FILM SUGGESTIONS ranked by IMDB audience score, from highest to lowest. Details also given of Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score, and summary of critics’ consensus.
Sound of metal (USA, 2019)
Drama. Director Darius Marder
RT critics score 97%, IMDb audience score 7.8
The life of a heavy-metal drummer (Riz Ahmed) is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “An evocative look at the experiences of the deaf community, Sound of Metal is brought to life by Riz Ahmed’s passionate performance.”
Winner Best Sound & Best Editing Oscars & BAFTAs.
Breathless (France, 1960, subtitles) Members’ Choice
Crime drama. Director Jean-Luc Godard
RT 97%, IMDb 7.8
On the run from the police, suave petty thug Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) turns to his aspiring journalist girlfriend (Jean Seberg).
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “Breathless rewrote the rules of cinema – and more than 50 years after its arrival, Jean-Luc Godard’s paradigm-shifting classic remains every bit as vital”
Winner Berlin Silver Bear (Directing)
Another Round (Denmark, 2020, subtitles). Tragicomedy/drama. Director Thomas Vinterberg
Rotten Tomatoes critics score 92%, IMDb audience score 7.8
Four high school teachers consume alcohol on a daily basis to see how it affects their social and professional lives.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “Take one part deftly directed tragicomedy, add a dash of Mads Mikkelsen in vintage form, and you’ve got Another Round – an intoxicating look at midlife crises.”
Winner Best International Film Oscar & BAFTA.
Ninjababy (Norway, 2021, subtitles)
Drama. Director Yngvild Sve Flikke
RT 100%, IMDb 7.5
When Rakel (23) finds out she’s six months pregnant after a not-so-romantic one-night stand, her world changes.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “Led by Kristine Kujath Thorp’s charming performance, Ninjababy offers a refreshingly – and rudely – honest take on unplanned pregnancy.”
Minari (USA, 2020, subtitles) Members’ Choice
Family drama. Director Lee Isaac Chung
RT 98%, IMDb 7.5
A Korean family tries to start a farming business in Arkansas in the 1980s.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “Led by arresting performances from Steven Yeun and Yeri Han, Minari offers an intimate and heart-wrenching portrait of family and assimilation in 1980s America.”
Winner Best Supporting Actress Oscar & BAFTA.
Paradise Now (Netherlands / Palestine / Israel / France / Germany, 2005, subtitles)
Political/psychological drama. Director Hany Abu-Assad
RT 89%, IMDb 7.4
Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “This film delves deeply into the minds of suicide bombers, and the result is unsettling.”
Winner Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film, Berlin Best European Film.
I’m Your Man (Germany, 2021, subtitles) Members’ Choice
Comedy / sci-fi. Director Maria Schrader
RT 94%, IMDb 7.3
A scientist accepts an offer to participate in an extraordinary experiment: for three weeks she is to live with a humanoid robot (Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens), created to make her happy.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “With a thought-provoking concept brought to humorous life by a pair of well-matched leads, I’m Your Man is an AI rom-com whose intelligence is anything but artificial.”
Winner Berlin Silver Bear (Acting)
Limbo (UK, 2020) Members’ Choice
Drama. Director Ben Sharrock
RT 92%, IMDb 7.2
A Syrian musician awaits the result of his asylum application on a remote Scottish island.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “A profoundly uplifting portrait of the refugee experience, Limbo is distinguished by its offbeat tone – and overall impressive work from debuting director Ben Sharrock.”
The Courier (UK/USA, 2020)
Spy thriller. Director Dominic Cooke
RT 86%, IMDb 7.1
An unassuming businessman (Benedict Cumberbatch) is tasked with carrying secret information out of Soviet Russia.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “delivers a rousingly effective old-school spy adventure elevated by a thrilling fact-based story and Benedict Cumberbatch’s nervy central performance.”
The Souvenir (UK, 2019)
Coming of age/romantic drama. Director Joanna Hogg
RT 89%, IMDb 6.4
A young film student in the early 80s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “ Made by a filmmaker in command of her craft and a star perfectly matched with the material, The Souvenir is a uniquely impactful coming of age drama.”
Winner London Critics’ Circle Best British Film, & Young British Performer of the Year
Route Irish (UK, 2010)
Thriller. Director Ken Loach
RT 73%, IMDb 6.4
A security contractor in Iraq rejects the official explanation of his friend’s death and decides to investigate.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: n/a
“You don’t expect Ken Loach to make thrillers, but this one is an angry and relevant film about the perfidies embedded in the Iraq conflict.” Derek Malcolm, Evening Standard
Censor (UK, 2021)
Horror. Director Prano Bailey-Bond
RT 89%, IMDb 6.0
A female film censor begins to draw parallels between her sister’s mysterious disappearance and a horror film she is examining at work.
Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus: “Occasionally uneven but bold and viscerally effective, Censor marks a bloody good step forward for British horror.”