One of the most common complaints about Netflix, besides the crazy originals, is the number of options in the catalog. It seems like a contradiction, but it’s not so much when you consider that the number of titles available to a subscriber is increasing exponentially. This makes choosing content for pleasure an increasingly challenging habit. Or at least not as easy and enjoyable as it should be.
But beyond potential decision fatigue, the sheer volume of content available to audiences has another unique consequence. It is the ability to hide among thousands of titles the real gems that go unnoticed among endless collections and new additions. This is a common phenomenon that is not limited to Netflix, but on many platforms it is more evident than ever. Much more when demand is in the midst of growing supply, is that the release of films and TV series becomes more frequent as competition gets tougher.
To help you choose the best from a sea of movies, we leave you with ten hidden Netflix gems that you can watch right now. From a twisted horror-tinged comedy to a reinvention of the haunted house cliché into morbid drama. These are a dozen films covering the best genres, points of view and stories. Demonstrating the ability of streaming services to be a showcase and example of the best modern cinema.
Journey
Lars (Axel Hennie) and Lisa (Noomi Rapace) are a couple who were separated by a broken heart a long time ago. But when distance also turns into hatred, a short vacation will become an arena of violence. This 2021 Norwegian film is directed by Tommy Wirkola in a brutal comedy. about a marriage on the brink of collapse and turned it into a rare story of survival.
The result of the mix is a film that can be scary in its darkest moments, but also fun in its most unexpected. Much more, when the dark and gloomy tone surrounding the plot becomes ironic and caustic by the minute.
Sorry to bother you
This unique and uncomfortable film is a reflection on discrimination, the desire for success and the search for recognition. Cassius (Lakeith Stanfield) is a telephone salesman who is going through the worst time of his life. This is an alternate reality in which success at work also determines how long a person can live. So to avoid the dreaded timeout, make your accent more consumable. Or, in his words, “white” which causes him to betray what he believes to be his identity as an African American.
Director Boots Riley makes this film both tongue-in-cheek and edgy, examining society and the culture of discrimination. Especially when he connects this story with all sorts of metaphors about systemic prejudice. Brilliant and unique, this is one of Netflix’s hidden gems.
Dark daughter
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut is an adaptation of one of Elena Ferrante’s most painful novels. The result is a story that examines motherhood, femininity, and finding one’s place in the world from a completely original perspective. Leda (played by Jessie Buckley in her youth and by Olivia Colman in her adulthood), She has a difficult past that confronts her with the ideal of what tradition imposes on women.
However, this university professor, running away from convention, will try to analyze what is happening in her life based on her satisfaction. With a sensitive perspective on the future choices of an intellectually restless woman, Dark daughter is an elegant look at time and spiritual growth.
The sun that burns
Director Chung Mong Hong turns this idea of family in the midst of confrontation and misunderstanding into a meditation on faith, hope and modern loneliness. All in the study of expectations and the need to be loved, recognized and understood in a distant culture.
The film, which begins with a deepening rivalry between two brothers, quickly becomes a journey between generational pain and the search for identity. But in particular, “Burning Sun” is an emotional look at how the bonds of brotherhood can become a wrenching area of frustration and despair. A complex and subtle work that can now be found on Netflix.
37 seconds
The director known as Hikari delves into this controversial and intense story about the need for love, desire, eroticism and simply the need for sexual pleasure. And all this in an alarming situation. An artist suffering from cerebral palsy will begin an existentialist journey of self-discoverythrough which he hopes to understand his body and mind, despite the illness from which he suffers.
Sensitive, with a subtle ability to tell even the hottest and strangest moments, 37 Seconds is a film that uses sex as a means to understanding identity. With a curious topic and an exceptional point of view, is one of the rare gems you can find on Netflix right now.
Atlantic
This Senegalese film directed by Mati Diop is halfway between a tragic romance and a critical look at social and cultural violence. This premise, based on the story of a pair of disgraced lovers, may seem over the top.
But in fact, it becomes deeper and more emotional as it reveals its secrets and complex elements. For its touching ending, Atlantic He showed that love is an inexhaustible prerequisite for describing human nature and its limits. The most interesting moment of the film.
hunting time
In the midst of a bleak future, three robbers decide to pull off a spectacular and seemingly impossible heist. But what begins as heist film Combined with undertones of horror, it quickly becomes a brutal premise of violence. That is, when a cruel and bloodthirsty killer chooses the trio as his next victims.
Director Yoon Sung Hyun turns this sci-fi tale into a story that goes through tension to become a race for survival. The visuals are striking in their carefully crafted depictions of a pessimistic future, but it’s also a rare work that uses resource instability to its advantage. Which makes it one of the most unusual and attractive options in the Netflix catalogue.
history of the occult
This instant classic found footage, with an Argentine accent, surprised during its 2021 release. Cause? It’s that its director Christian Ponce manages to give the seemingly familiar premise of a government cover-up a supernatural tone. Much more, combine one scenario, folk horror and even paranoia about control and dominance through the media.
The result is a terrifying film that manages to use minimal production resources in favor of a carefully crafted, intelligent and well-told script. A surreal experience, making the film ideal for lovers of experimental cinema..
Between earth and sky
Another love story for the list, and a particularly sensitive one at that. Director Rene Liu uses the idea of a romance doomed to fail to tell the story of desire, the search to be understood and, ultimately, fear of the future can be combined into an extremely delicate scenario.
But much more, providing an answer (or what appears to be an answer) to a question that has occupied the world for centuries. Can love be predestined? “Between Earth and Sky” tries to answer one of the most sensitive and emotional dialogues of recent years. Which makes the film an interesting experience for lovers of great love stories.
Strange house
At first glance, this film by Remy Weekes may seem like a horror story. Which is, to a certain extent, from a painful perception of time, the horrors of the past and memory that survives death. But more than that, it is a reflection on forgiveness, on the wounds of the past that never heal. and tragedies hidden in unspeakable secrets.
No matter how touching and scary it may be, Strange house uses African myths and legends to create a denser climate. But in fact, at the heart of his message is a deep understanding of the horrors that fear and violence cause. Through me. A sad little piece of art that you can watch right now on Netflix.
Source: Hiper Textual
