(Credits: Netflix)

What was the last Netflix movie that really made you think? Not just a plot twist or a clever ending, but something that sat with you for hours. Something that made you rethink your own memories, your identity, or how you see the world. That is the kind of experience these films offer. They are not just “good watches”. They are conversations in disguise.

Netflix is full of fun, bingeable comfort watches. But if you are in the mood for something deeper, it also has some quiet, powerful gems. These are the ones that sneak up on you. You click play out of curiosity, and by the end, you are not quite the same.

Each of these films leaves you with something. Sometimes it is a question. Sometimes it is discomfort. Sometimes it is the ache of something unresolved. They might not all trend on your homepage, but they are absolutely worth your time.

So if you are ready to be moved, shaken, or quietly cracked open, here are five of the most thought-provoking films you can stream on Netflix right now.

Five best movies to watch on Netflix this weekend

5. The Life List (Adam Brooks, 2025)

At first, The Life List feels like a breezy romantic dramedy. But beneath the charm is a tender look at what happens when we revisit the dreams we left behind. It follows a woman who finds her childhood “life list” and decides to finish it, only to realise how much she has changed and how much she still wants to.

It is not about dramatic reinvention. It is about the quiet act of remembering who you used to be. The small shifts. The long-buried hopes. The bittersweet feeling of finding your way back to yourself. No big speeches, no overdone tropes, just honest, heartfelt moments that hit in all the right places.

4. Tell Me Who I Am (Ed Perkins, 2019)

This documentary is absolutely devastating and impossible to forget. It starts when one of two twin brothers loses his memory in an accident. His brother helps him rebuild their shared past. But what he chooses to share and what he keeps hidden becomes the core of the film’s emotional punch.

What begins as a story about memory slowly becomes a reflection on truth, protection, and trauma. By the end, you are left questioning what it means to really know someone or yourself. It is not loud or flashy. It is quiet and raw. And that is what makes it so powerful.

3. The Platform (Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, 2019)

Imagine a prison with food on a platform that lowers from top to bottom. Those at the top feast. Those below fight for scraps. That is the brutal setup of The Platform. A film that is as much a horror story as it is a metaphor for how society functions.

It is dark and disturbing, but also weirdly addictive. You start thinking about how people behave when survival is on the line. You wonder what you would do in their place. And the more the story unfolds, the more uncomfortable it gets. Not because it is unrealistic, but because it feels a little too close to the truth.

2. Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (Ireneusz Dobrowolski, 2018)

This one starts with art and ends somewhere much messier. Struggle is a documentary about a long-forgotten sculptor, Szukalski, whose work is rediscovered by a group of artists in LA. But as they dig deeper, they uncover a complicated legacy that is not easy to celebrate.

What makes it compelling is how it refuses to offer easy answers. Szukalski was both a genius and a deeply flawed man. The film does not shy away from either side. It asks whether we can separate the artist from the art and whether forgotten legacies deserve to be revived at all. It is weird, emotional, and completely fascinating.

1. Nimona (Troy Quane, Nick Bruno, 2023)

Yes, it is animated. Yes, it has jokes. But Nimona is anything but lightweight. Based on the beloved graphic novel, it follows a misunderstood shapeshifter and a disgraced knight as they navigate a world that wants them gone. It is visually stunning, but its heart is what stays with you.

Underneath the fun and fantasy, it is about feeling othered. About breaking free from what people expect you to be. About building a life with the people who actually see you. It is clever, emotional, and unexpectedly moving, the kind of film that will hit especially hard if you have ever felt like the odd one out.