Are you beginning to feel like you’ve seen everything there is to see on Netflix?
TVInsider estimates that U.S. Netflix customers are streaming a total of 6.1 billion hours per month since March, so if you’re feeling like you’re in a slump with your recent movie watching, there’s a good reason why.
Thankfully, Netflix has many hidden gems buried in the midst of crowd-pleasing blockbusters. Whether you’re in the mood for a subtle drama or a thriller that’ll keep your mind racing, we’ve rounded up just a few of the best underrated movies available to stream on Netflix right now.
20th Century Women
This Academy Award-nominated drama follows Dorothea Fields, a driven single mother in her mid-50s. As her concerns rise regarding the upbringing of her teenage son, Jamie, she employs two younger women: Abbie, a punk photographer, and Julie, Jamie’s best friend who lives next door and often sleeps over. Perfectly understated and full of heart, 20th Century Womenis guaranteed to get under your skin.
The Florida Project
Named after the original title of Disney World theme park, The Florida Projectis an intimate look at a life of squalor spent in a budget motel right by the Happiest Place on Earth. Halley is a young, delinquent single mother who deeply loves her six-year-old daughter, Moonee, but struggles to make ends meet and stay out of trouble. Told primarily from Moonee’s point of view, it’s just as heartbreaking as it is beautifully shot.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
What if you could completely forget that you and your ex had ever met? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mindfollows an estranged couple, Joel and Clementine, who have decided to have each other erased from their memories. As the two coincidentally cross paths again, the film acts as a powerful statement on true love, fate, and the power of memories.
American Honey
American Honey follows eighteen-year-old Star, who is desperate for a new job. When she runs into the alluring Jake at a local Kmart by chance, he convinces her to join his traveling magazine sales crew. Star is welcomed by (most of) the group, and she quickly gets wrapped up in their lifestyle of heavy partying as they road trip across the country, juggling her budding romance with Jake in the process.
Super Dark Times
A chilling teen thriller, Super Dark Timestakes place in the era before the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. After a traumatic accident puts a rift in the friendship between teenage best friends Zach and Josh, the two of them must navigate the loss of their innocence in the aftermath of tragedy.
Cam
Camis a psychological thriller inspired by screenwriter Isa Mazzei’s real-life experience as a camgirl. The film’s protagonist, Alice, is working as a webcam model in her home studio, and is successful. Alice then discovers that an exact replica of herself has taken over her account and is livestreaming under her screen name.
We the Animals
Based on the novel of the same name by Justin Torres, We the Animalsis a tender coming-of-age drama centered around three brothers in a working-class family living in upstate New York. As the personalities of Jonah’s two older brothers begin to resemble that of their volatile but loving father, the youngest of the family must reconcile with his emerging homosexuality.
Shirkers
In 1992, 19-year-old Sandi Tan and her friends turned in their film project to their teacher and mentor Georges Cardona, only for him to disappear with the footage. After his death, the Singaporean documentary Shirkersuses the resulting disappointment to offer poignant points of view about creativity and reckoning with the past.
Of course Netflix’s library changes quickly, so you may want to hurry up and binge watch all of these. At least then you will have earned the right to feel like you’ve seen everything worth watching.
