Finding the Best Netflix Movies Without Losing Your Sanity

This 2021 psychological western directed by Jane Campion does not ask for your attention. It demands it. Benedict Cumberbatch leads the story as Phil, a toxic rancher with sharp eyes and a sharper tongue, whose cruelty masks something much deeper. Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit McPhee bring layered performances to a world filled with quiet tension and emotional landmines.

It is not loud. It is not fast. But it builds. Every scene adds weight, and by the final sequence, you realize it has been circling you the whole time. Visually, it is stunning. Narratively, it is slow but rewarding. If you are looking for the best movies of on Netflix that leave you thinking instead of blinking, this one deserves a quiet night and your full attention

Directed by Noah Baumbach and released in 2019, this film is less about love and more about everything that happens after it fades. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson play a couple navigating the slow unraveling of their marriage through lawyers, letters, and moments that feel painfully familiar to anyone who has loved too hard and too long.

The beauty of Marriage Story lies in its honesty. It does not take sides. It just shows people trying and failing and trying again. The performances are raw. The writing is sharp. The arguments feel too real at times. For those in search of the best movies of on Netflix that cut deep without needing violence or spectacle, this is heartbreak worth watching.

Alfonso Cuarón’s 2018 masterpiece is not trying to entertain you. It wants you to sit still, observe, and feel. Shot in black and white and based on Cuarón’s own childhood memories, Roma follows Cleo, a housekeeper played with quiet brilliance by Yalitza Aparicio, as she navigates her own life while raising someone else’s children.

It is slow in the best way. Every frame is intentional. Every silence is loud. This is not a film with big twists. It is a story told with care, emotion, and the kind of visual detail that rewards patience. Roma is one of the best movies of on Netflix for viewers who want more than plot. They want presence.

⭐ Top Pick ⭐

If anxiety was a movie, this would be it. Directed by the Safdie Brothers in 2019, Uncut Gems stars Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, a jeweler in New York who lives on the edge of disaster and still thinks he is winning. His every move is loud, desperate, and incredibly watchable.

What makes this film part of the best movies of on Netflix is its relentless energy. It never slows down. It never lets you breathe. You watch Howard spiral through bets, lies, and increasingly bad decisions and somehow still root for him. It is stressful, chaotic, and deeply entertaining if you are into that kind of punishment.

Martin Scorsese’s 2019 epic does not feel the need to rush. At over three hours long, The Irishman lets its story unfold like a confession. Robert De Niro plays Frank Sheeran, a man looking back on decades of quiet violence and broken loyalty. Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are with him, not shouting but simmering with presence.

It is not about big shootouts. It is about aging, time, and consequences. The de-aging technology gets most of the attention, but what stays with you is the silence between the words. The Irishman is not just one of the best movies of on Netflix. It is a film about men who lived too long with the things they did not say.

Directed by Bong Joon-ho and released in 2017, Okja might start like a fairy tale but do not get comfortable. It tells the story of a young girl named Mija and her genetically modified super pig, and how their bond gets tested when corporate greed comes knocking. Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal give performances that are weird in the best possible way.

Okja is colorful and strange and very much alive. It plays like a kid’s movie but hits like a satire about capitalism, animal rights, and global branding. It is messy, emotional, and surprisingly sharp. Among the best movies of on Netflix, this one stands out for being impossible to categorize and even harder to forget.

Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom drama from 2020 is not subtle, but it is sharp. Based on the true story of seven activists charged after protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, this film turns historical transcripts into something fast, fierce, and surprisingly funny at times. With Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, and Yahya Abdul Mateen II in key roles, the cast delivers across the board.

What earns this movie a place among the best movies of on Netflix is how it balances chaos and clarity. It moves quickly but never loses focus. It explains without sounding like a lecture. The editing gives it rhythm. The performances give it heart. If you like your politics with personality and your dialogue with bite, this one delivers both.

Spike Lee does not do quiet, and Da 5 Bloods is no exception. Released in 2020, the film follows four Vietnam War veterans returning to the country decades later, searching for the remains of their fallen leader and a buried treasure they left behind. Delroy Lindo gives a performance that should have won every award, and Chadwick Boseman appears in flashbacks that now hit harder than ever.

This film is messy in a way that feels real. It mixes tones, formats, even aspect ratios. It deals with race, trauma, greed, and brotherhood without offering neat answers. That is exactly what makes it one of the best movies of on Netflix. It goes big, then it goes deeper. And it leaves you sitting with more questions than you had going in.

This one slipped under a lot of radars, but it should not have. Directed by Macon Blair and released in 2017, it is part crime thriller, part dark comedy, and all deeply strange. Melanie Lynskey plays a woman who is just done with everyone’s nonsense. When her home gets robbed, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Elijah Wood joins as a nunchuck-wielding neighbor and somehow it works.

What starts as a small story about frustration turns into something weird and violent and oddly sweet. It is unpredictable in the best way. Short, sharp, and not trying too hard to be cool, it earns its spot on the list of best movies of on Netflix by just being honest about how exhausting the world can be.

Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and released in 2015, Beasts of No Nation is one of the first original Netflix films to prove streaming could deliver real cinema. It tells the story of Agu, a child soldier in an unnamed West African country, played with staggering depth by Abraham Attah. Idris Elba is terrifying and captivating as the unnamed Commandant who leads him.

This is not an easy watch. It is heavy, violent, and emotionally draining. But it is also beautifully shot and deeply human. The performances are unforgettable. The direction is bold. And the story, while fictional, echoes too many real ones. Among the best movies of on Netflix, this one is not for a casual scroll. It is for when you want to feel something that stays.

The thing about Netflix is that it will always offer more. More categories. More thumbnails. More noise. But not always more quality.

This list was not built to impress film school graduates or please algorithms. It was built to help regular people find something actually good to watch. And out of all ten, the one that hit hardest for me was Uncut Gems. Not because it was comforting, but because it made me feel something real. Like stress. But still.

These are not just the best movies of on Netflix because they are well made. They are here because they stick. So whether you want to cry, cringe, think, or just sit still for two hours without checking your phone every five minutes, pick one. You can scroll later.