Movies I Recommend

By Peter Kowalke on March 6, 2023

Here are the movies I’ve watched and loved the past six months.

Note that some of these films are not on Netflix. You’ll have to find them on Amazon Prime Video or one of the many free movie sites (reach out if you need some links).

The Phantom of the Open (2021)

Amateur golfer Maurice Flitcroft achieves his late-in-life goal of participating in the British Open Golf Championship, much to the ire of the staid golfing community.

Nafsi (2021)

A traumatic childhood event, a struggle to conceive and a marriage in jeopardy. When her best friend offers to be her surrogate, everything goes wrong.

Heaven is Still Far Away (2016)

Yuzo, a mosaic engineer for porn videos, lives under the same roof as Mitsuki, a high school student with whom he leads a peculiar life.

Young Ganga is tricked by her boyfriend with the promise of a film career and persuaded to leave the countryside for Mumbai. In Mumbai her dreams of a film career come crashing down and she is lured to the underworld.

In Front of Your Face (2021)

A former actress with a secret returns to Seoul, South Korea, to live with her sister in a high-rise apartment. After considering a return to acting, she meets with a young director who he asks her to join his project.

What We Do In The Shadows (2014)

Vampire housemates (Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh) try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster (Cori Gonzalez-Macuer) some of the perks of being undead.

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Hutu Paul Rusesabagina manages the Hôtel des Mille Collines and lives a happy life with his Tutsi wife and their three children, but when Hutu military forces initiate a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Tutsi minority, Paul is compelled to allow refugees to take shelter in his hotel. As the U.N. pulls out, Paul must struggle alone to protect the Tutsi refugees in the face of the escalating violence later known as the Rwandan genocide.

Never Have I Ever (TV series, 2020)

After a traumatic year, a first-generation Indian-American teenager wants to improve her status at school, but friends, family, and feelings don’t make it easy on her.

Also Seen Recently (Honorable Mention)

These are some of the other movies I’ve seen recently that are worth a watch. While not quite as good as the films above, they still are well worth your viewing time. Consider these honorable mentions.

Subira (2018)

A free-spirited young girl in Lamu struggles to live out her unique dream of swimming in the ocean. She gathers the courage to go against local customs and an arranged upper-class marriage.

The Lost Daughter (2021)

A college professor confronts her unsettling past after meeting a woman and her young daughter while on vacation in Italy. Her obsession with the woman and her daughter prompts memories of her early motherhood.

The Constant Gardener (2005)

Assigned to a new post, reserved British diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) relocates to Kenya with his lovely young wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), an activist for social justice. When Tessa is found murdered out in the wilderness, circumstances point to her friend, Dr. Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Koundé), but it is soon clear that he’s not the killer. Grief-stricken and angry, Justin sets out to uncover the truth behind Tessa’s murder — and in the process, he unearths some disturbing revelations.

Things to Come (2016)

A passionate middle-aged philosophy professor (Isabelle Huppert) rethinks her already much-examined life after an unforeseen divorce.

The Sleeping Dictionary (2003)

A young Englishman is sent to Malaysian Borneo in the 1930s to stay with a tribe as UK’s colonial representative. A local woman (Jessica Alba) helps him understand local tradition and language. He falls in love with her etc. despite the taboo.

Pedestrian

Films I’ve seen that were average. But I list them here to be a completist. Most aren’t bad. They just don’t stick with you the way that the above films do.