Buried by Netflix: 5 excellent movies you barely knew existed
There are more straight-to-Netflix films being released with each passing month, but the streaming giant doesn't always know how to promote them. It has come under widespread criticism for burying its original films, releasing important work by established independent directors with the bare minimum of publicity.
Mudbound became the first Netflix drama to crack the Oscars, with four nominations, but it was released with barely a whisper of advance publicity. Its underpromotion was oddly typical of the streaming giant, which premieres a huge range of films from across the quality spectrum and barely differentiates in terms of recommending them.
Indeed, it’s far more likely to drum up anticipation for such overproduced genre blow-outs as the Blade Runner-lite Mute or Will Smith's fantasy cop flop Bright than to direct its audiences towards worthier low-budget discoveries.
Of course, the upside of a Netflix Original release is that its homemade highlights will always be there. Ava DuVernay, whose Oscar-nominated documentary 13 premiered on Netflix, has praised the service for giving a enduring platform to her film. As she puts it, “My concern isn’t being lost, my concern is being somewhere, period."
Even the most unsung Netflix Originals could still find an audience at the click of a button. Here's our pick of the hidden gems you could easily have missed.
I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017)
Genre: Comedy thriller Dir: Macon Blair Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Elijah Wood, David Yow, Jane Levy Cert: 15 Time: 96 mins
In a nutshell: Some time over the last decade, Melanie Lynskey has become one of the most reliable players in American indie cinema. Often two-handers, her modest vehicles – Todd Louiso’s Hello I Must Be Going (2012), which started her run as a leading lady, Joe Swanberg’s Happy Christmas (2014), and several others – constitute a fertile subgenre for anyone seeking warmth and subtlety below the radar. This comedy-thriller was a change of pace: she plays the aggrieved victim of a suburban burglary, who teams up with a weird, weaponry-obsessed neighbour (Elijah Wood) to find the culprits. The film’s almost Coens-y swerves into Grand Guignol are as unpredictable as they are smartly managed, and Lynskey shines in a wilder, more vengeful register than we’ve ever seen before.
Princess Cyd (2017)
Genre: Drama Dir: Stephen Cove Cast: Rebecca Spence, Jessie Pinnick, Malic White Cert: Mature Time: 96 mins
In a nutshell: One of 2017's most disarming critical favourites, Stephen Cone’s delightful intergenerational drama was released to the platform with far too little fuss, perhaps hampered by its shortage of recognisable star names. In the title role of a teenager still finding herself, Jessie Pinnick is unimprovable. Going through a rough patch with her father, she takes the chance to stay with her aunt (Rebecca Spence) in the Chicago suburbs one summer. The way their relationship deepens and settles is a joy to watch, and Cone’s writing throughout is on a par with good Kenneth Lonergan. He gives the wonderful Spence a position on spinsterhood that’s both enlightened and sad at the same time, making a case for her character’s own settled, bookish life as she watches her niece blossom and experiment.
February (2015)
Genre: Horror Dir: Oz Perkins Cast: Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton Cert: 15 Time: 94 mins
In a nutshell: Two teenage girls (Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton) are abandoned at a remote Catholic school over winter break, when their parents fail to pick them up. One frightens the other with rumours that the nuns overseeing the school are Satanists, and from here, every bump in the night seems loaded with significance. Meanwhile, a psych ward escapee, played by Emma Roberts, would appear to be headed there, too. This first feature from Oz Perkins – eldest son of Anthony, and portrayer of a 12-year-old Norman Bates in Psycho II (1983) – is a cleverly artful, ambiguous shocker which fans of Hereditary may relish. His subsequent picture I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), starring Ruth Wilson and also on Netflix, is a slippery, Shirley Jackson-ish New England chiller with less staying power: this one has claws.
Calibre (2018)
Genre: Thriller Dir: Matt Palmer Cast: Jack Lowden, Martin McCann, Tony Curran Cert: 15 Time: 101 mins
In a nutshell: A hunting trip to the Scottish Highlands goes hideously and very suddenly wrong in this gruellingly suspenseful slice of outdoorsy territorial combat from writer-director Matt Palmer, with shades of Deliverance and Walter Hill’s Southern Comfort. You don’t want to know what befalls mild-mannered Jack Lowden and aggressive, trigger-happy school chum Martin McCann when they venture on one fateful weekend away into the forest – only that it’s a ghastly nightmare which has every local baying ruthlessly for their blood. More than most supernatural horrors, the film induces an impressive state of stress, and probably isn’t to be watched in the late-night shift if you want your heart rate to subside before dawn. Palmer’s next one is awaited with both eagerness and considerable trepidation.
Annihilation (2018)
Genre: Sci-fi Dir: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez Cert: 15 Time: 115 mins
In a nutshell: Admirers of Alex Garland weren't pleased by the news that his head-spinning follow-up to Ex Machina would go straight to Netflix, without a theatrical release. The trippy, dreamlike sci-fi drama – which stars Natalie Portman as a scientist sent to explore a mysterious quarantined area called "the shimmer" – has painstaking, painterly aesthetic that suffers from diminution on the small screen. It felt neglected on its streaming debut, and such was the demand to see it on the big-screen that a handful of last-minute UK cinema screenings were arranged a few weeks later to pacify the fans.