We've all been there before. The day has finally wound down and you plant yourself on the couch and boot up your Netflix and can't, out of thousands of titles, find a single thing that inspires you to press play. There's about five different shows your friends have insisted that you HAVE to start watching, but that's too much of a commitment right now. There's that foreign documentary about Vietnam that won all those awards, but you'll save that one for later. There are a hundred movies you've added to your queue to choose from, but you've either seen them all, or you promised your significant other you'd wait to watch it with them.
It's certainly a good problem to have, but with so much to choose from these days, it makes it hard to commit sometimes. After all, Netflix isn't really the go-to source for the latest mainstream movies, so we're normally left browsing through many titles we would have never heard of. This is generally a good thing. It opens our eyes to independent features and documentaries that would have otherwise faded into obscurity following their festival runs, but it also makes us susceptible to some duds that have been relegated to straight-to-streaming releases for a reason.
We'd all like some assurance that our next 90 minutes or so will be well spent, and it helps when someone does a little curating for us. So here are the ten best lesser-seen films that are currently streaming on Netflix.
image courtesy of: Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com
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10. The Angel's Share
Netflix's average of 74,508 ratings: 3.6 stars
The Angel's Share is a Scottish comedy-drama about a group of people, brought together by court mandated community service, who attempt to rob a whiskey distillery of it's most valuable barrel of whiskey. Think Ocean's Eleven with kilts. It's always great when a narrative film takes you into a niche world, and this one's as much about introducing viewers (as well as its protagonists) to the world of high end Scottish whiskey as it is about the heist.
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9. Compliance
Netflix's average of 241,908 ratings: 3.2 stars
Compliance could very easily be a bad movie. In fact, without knowing the film is based on real events, you would probably find yourself dismissing the story as too far-fetched and the characters as too stupid. However, with the need to suspend disbelief out the window, this turns into a thriller that will have you yelling at the characters on screen.
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8. The Dirties
Netflix's average of 40,333 ratings: 3 stars
There have been a few movies made about school shootings. Take Gus Van Sant's Elephant, for one. While it effectively captures the stomach-churning horror of such an event, it plays like a monster movie. An argument could be made that people who shoot innocent people in a school are essentially monsters, but the film doesn't offer much insight and rather just serves the purpose of evoking emotion.
The Dirties, written, directed, produced, and starring Matt Johnson, takes the relevant topic of mass shootings and makes a film that is relevant itself. The shooter is humanized, but not romanticized, despite what the character sees in his head as a movie in which the good guy takes out the bad guys. Without any force or ham-handedness, it seamlessly works into account all the things you hear discussed in the media when one of these things happens: absent parents, bullying, access to guns, and violent movies. This is one worth watching.
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7. 30 for 30: Unguarded
Netflix's average of 150,129 ratings: 4.2 stars
If you're not familiar with ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series, then there's plenty for you to catch up on Netflix. All the films in the series have sports as their common thread, but they're mostly human stories. Unguarded is no exception. It's about Massachusetts basketball legend Chris Herren, who rose through the ranks of college and pro ball despite severe drug addiction, and how it all came crashing down.
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6. Take This Waltz
Netflix's average of 460,146 ratings: 3.4 stars
The state of romance movies is such that the bar has been set pretty low, which is a shame because there are few better ways to relate to the human experience than through the highs and lows of love and love lost. Sarah Polley's understated story of a thirty-something love triangle gives under appreciated performances by Michelle Williams and Luke Kirby, as well as dramatic turns from Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman, and provides real and raw emotion rarely captured in romantic dramas today.
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5. The Comedy
Netflix's average of 82,325 ratings: 3.1 stars
The Comedy is light on jokes, but it's name is still apt. It's an indictment on today's hipster culture, but it's also something of a reflection on the Sandler and Rogen movies of the past two decades, about aging man-boys whose arrested development has been facilitated by money that's come through something other than hard work. It's a statement that plenty of time and money, a lack of direction, and friends with the same circumstances is a much more grim life than you would think. It's one of the more interesting films of the past few years, and it's the kind of movie that will stick in your craw for some time.
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4.Frances Ha
Netflix's average of 290,708 ratings: 3.6 stars
Noah Baumbach's latest is like mumblecore by way of Woody Allen. Co-written by and starring Greta Gerwig, this story of living broke and pursuing the arts in Brooklyn is The Comedy's younger, less cynical cousin.
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3.The Imposter
Netflix's average of 281,537 ratings: 3.7 stars
It's difficult to say much about this one for fear of giving spoilers, because so much of the fun of this thrilling documentary hinges on its twists and turns. Basically, it tells the story of a Texas boy who goes missing and is reunited with his family years later. It's told through a blend of interviews, archival footage, and reenactments. The Imposter drags you in from the beginning and holds you until the credits.
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2.Stories We Tell
Sarah Polley's second film on this list, Stories We Tell is a much different, more personal documentary. It captures Polley's family history through the perspective of several members and a few outsiders, and quickly turns from a recounting of events to an unfolding of events. It's enough of a tender, intimate story that the dramatic twists that come along feel like an added bonus.
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1.Short Term 12
Netflix's average of 147,689 ratings: 4.2 stars
If the movie world was a just place, Short Term 12 would have at least received a Best Picture nod at last year's Academy Awards. This film has it all-great performances, great writing, great direction, great story, and most of all, impeccably developed characters. The overall feel of the film is like a more grounded version of Orange is the New Black, in that everyone has their own story and they're more or less stuck in this one place together. This is a rare movie that you'll wish was a series, just so you could follow each character further to see where they all go. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and give it a watch.