5 Hidden Gems Streaming on Netflix Right Now
Netflix‘s streaming library is vast enough that certain films inevitably end up slipping through the cracks of its homepage recommendations. That does not mean, though, that there aren’t movies well deserving of your attention lurking just beneath the platform’s surface. Some of the best movies streaming on Netflix right now just so happen, in fact, to require a bit more searching than you may be used to doing or the service even encourages.
Fortunately, we’ve done that work for you. Here are five hidden gems that you probably did not know are streaming on Netflix right now.
“Past Lives” (2023)
An absorbing romantic drama, writer-director Celine Song‘s “Past Lives” is as invigorating and rewarding a feature directorial debut as any we have recently seen. Inspired by real events in Song’s life, the film follows a pair of South Korean childhood friends (Greta Lee and Teo Yoo) who are forced apart when Lee’s Nora moves with her family to Canada.
Over the course of 24 years, the two repeatedly drift apart and then reconnect — their mutual, undeniable attraction pulling them toward each other even as the circumstances of their individual lives keep them perpetually apart. Filmed with careful grace by Song, “Past Lives” builds its themes about love, fate and regret patiently and organically before arriving at a quietly devastating conclusion that acknowledges one of life’s hardest truths — that building a life for yourself means constantly closing the door on the other lives you could have led.
“Logan Lucky” (2017)
Steven Soderbergh has made being taken for granted look like an artform. No other filmmaker of the past 30 years has made more great, wildly underappreciated films than him. 2017’s “Logan Lucky” is one of those movies. Directed by Soderbergh and written by his wife Jules Asner (credited as Rebecca Blunt), the film is a country-fried heist thriller about a pair of redneck West Virginia brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) who team up with their sister Mellie (Riley Keough) and incarcerated safe-cracker Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during a NASCAR race.
Giving each of its actors the chance to adopt the twangiest Southern accent you’ve ever heard in your life, “Logan Lucky” is a breezy, ingenious crime comedy that proves, once again, that no one truly knows how to do a heist thriller quite like Soderbergh does. The film was well-received when it was released but flew under the radar with casual moviegoers, which feels like a crime in and of itself.
“Constantine” (2005)
Speaking of movies that were underappreciated at the time of their release, 2005’s “Constantine” is also streaming on Netflix right now. An adaptation of the popular DC Comics line of the same name, “Constantine” follows John Constantine (Keanu Reeves), a disillusioned exorcist and occult private detective, as he finds himself in the middle of a dangerous conspiracy involving scheming half-angels and disguised demons who want to take over the human world.
The film received mixed reviews when it was originally released and only performed moderately well at the box office. In the intervening 20 years, it has become a cult classic, and for good reason. “Constantine” is a clever, moody supernatural thriller that carries itself with a distinctly punk-rock, chip-on-its-shoulder kind of spirit. Our fingers remain crossed that Reeves and director Francis Lawrence’s long-discussed sequel will actually get made one day.
“Reptile” (2023)
An underrated American crime thriller, “Reptile” is one of those Netflix originals that seemed to come and go without making much of a splash among both critics and casual viewers. That is a shame, considering how visually impressive and narratively engaging it is. Directed by longtime music video director Grant Singer, the film follows a New England-based detective (Benicio del Toro) whose investigation into the murder of a real estate agent drags him into the center of a conspiracy that threatens to destroy the little remaining optimism he still has.
Directed with gripping control by Singer and filled with thick, impenetrable shadows by “It Follows” cinematographer Michael Gioulakis, “Reptile” is an immersive, engrossing neo-noir thriller that is confidently anchored at all times by an effortlessly magnetic lead performance from del Toro.
“Emily the Criminal” (2022)
Released one year before “Reptile,” writer-director John Patton Ford’s “Emily the Criminal” is a must-see film for any crime fiction heads out there. Set in modern-day Los Angeles, the film follows Emily Benetto (Aubrey Plaza), a young woman struggling to deal with the suffocating weight of her student debt and the professionally limiting power of her criminal record. Desperate to find some sort of financial salvation, she becomes involved in a small-scale credit card scam that just ends up pulling her further and further into a life of crime.
Sun-soaked and sweaty, “Emily the Criminal” is a street-level thriller that uses its heroine’s all-too-relatable sense of financial hopelessness to craft a riveting, propulsive crime story. The film pulls its punches a bit in its final 10 minutes, but that only slightly softens the impact of this gritty and grimy thriller. Few recent movies come as close to replicating the seedy power of the American crime dramas of the ’70s as “Emily the Criminal.”
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