A few undiscovered treasures from Netflix’s constantly growing film selection frequently elude us. These are the movies that once captivated us, made us feel something, or piqued our interest before fading into the background to make way for more recent releases. It’s simple to ignore these cinematic gems as we make our way through the enormous ocean of streaming video.
These ten Netflix movies you forgot about bring to light their distinctive stories, gripping performances, and memorable moments. These films are worth seeing again or for the first time, ranging from touching dramas that gripped our hearts to suspenseful thrillers that had us on the edge of our seats.
We’ll look at a wide range of Netflix movies you forgot about in this post, including many genres and styles. There’s a film on this list that will catch your attention, whether you’re in the mood for a terrifying horror movie, a moving coming-of-age story, or a mind-bending sci-fi adventure. We’ll look at the reasons these films captured the attention of viewers when they debuted on Netflix and why they are still so significant to the history of film.
Rewatching these Netflix movies you forgot about allows you to recognize the skill and artistry that went into making them, beyond just nostalgia. We’ll recognize brilliant acting performances, imaginative direction that brought characters to life, and screenplays that skillfully handled challenging material. Every film on this list has made an impression, whether it is via an emotionally stirring plot, breathtaking visuals, or both.
Let’s explore ten Netflix movies you forgot about, uncover some undiscovered gems, and honor the variety of narratives that enhances our viewing pleasures. Get ready to see Netflix movies you forgot about that are worth seeing again and find new favorites among the Netflix library’s overlooked masterpieces. For more, check out our roundup of the top 5 streaming services, the best book to movie adaptations, the best movies with alternate endings, and more!
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10. Blackfish
In the documentary, one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about, the confinement of Tilikum, an orca responsible for the murders of three individuals, is discussed, as well as the ramifications of retaining orcas in captivity. The story of Tilikum covers his 1983 capture off the coast of Iceland and the alleged mistreatment he endured at Sealand of the Pacific by other captive orcas. According to Cowperthwaite, these occurrences fueled the orca’s hostility.
Lori Marino, the Nonhuman Rights Project’s director of science, provides a testimonial in the movie. Cowperthwaite also addresses SeaWorld’s unfounded assertion that orcas in captivity have similar lives to those in the wild, with an average lifetime of 30 years for males and 50 years for females.
Interviewees also included former trainers at SeaWorld, such John Hargrove, who talks about his interactions with Tilikum and other captive orcas.
According to the documentary, the orcas that were taken from the wild underwent tremendous stress when they were young and were forced to perform and breed in aquariums for the rest of their lives, which made them aggressive against both humans and other orcas, a stunning revelation in one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. In addition to witness interviews, the film includes footage of Tilikum attacking other confined orcas and trainers.
9. Big Eyes
Margaret Ulbrich moves to North Beach, San Francisco, with her small daughter Jane in tow after divorcing her former husband in 1958. There, she finds work illustrating furniture factories. She meets Walter Keane, a real estate investor who sells paintings of Parisian street scenes, while she is painting portraits for an outdoor art display.
They quickly grow close to one another. When her husband requests custody of Jane as part of the divorce settlement, Margaret becomes quite upset, making for one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. They are married, go on a Hawaiian honeymoon, and Walter pops the question. She is still in charge of Jane.
Walter persuades Enrico Banducci, the proprietor of a well-known jazz club, to rent him some wall space so that he can display their paintings after he and Margaret are unable to get their paintings into a fine art gallery.
When the allotted spot is behind the restrooms, he becomes irritated. He punches Banducci in the face and drives his head through one of Margaret’s paintings. A local newspaper puts this on its main page, drawing a large crowd of interested parties to the club to view the artwork that has caused grown men to fight.
A famous gossip columnist named Dick Nolan is interested in learning more about the artwork and then asks about Margaret’s paintings of young girls with large eyes, making for one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. Walter accepts the misinterpretation without emphasizing that they are Margaret’s brainchild. Subsequently, he presents Margaret with his earnings from selling her artwork and proposes that they collaborate, with her working from home while he takes care of sales and advertising.
8. Call Me By Your Name
Elio Perlman, a 17-year-old Jewish teenager of French-Italian descent, resides in a remote area of Northern Italy with his parents during the summer of 1983. Oliver, a Jewish-American doctoral student, is invited by Elio’s father, an archaeology professor, to spend the summer with the family and assist with his schoolwork, making for one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about.
Oliver is 24 years old. Oliver seems carefree and confident, while Elio, an introverted reader and musician, initially feels he has nothing in common with him. For the most part of the summer, Elio reads, plays the piano, and hangs out with Chiara and Marzia, his childhood friends. Oliver rubs Elio’s back during a volleyball match, but Elio ignores it. But when Elio sees Oliver pursuing Chiara, he subsequently becomes envious.
Oliver and Elio spend more time together, taking lengthy walks around the city and going on an archaeological dig with Elio’s father. Elio finds himself pulled to Oliver more and more; he even sneaks into his room to sniff his clothes. When Elio finally admits to Oliver how he feels, Oliver informs him they are not allowed to talk about such things. Later, the two share their first kiss in a private area. They don’t talk for a few days since Oliver is hesitant to pursue things.
Oliver tells Elio’s family over the Hanukkah holiday that he is engaged to the woman he has been seeing for a few years. Oliver answers Elio by name, saying he remembers everything, and Elio calls Oliver by his, a heartfelt ending to one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about.
7. Extremis
Harvard graduate Dr. Jessica Zitter works as an attending physician at Oakland, California’s Highland Hospital. In addition to her job at the hospital, she is a published author of “Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life” and has written other articles, making for one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about.
Her research focuses on how to provide better end-of-life care. The documentary opens with Zitter attempting to speak with a myotonic dystrophy patient named Donna. Donna finds it extremely difficult to communicate because of the breathing tube and other apparatus that are attached to her. In the moment, Zitter had to find a way to help the patient communicate while also attempting to empathize with her and try to make her as comfortable as possible. Donna’s condition worsens and her family decides to remove her breathing tube as the doctors look for a specialist and other choices. Donna passes away a day later.
The movie presents Selena after Donna, who suffered significant brain injury and stopped breathing while being transported to the emergency room, a twist to one of the most compelling Netflix movies you forgot about. In contrast to Donna’s family, Selena’s daughter holds onto hope and is unwilling to let go of her.
In this instance, the doctors make an effort to communicate to Selena’s kid that her mother would not make a full recovery. Selena’s daughter stated in an interview that it would feel like murder to remove her mother’s life support. Selena was kept on life support and experienced brief episodes of consciousness before passing away after six months.
No name is given to the other two patients. One is a recently arrived grandma, whose family has chosen to remove her from all electronics. The other patient is a man who requires a life support machine but is nonetheless able to communicate. Even though his son disagrees with his choice, he declares his want to not be maintained on the machine and accepts his fate, a touching ending to one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about.
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6. To The Bone
Ellen, a twenty-year-old anorexic college dropout, goes home to live with her father and stepmother after a difficult in-patient program that did not result in improvement. Ellen’s stepmother, Susan, arranges for her to see a specialist, Dr. William Beckham, when her father, who is absent, refuses to treat her, a fascinating premise to one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. Beckham is adamant that Ellen enroll in his patient program. Although Ellen is hesitant, her younger half sister persuades her to alter her mind.
Ellen comes into the residence with six other patients, including Luke, a cheerful ballet dancer who is almost fully recovered from a knee injury and anorexia. The other five patients are young ladies. Luke shows Ellen particular attention and serves as a moral support system for the others.
Ellen progresses, adopting the name Eli and developing relationships with the other occupants of the home, a compelling twist to one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. But when Luke gives her a kiss and confesses he’s beginning to fall for her, she’s taken aback. She rejects him right away out of fear.
As Eli leaves, Luke begs her to stay, explaining that he needs her because he needs something fresh to focus on because he knows that his knee condition is irreversible and he will never be able to dance properly again. Eli nevertheless departs.
Eli visits her mother’s house after nearly dying. That evening, Eli’s mother apologizes for the postpartum depression she experienced after giving birth to Ellen and offers that the two of them try rocking Eli while she feeds her from a bottle as a solution. Eli finds the concept weird, but she decides to accept it after her mother assures her that she will die if that is what she chooses. Eli lets herself be rocked while her mother gives her rice milk from a bottle, a touching conclusion to one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about.
5. Private Life
Middle-aged Richard and Rachel are making a valiant effort to become parents. They try in vitro fertilization after several unsuccessful efforts at artificial insemination. The pair finds out that Richard is unable to generate sperm due to a blockage, which forces him to have surgery and leaves him $10,000 in debt to his brother Charlie and his wife Cynthia, a devastating start to one of the most interesting Netflix movies you forgot about.
They are trying to adopt a child and taking part in a social worker interview at the same time. Richard and Rachel had previously made contact with an alleged Little Rock, Arkansas, young mother. The adolescent unexpectedly cut off communication after moving to Arkansas, leaving Richard and Rachel to assume they had fallen for an emotional swindle.
Their doctor suggests using a donor egg to implant in Rachel after IVF fails, increasing their odds of success from 4 to 65 percent. Rachel is first opposed to it, but with Richard’s support, she gradually starts to think about it.
The implantation is carried out by Richard and Rachel, but it fails. Richard acknowledges that his marriage and intimacy suffered and is pleased that they are finally over, even though Rachel is devastated. Rachel gets a call nine months later from a different woman who may be interested in adopting Rachel’s child, one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. They take a car to a Virginia restaurant where they wait for the woman. Richard takes a seat across from Rachel, where he always sits, and they hold hands.
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4. The Chalk Line
Paula and her spouse, Simón, lived in a secluded neighborhood with upscale villas. One evening on their way home, they come upon a hungry and silent little girl walking by herself in the middle of the road. They take her to the hospital, making for one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. The girl reacts to the name Clara, which is the only hint the hospital has to find any of her family.
Soon after, Paula and Clara get close, and Paula’s doctor Gloria advises that Paula and Simón foster Clara while her parents look for her, believing that a household setting may help Clara’s illness. After the couple brings Clara home, she starts to unwind while Paula and Simón mark out spaces in the house for Clara to move around.
Gloria makes an attempt to persuade Clara to go outside during a visit by threatening to erase one of the chalk lines. Clara becomes agitated and yells “buma” at this. Gloria tries to get Clara to communicate more later, but she just says a few words and whispers that she is unable to speak.
Paula, who is now by herself, gets a call from Clara. Feeling distressed, she calls the police, who note that Paula’s cellphone was used to make the call and request that she undergo psychological testing, a twist to one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. Paula, who still thinks Clara is alive, snatches some paperwork off an officer’s desk and discovers a case that resembles Clara’s quite a bit: a 17-year-old Swiss girl named Ingrid who was discovered dead in France from starvation.
Paula, having exhausted all other possibilities, comes home and discovers, inside their home, a sketch that Clara had done of her friend and neighbor, Eduardo. Thinking Eduardo has taken Clara hostage, she contacts the authorities and makes her way to his residence.
Eduardo stabs Paula with a hammer after realizing she has found out that he kidnapped Clara, then pulls her to the basement, one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. As Paula awakens, she discovers that Ingrid was abducted by Eduardo when she was twelve years old, and that he imprisoned her in the basement, where she gave birth to Clara.
3. 13th
President Barack Obama is heard saying in the opening audio clip of the movie that although the US only makes up 5% of the world’s population, it is home to 25% of its prisoners. After this, there are interviews with a variety of prominent figures, academics, activists, politicians from both of the major U.S. political parties, and Bryan Stevenson, Jelani Cobb, Van Jones, Newt Gingrich, Cory Booker, and Henry Louis Gates Jr.
We examine the economic history of slavery and the discriminatory laws and practices that supplanted it following the Civil War, one of the most compelling and important Netflix movies you forgot about. The criminalization of minor acts by Southern states led to the imprisonment of freedmen and their forced labor when they were unable to pay fines. This practice, known as convict leasing, was institutionalized and encouraged the criminalization of other behaviors.
According to DuVernay, the majority of Black people in the South were deprived of their rights in the beginning of the 20th century and were kept out of the political system, including juries, at the same time that the number of Black persons lynched by white mobs peaked. Democrats also enacted Jim Crow laws, which made segregation lawful and suppressed minorities, making them second-class citizens.
The film examines the Republican Party’s appeal to southern white conservatives after the 1960s civil rights legislation was passed, highlighting the party’s stance on fighting crime and drugs, which included the imposition of mandatory, long prison sentences, an upsetting revelation in one of the most significant Netflix movies you forgot about.
African Americans and others in the northern, mid-western, and western cities where many had moved in previous decades were subject to a fresh wave of minority suppression that started. Politicians from the Democratic Party, including Bill Clinton, entered the drug war after their presidential candidates were defeated by Republicans.
The movie looks at how Republican state and federal legislators have been given draft laws to assist the prison-industrial complex by the corporate-backed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It argues that companies like Walmart and others received criticism and left the organization only after some of the links were made public, an important reveal in one of the most significant Netflix movies you forgot about.
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2. Roxanne Roxanne
It’s easy to forget Roxanne Shanté altered the game when she was just a teenager. However, Roxanne Roxanne, one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about the legendary rapper Lolita Shanté Gooden, will serve as a reminder. Since she was a little child, the rap battle champion had been crushing her opponents, and at the age of 13, she cemented her place with “Roxanne’s Revenge.”
Netflix named her narrative, which was portrayed by creative powerhouses Nina Yang Bongiovi and Mimi Valdés, one of the most watched movies of the year. And Roxanne Roxanne is the considered best film of 2018, one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. It’s the first biopic to focus on a female rapper and recount her amazing narrative with an incredible ensemble. Clearly.
The film is an essential component in the history of music. The 80s look is evident in everything from the door knockers to the couples’ matching fur jackets to the spray-painted shirts. When this is combined with the characteristics of the families and neighborhoods of Queensbridge Houses, the movie offers audiences a comprehensive glimpse at “the Golden era of Hip-Hop.”
I have no doubt that Shanté’s lasting influence on the business is still felt today, especially when your favorite rappers make fun of one another, one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. Rap fights as we know them now were made possible by Roxanne Shante, just as JJ Fad made it possible for NWA to exist. The movie follows her journey and explains how financial difficulties prevented the pioneer’s star from shining as brightly as one may have dreamed.
Beyond this, the ensemble offers an outstanding and solid framework for a significant narrative. Unquestionably, Chante Adams, a rookie, is Roxanne Shanté in her debut performance. Despite having been born after this momentous time, Chante exudes the grit and intensity of the youthful rapper with ease and a commanding presence on screen. “I believe Chanté was destined for the role. The real Shanté told the New York Times, “Her parents made her for me.” Nia Long and Mahershala Ali, two legends in their own right, provide a foundation for the weight that comes with being a Hip-Hop icon as one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about.
1. Tully – Netflix Movies You Forgot About
Marlo and her husband Drew are expecting their third unplanned child together. They have a boy named Jonah who has an unidentified behavioral issue and a daughter named Sarah. Every night, Marlo brushes his skin in an attempt to lessen his sensitivity to outside stimuli. Marlo rejects her affluent brother Craig’s offer to pay for a night nanny as a baby gift. Marlo dreams about her son throwing fits and of an undersea mermaid, making for one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about.
Marlo soon finds herself even more overburdened and worn out than before giving birth. When Jonah’s school administrator suggests that he be sent to another institution because they are unable to manage him, Marlo becomes enraged and storms out. She then retrieves the night nanny’s phone number.
That evening, when the nanny Tully shows up at Marlo’s house, she takes over right away. Over a few evenings, despite their initial awkwardness, they become good friends. Not only does Tully clean the house and make cupcakes for Jonah’s class, but she also demonstrates her great nanny skills. Tully clarifies that she is really there to assist and support Marlo rather than for the baby herself.
Marlo starts to sing, cook delicious meals for her family, and play with her children as she gets back in touch with herself and her family, one of the best Netflix movies you forgot about. When Marlo says that she and Drew haven’t had sex in a while and that Drew has a dream about waiters at diners, Tully dons a costume that Marlo used to own but never wore and makes love to Drew while Marlo is coaching her.
Events that Marlo and Tully went through together now appear to be Marlo’s alone via flashbacks. When Tully visits Marlo in the hospital to say goodbye, they both give appreciation to the other for keeping her alive. When Drew returns, he tells Marlo that he loves her and their family and apologizes for not understanding what she was going through. Marlo accepts his words of love, a compelling conclusion to one of the most touching Netflix movies you forgot about.