THE DREADED SCROLL through your streaming service of choice can lead to wasted time and frustrated movie watching.
So to give you a bit of help this Christmas season, we’ve looked through streaming services to find some hidden gems you might not have watched.
These might be hidden because they are undersung, or you just might not realise they’re available to stream online. Or maybe you’d forgotten they were released not too long ago…
The Innocent (2023)
The Innocent is three things at once: a heist film, a romance, and a comedy. All that adds up to an absolute treat. Louis Garrel (Little Women) directs and stars in this French film, which is about a young man (Abel) whose mother marries one of her students at a prison drama class. After their marriage, Abel worries his new stepfather hasn’t actually renounced his criminal ways… but is he wrong? A great streaming gem.
Enys Men (2023)
If you missed this in the cinema this year and want to watch something a bit ‘out there’, this is for you. Think of it as the exact opposite to The Innocent – it’s more of a challenging watch, but cinephiles and those who like things weird and creepy will find much to admire. Director Mark Jenkins does basically everything himself with his films, and his work feels unsettling and unique.
Ali and Ava (2020)
A tear-jerking drama/romance, this stars Adeel Akhtar and Claire Rushbrook as Ali and Ava, a pair who meet at the school gates in Bradford and fall in love slowly – but have to contend with disapproval and prejudice along the way.
Riders of Justice (2020)
This great Danish film stars Mads Mikkelsen as a man who lost his wife in a terrorist bombing – but is later approached by a stranger who tells him that the bombing was planned, in order to eliminate a key witness in a trial against the leader of the criminal motorbike gang, Riders of Justice. A fantastic, slightly farcical action-comedy ensues.
Shiva Baby (2020)
This slightly risqué debut from Emma Seligman (who also directed Bottoms, which came out this year) is about a sugar baby and student who attends a shiva with her parents – where she bumps into her client. By turns dark and funny, it’s hard to believe Seligman was barely in her mid-twenties when she directed this.
One Fine Morning (2023)
There’s nothing like sinking into a new Mia Hansen-Løve film – drifting away into the dramatic and effortlessly fascinating private lives of middle-class French people. If you missed her latest film at the cinema, it’s available on Mubi. It stars Lea Seydoux as a young widow whose father is ill, but who gets some nice distraction in the form of a new romance.
Awakenings (1990)
This 1990s emotional drama can be found on Netflix, where you get to watch the brilliant pairing of Robin Williams and Robert de Niro at work. The film (directed by Penny Marshall) is based on Oliver Sacks’s 1973 memoir Awakenings. It features a neurologist Dr Malcolm Sayer (Williams), based on Sacks, who discovers that a drug can help catatonic patients. De Niro plays one of the patients. Bonus fact: Julie Kavner, who voices Marge in The Simpsons, also stars.
Source Code (2011)
You might have forgotten about this does-what-it-says-on-the-tin sci-fi action film directed by Duncan Jones (son of Bowie). Jake Gyllenhaal stars as US Army Captain Colter Stevens, who gets stuck in a digitally-created Groundhog Day-style situation and is tasked with figuring out who bombed a train. Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright also feature here. Entertaining on a Christmas afternoon.
The Card Counter (2021)
Another one that might have slipped out of your mind – even though it was directed and written by Paul Schrader and stars Oscar Isaac – is The Card Counter. It’s a great watch, and sees Isaac play a gambler called William Tell who spent some years in military prison, and journeys around casinos gambling – but is hiding some big secrets. Gritty and slick.
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