of acceptance, liveliness, and growth.
Directed and written by Noah Baumbach
Marriage Story is one of the several Netflix films that has had many Oscar nominations this year. The film is about divorce’s navigation in an ending marriage between the couple Nicole and Charlie Barber. A universal account of a real relationship, A Marriage Story, shares the humanness of two people that care for one another, beautifully capturing this through cinematography and dialogue. Although it isn’t based on the director’s personal life. The film largely reverberates the experiences of director Noah Baumbach and his previous marriage with ex-wife Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Directed and written by Sonia Lowman
Entailing the historical problems of education inequity and inequality, the 2017 documentary Teach Us All provides a film on the U.S. educational system’s harsh reality. It’s disservice towards students of color, as it still stands as our time’s pertinent civil rights issue. Teach Us All makes viewers understand that the segregation and the racial disparities in American schools still disturb the nation today. The filmmakers do this by showing history, statistics, and conducted interviews to corroborate this truth from individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Out of all the Netflix films out there, this is one you have to see.
Directed by Nahnatchka Khan
Written by Randall Park, Ali Wong, & Michael Golamco
Always Be My Maybe is a heartfelt comedy film that centers around childhood friends Sasha Tran and Marcus Kim. The film also focuses on the different life routes they take as they grow older. While the movie is full of funny, hilarious awkward moments and an unexpected cameo appearance from Keanu Reeves. Always Be My Maybe highlights the importance of reconnecting with our roots to remember who we are and where we come from. That we still have a home. It wonderfully juggles comedy, love, and food elements that make this original Netflix movie worthwhile.
Directed by Stefon Bristol
Written by Stefon Bristol & Fredrica Bailey
Based on the short film See You Yesterday by Stefon Bristol & Fredrica Bailey.
A Spike Lee joint, See You Yesterday, is one of those Netflix films you need to watch. The Netflix original is a sci-fi tale that concerns itself with police brutality and time travel in the 21st century. Moreover, C.J Walker and her best friend, Sebastian Thomas, successfully assemble a time machine to revive Walker’s brother. The latter was fatally shot by law enforcement in their neighborhood. The film’s exploration of time and space and the specific injustice that continues to plague the Black community are creatively juxtaposed by bolstering humanity’s serious message and the imaginative concept of time paradox.
Directed and written by Dan Gilroy
When searching through Netflix films, it is always a must to find a good Jake Gyllenhaal movie, especially when the media company releases Nightcrawler. The fascinating actor plays the role of petty thief Lou, who stumbles his way into freelance photojournalism, finding himself obsessed with exploitation and greed. Mimicking big corporation, the film’s excellent characterization of Lou and it’s overall meticulous writing helps explain the realities of the desensitization of indifference we see all around us. Nightcrawler will change your life by examining the impact of the people behind the people in the world.
Directed and written by Alice Wu
Alice Wu’s The Half of It is a queer coming-of-age, Asian-American romantic comedy film, an invigorating story we’re not used to seeing. It focuses on the development of Ellie Chu. This lesbian teen makes cash on the side by writing school papers. She assists a particular classmate with writing love letters and text messages to a girl she has had a crush on from afar. The film spins the model minority myth on its head by showcasing Chu as a complex, intersectional identity, dealing with the generational apathy, unapologetic news, sexuality, and the mundanity that everyday life throws at her.
Directed by Michael Gondry
Written by Charlie Kaufman
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a critically acclaimed film that takes a realistic and different approach to romance. The film does this by laying out the nature of a broken heart, mind, and a passionate relationship’s functionalities. A lyrical film told in bewildering images. The story looks at the psychological journey Joel Barish embarks as he attempts to erase his girlfriend, Clementine Krucynzki, from his brain. She was able to remove him from her memories. The story is told in fragments, with its true lyricism deriving from the poem “Eloisa to Ablebard” by Alexander Pope–the film’s title. A tear-jerker of Netflix films.
Directed by Sam Felder
Executive Producers: Laverne Cox, Laverne Cox, Abigail Disney, Laura Gabbart, Caroline Libresco, Matthew Perniciaro, Michael Sherman, S. Mona Sinha, & Linda Weinman
The 2018 documentary Disclosure helps discuss and dissect transgender visibility in cinema history that has made a misinforming impression on society today. The documentary thoroughly goes through periods and spaces that have stereotyped trans bodies and shown many the recent, positive strides with gender, non-conforming characters on the small and big screen. The film also addresses the intersectionalities that come with transness. As well as the need and demand of the multiplicity and diversity in trans representation in media.
Directed and written by Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, & Lilly Wachowski
Based on the novel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas is a sci-fi filmization of the same name’s novel, with the film written and directed by the Wachowski sisters. The movie spans centuries, as it follows the multiple stories of 6 people within 6 different settings and periods interconnected with a star-shaped birthmark, music, and similar desires of wanting to do good and serve justice in the world. This unique series of events within each story deals with Hinduistic concepts, such as karma and reincarnation, and strives to prove the power of love and humanity that cycles within every person throughout life.
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