Pictured: Klaus, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Irishman
Over the years, Netflix has released some great films. However, we’ve left it to the users of the social platform Letterboxd to determine the best films on the streaming service.
Letterboxd is an online social platform and movie database for cinephiles. The website allows fellow film lovers and aficionados to write reviews and share their opinions online. As of 2021, the website boasts over 3 million active users worldwide.
To determine which movies have ranked higher when the same score is achieved (as there were a lot of movies with a 3.9 rating), we’ve placed the movie that the most viewers have watched as the tiebreaker.
Here are the best movies on Netflix according to the users of Letterboxd:
10. The Irishman (2019)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.9
Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama | Runtime: 209 Minutes
Cast: Roberto De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Ray Ramano
IMDb Rating: 7.8/10
Picture. The Irishman – Netflix
Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman was a massive deal for Netflix in 2019.
One of the biggest movies to drop on the platform to date, at the time, it was also one of the most expensive, costing over $200 million. The film’s three-and-a-half-hour run time may have turned subscribers off; however, once some approached it like a miniseries, it was much more enjoyable. Nominated for ten Academy Awards, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci gave us an extremely memorable performance and is undoubtedly one of Scorsese’s best.
Following Frank Sheeran over multiple decades, you’ll see the war veteran of Irish origin work his way up from a truck driver to a mobster and right-hand man to Jimmy Hoffa, an influential union leader related to organized crime.
9. Uncut Gems (2019)**
Letterboxd Rating: 3.9
Director: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller | Runtime: 135 Minutes
Cast: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Idina Menzel, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
Picture. Uncut Gems – A24
Beloved comedian Adam Sandler has had some stand-out performances in his career but arguably doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves when trading in the comedy roles for something more dramatic. One of his best films to date; not a single person should be sleeping on Uncut Gems.
A charismatic New York City jeweler always looking for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.
** Uncut Gems was removed from the US library in May 2022 but is still a Netflix Original outside the US.
8. 20th Century Girl (2022)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.0
Director: Bang Woo Ri
Genre: Drama, Romance | Runtime: 119 Minutes
Cast: Kim Yoo Jung, Byun Woo Suk, Park Jung Woo, Roh Yoon Seo, Kim Sung Kyung
IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
Picture. 20th Century Girl – Netflix
20th Century Girl’s viewing figures haven’t done the Korean feature film justice. Easily one of the most enjoyable k-drama films on Netflix in 2022, it’s unsurprising to see it as one of the highest-rated films on the list.
Yeon-du asks her best friend Bora to collect all the information she can about Baek Hyun-jin while she is away in the U.S. for heart surgery. Bora decides to get close to Baek’s best friend, Pung Woon-ho first. However, Bora’s clumsy plan unfolds in an unexpected direction. In 1999, a year before the new century, Bora, who turns seventeen, falls into the fever of first love.
7. I’m No Longer Here (2019)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.0
Director: Fernando Frias
Genre: Drama | Runtime: 112 Minutes
Cast: Juan Daniel García Treviño, Emily May Jampel, Xueming Angelina Chen, Coral Puente, Fanny Tovar
IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
Picture. I’m No Longer Here – Netflix
I’m No Longer Here dominated the 2020 Ariel Awards, picking up the Golden Winner for Best Picture and nine further Silver Awards, including Best Direction, Breakthrough Actor/Actress, and Best Screenplay.
In Monterrey, Mexico, a young street gang spends their days dancing to slowed-down cumbia and attending parties. After a mix-up with a local cartel, their leader is forced to migrate to the U.S. but quickly longs to return home.
6. All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.0
Director: Edward Berger
Genre: Action, Drama, War | Runtime: 148 Minutes
Cast: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer, Moritz Klaus, Adrian Grünewald
IMDb Rating: 7.8/10 out of 146k user ratings
Picture. All Quiet on the Western Front – Netflix
Personal bias would have seen All Quiet on the Western Front even higher up the list. Arguably the best war film produced since Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, few films capture the true terror of warfare in such a visceral manner. Still, Edward Berger, the cast, and the crew absolutely smashed it out of the park.
All Quiet on the Western Front is also a remake of the Academy Award-winning 1930 feature of the same name, which means if the film wins the award for Best Film at the 95th Oscars it will be the first time in history that two separate adaptations of the same story will have won the award.
Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervor, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
5. Roma (2018)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.0
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Genre: Drama | Runtime: 135 minutes
Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta, Marco Graf
IMDb Rating: 7.7/10
Picture. Roma – Netflix
4. Marriage Story (2019)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.0
Director: Noah Baumbach
Genre: Drama, Romance | Runtime: 137 Minutes
Cast: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Julia Greer, Azhy Robertson, Laura Dern
IMDb Rating: 7.9/10
Picture. Marriage Story – Netflix
The best Noah Baumbach film on Netflix, despite not winning any academy awards for their performances, Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson certainly gave award-winning performances in the powerful drama. However, Jurassic Park and Star Wars actress Laura Dern earned herself a well-deserved academy award for best supporting actress.
Stage director Charlie, and actress Nicole struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.
3. Us and Them (2018)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.1
Director: Rene Liu
Genre: Drama, Romance | Runtime: 119 Minutes
Cast: Jing Bo Ran, Zhou Dong Yu, Jeremy Qu, Li Dong, Zhang Zi Xian
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
Picture. Us and Them – Netflix
Some great non-English films can slip through the cracks thanks to the Netflix algorithm so if you haven’t yet watched Us and Them yet, do yourself a favor and it to your watch list for the weekend.
Ten years ago, on a train home during the busy Spring Festival travel period, fate brings Xiaoxiao and Jianqing together. Like many young couples, they meet, fall in love, and strive to make it work, but eventually, the harsh realities of life make them drift apart. Ten years later, they run into each other again. Will they make the most of this second chance and rekindle what they once lost?
2. Klaus (2019)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.1
Director: Sergio Pablos | Carlos Martínez López
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy | Runtime: 96 Minutes
Cast: Jason Schwartz, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Will Sasso, Joan Cusack
IMDb Rating: 8.2/10
Picture. Klaus – Netflix
It takes an extremely special movie to become a timeless Christmas classic, and Klaus is all of that and more. A labor of love from Sergio Pablos and Carlos Martínez López, and the talented artists of The SPA Studios, it’s not hard to see why Klaus is rated so highly.
Jesper, the spoiled and lazy son of the Postmaster General is sent by his father to Smeerensburg where he must deliver 6,000 letters within a year. However, the locals are at constant war with each other, and the chance of posting a letter is almost impossible. But when Jesper finds Klaus, a lonely toy maker in the middle of the woods, together the pair begin to deliver toys to the town’s children, and through the magic of a kind act, change the fate of Smeerensburg forever.
1. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.1
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Animation, Drama, Family | Runtime: 117 Minutes
Cast: Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Burn Gorman, Ron Pearlman
IMDb Rating: 7.6/10 out of 83k user ratings
Picture. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Netflix
Some of the best films on Netflix in recent years have been their animated titles. It took years for del Toro’s incredible adaptation to come to life, but it is arguably one of the best stop-motion movies made to date.
Thanks to the wish of the broken-hearted Geppetto, the wooden marionette Pinocchio is brought to life. Mischievous and adventurous, it’s up to J. Cricket to lead Pinocchio down the path of the straight and narrow, set against the backdrop of fascist Italy, under the thumb of dictator Benito Mussolini.
What are your favorite movies on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!
