The best movies to watch on Netflix this weekend
You know the moment you open Netflix, scroll endlessly, and somehow end up watching a mid film just because it started playing. How often does that happen? More than it probably should. But not this weekend. This weekend, you’re watching something that actually stays with you.
This list is not about trends or algorithm-approved crowd-pleasers. It is about five films that exist in their own little corner of cinema. The raw, weird, honest, or just unexpectedly brilliant kind. Some are quiet. Some are ridiculous. But what brings them together is that all of them are worth your time.
They come from different countries, different genres, and wildly different moods. But every film here knows exactly what it is trying to say, whether it is through animation, awkward rapping, or accidental homicide.
So make space in your brain. These are not just comfort rewatches. These are films that crawl in and stick around.
The best movies to watch on Netflix this weekend
Rocks (Sarah Gavron, 2019)
Set in East London, Rocks follows a teenage girl who is left to care for her younger brother after their mother suddenly disappears. What unfolds is a slice-of-life portrait that feels so intimate, you forget it is fiction. No big plot twists. No artificial drama. Just resilience, sisterhood, and the pressure of growing up way too soon.
The cast is mostly made up of first-time actors, and that is what makes it hit. It does not feel performed. It feels lived. The friendships feel real, the silences are loud, and even the joyful scenes carry a weight you cannot shake. It is one of those rare films where the small moments matter most. So if you are in the mood for something raw and relatable, Rocks is a perfect watch.
The Forty-Year-Old Version (Radha Blank, 2020)
Radha Blank wrote, directed, and starred in this sharply funny, brutally personal film about being a Black woman artist trying to survive in New York. Once a rising playwright, Radha finds herself broke at 40 and creatively lost until she tries her hand at underground rap. Cue identity crises, uncomfortable industry meetings, and bars that slap harder than you’d expect.
Shot in black-and-white, the film oozes style but never hides behind it. It is funny, yes, but also sad in a way that sneaks up on you. The dialogue is biting. The awkwardness is delicious. And Radha herself is a revelation. A messy, brilliant, and painfully relatable one.
The Summit of the Gods (Patrick Imbert, 2021)
This French-Japanese animated film is about mountain climbing, but it might as well be about obsession itself. A photojournalist becomes fixated on tracking down a climber who may hold evidence of the first real ascent of Everest. What starts as a mystery slowly turns into something meditative and spiritual.
The animation is stunning. The silence of the mountains, the solitude of the climb. All of it feels huge and intimate at once. You don’t need to know anything about mountaineering. You just need to sit with it. Let it breathe. Let it chill your spine a little. It is a rare kind of quiet cinema that leaves you with loud thoughts.
The Half of It (Alice Wu, 2020)
This is the story of a shy, brilliant Chinese-American teen named Ellie Chu. She writes love letters for a clueless jock trying to woo the same girl she secretly loves. That might sound like a typical teen triangle, but Alice Wu’s film is anything but typical. It is heartfelt, brainy, and emotionally grounded in a way most teen films never manage.
It is not about romance as much as it is about longing for connection, for understanding, for the courage to be seen. Ellie is the kind of character you wish existed in every coming-of-age film: introverted but sharp, vulnerable but never pitiful. And when the film ends, you feel both full and a little bit hollow in the best way.
The Trip (Tommy Wirkola, 2021)
The Trip tells the tale of a couple who go on a remote cabin getaway to work on their crumbling marriage. Except they are both secretly planning to murder each other. What could go wrong? Apparently, a lot, because The Trip quickly escalates from domestic tension to absolute Norwegian chaos.
It is bloody, bonkers, and weirdly hilarious. Think Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but more violent, more self-aware, and way less glamorous. No one here is a hero. Everyone is an idiot in some way. And that is what makes it such a wild, fun ride. Just do not eat dinner while watching it.