The Best Movies of 2026 So Far

Drama/Thriller - dir. Aleshea Harris

The debut film for writer/director Aleshea Harris is an adaptation of her own award-winning 2018 stage play of the same name. The film centers on twin sisters (Kara Young and Mallori Johnson) as they seek revenge against their father for starting a fire that left both twins disfigured when they were young children. Janelle Monáe, Sterling K. Brown, and Vivica A. Fox also star in a unique, artful film praised by critics as riveting, complex, and entertaining.

"Visually mesmerizing, lyrical and with a unique cadence, 'Is God Is' is a one-of-a-kind experience. It's angry and yet imbued with wry, fatalistic humor." —G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

Rent/buy it from Prime Video or Apple.

Foreign/Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Horror/Thriller - dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

Writer-director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's debut feature is a darkly funny look at grief and the afterlife. March, the son of an appliance factory owner, mourns his recently deceased wife, Nat, but soon discovers that she has returned in the form of a vacuum cleaner. As their relationship continues in this unusual new manifestation, Nat also helps other people with the ghosts that are haunting them. Yes, there is a love scene between March and his vacuum wife, but that's just a small bit of Boonbunchachoke's surprising and original vision that makes for perhaps the most memorable debut of the year.

"Filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's snaky, surprising fable starts with a sneeze and explodes into a saga about bureaucracy, modernization and moral corruption. It's electrifying." —Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times

Stream it at Prime Video.

Foreign/Drama - dir. Hasan Hadi

Winner of the Camera d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and the Director's Fortnight People's Choice prize, Hasan Hadi's debut feature follows nine-year-old Lamia in 1990s Iraq as she struggles to procure the ingredients to make a state-mandated cake to celebrate President Saddam Hussein's birthday at her school. Critics praise the film's balance of humor, drama, and social critique, as well as the surprisingly strong performances from the mostly amateur cast.

"It's difficult to think of another debut that combines such crowd-pleasing sensibilities, political resonance, and cinematic sweep." —Rory O'Connor, The Film Stage

Rent/buy it from Prime Video or Apple.

Drama/Rom-Com - dir. Harry Lighton

English director Harry Lighton's strong feature debut is adapted from the Adam Mars-Jones novel Box Hill. The darkly comedic, sex-positive odd-couple romance stars Harry Melling (you know him as Dudley Dursley from the Harry Potter films) as a timid, introverted gay man who still lives with his parents and spends his spare time singing in a barbershop quartet. But he begins an unlikely BDSM relationship (his first) with a biker (Alexander Skarsgård) he meets at a pub. Critics admire how Pillion deftly blends the explicit, the sweet, and the sad into a story that feels authentic and fresh and is further boosted by the performances of its leads.

"Lighton has made a truly provocative anti-romance that's funny, honest, strangely touching. It's an exceptional balance act that makes Pillion the unlikeliest crowd-pleaser." —Zhuo-Ning Su, The Film Stage

Stream it at HBO Max or HBO Max on Prime Video.

Foreign/Drama/Thriller - dir. Sergey Loznitsa

Maidan director Sergei Loznitza's previous narrative feature, 2018's Donbass, earned him the Directing Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. Since then he has focused on his documentary work, including State Funeral and Babi Yar. Context. But Two Prosecutors marks a return to fiction with a story set in the Soviet Union of 1937. There, a local prosecutor takes a case of unlawful imprisonment all the way to the office of the Attorney General in Moscow. Adapting a novel by Soviet writer and political prisoner Georgy Demidov, Loznitza builds suspense as his good-hearted prosecutor descends into the Kafkaesque nightmare of totalitarian bureaucracy. It may move at a slower pace than some viewers prefer, but Two Prosecutors offers a disturbing, well-acted, and ever-so-timely examination of authoritarianism.

"There are many ways to portray authoritarianism, but Two Prosecutors is penetrating in its depiction of a society being slowly poisoned. The film might be too much to bear if it wasn't so brilliantly conceived and executed." —Tim Grierson

Rent/buy it from Prime Video or Apple.

Foreign/Comedy/Drama - dir. Simón Mesa Soto

Colombia's submission to the 98th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film (though it wasn't ultimately nominated) follows Oscar (Ubeimar Rios), a failed father and aging poet, as he struggles to properly mentor Yurlady, a talented teen poet. Writer-director Simón Mesa Soto's black comedy is able to find empathy for Oscar despite his actions, and for this accomplishment, Soto was awarded the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

"Its tone shifts from absurdist to serious to satirical and back again. This odd mix should not work, but Soto pulls it off with a sure hand and precisely exacting storytelling. That it succeeds in being both funny and poignant makes A Poet even more of an achievement." —Murtada Elfadl, Variety

Rent/buy it from Prime Video or Apple.

Foreign/Comedy/Drama - dir. Nadav Lapid

The latest incendiary film from Nadav Lapid (Synonyms, Ahed's Knee) is a brutally satirical look at the relationship of Y. (Ariel Bronz), a musician, and his dancer wife Yasmin (Efrat Dor) to the Israeli elite in the aftermath of the attacks on October 7, 2023. Asked to compose music for a new national anthem, Y. and Yasmin sell their art, souls, and bodies in this visceral indictment of contemporary Israel.

"The result is bound to offend on a wide scale, but also exhilarate with its sheer rage and ebullient aggression. Not for the faint-hearted, and certainly not for fans of Israel's political status quo, Yes promises to stir very heated debate." —Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily

Stream it at the Kino Film Collection on Prime Video or rent/buy it from Apple.

Foreign/Action/Thriller - dir. Kenji Tanigaki

Sort of a Hong Kong take on Taken, this global hit from stunt director-turned-filmmaker Kenji Tanigaki centers on a mute handyman (Miao Xie) whose young daughter is abducted by child traffickers. When the corrupt local police won't come to his aid, he teams up with a journalist (Joe Taslim) whose wife has also been abducted, and the pair put their considerable fighting skills to good use on their rescue mission. The spectacularly choreographed action comes fast and furious throughout the film, resulting in a thrilling, must-see summer spectacle that's almost akin to a live-action cartoon, according to critics.

"This is the action movie of the year so far as American theatergoers should be concerned, and nothing else really comes close." —David Ehrlich, IndieWire

The film is now playing in theaters and is not yet available to watch at home.

Foreign/Documentary - dir. Igor Bezinovic

Croatian filmmaker Igor Bezinović's documentary tells the story of Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, who in September of 1919 invaded the town of Fiume, in what is today Croatia. Bezinović brilliantly captures the absurdity of fascism through archival footage, photography and modern re-enactments featuring citizens of Rijeka—the city which includes what used to be Fiume. It's a takedown of authoritarianism as it rises up again all around the world. Critics think it to be an unconventional and surprisingly funny documentary.

"It's a gloriously punk spin on the historical documentary genre, channeling the humour and rebellious spirit of a people who have been part of 'eight or nine different countries' during the 20th century, who have spoken multiple languages, but who have managed to maintain their own distinct identity nonetheless." —Wendy Ide, Screen Daily

The film is not yet available to watch at home.

Drama - dir. Akinola Davies

Set in Nigeria on the day of its 1993 presidential election—an attempted return to democracy that would instead result in overturned results, mass protests, and a military coup —My Father's Shadow offers an intimate look at both family and politics as it follows two young brothers in Lagos as they reconnect with their estranged father after a chance meeting and gain a better understanding of his struggles. The feature film debut from British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr. first began to attract attention at last year's Cannes (where it won a special Camera d'Or prize) and has since gone on to collect additional honors including a pair of Gotham Awards and a BAFTA Award.

"As the audience is taken in by this intimate and well-observed drama, the rug gets pulled from beneath them by revealing the violence and strife that was simmering underneath. It's a trick so devastating that it completely upends the movie, elevating it into a deeply humanist narrative." —Murtada Elfadl, Variety

Stream it at MUBI or rent/buy it from Apple.

Drama/Thriller - dir. Elliot Tuttle

Writer-director Elliot Tuttle's provocative two-hander stars Kieron Moore as Aaron Eagle, a camboy who agrees to spend the night with an anonymous client (Reed Birney) in exchange for $50,000. A tense night of probing questions from a man in a balaclava turns taboo when the man is unmasked and revealed to have a connection to Aaron's past. Critics found it an unsettling but captivating watch.

"Blue Film leaves you feeling a little bit ill, and very uneasy about how you're supposed to feel. But when most films either wouldn't dare go here at all, or would tell you how to feel about the material, that's rare and welcome." —Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

Rent/buy it at Prime Video.

Documentary/Music - dir. Baz Luhrmann

This year proved that Baz Luhrmann wasn't done with Elvis Presley quite yet. During research for his 2022 Oscar-nominated biopic Elvis, Luhrmann discovered boxes of unused footage from two concert films from the early 1970s, as well as audio recordings of interviews from the same time period, which he then restored (as Peter Jackson did for The Beatles: Get Back) and edited into a new concert film that impressed critics with its raw, intimate, and exhilarating look at a superstar.

"The accurately titled EPiC is the greatest concert documentary ever made." —Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail

Stream it at Paramount+ or Paramount+ at Prime Video.

Foreign/Documentary - dir. Lucrecia Martel

In 2009, 68-year-old activist Javier Chocobar was murdered while defending land belonging to the Chuschagasta people in a dispute over mining rights. Only nine years later was his killer brought to trial. The fifth film and first documentary from Argentine director Lucrecia Martel (Zama) explores both the specific incident and the more general conquest of Indigenous-occupied land by capitalist and colonial interests through a combination of courtroom footage, aerial photography, and interviews that combine into a visceral and essential work, according to critics.

"A slow-burning, increasingly incensed unraveling of a horrific murder case underpinned by colonialist privilege and prejudice, it too demands patience of its viewers — though it rewards them with steadily rising emotional impact and a long view of Latin American history that transcends any true-crime trappings." —Guy Lodge, Variety

The film is not yet available to watch at home.

Documentary - dir. Gianfranco Rosi

Winner of Berlin's Golden Bear in 2016 for Fire at Sea and Venice's Golden Lion in 2013 for Sacro GRA, filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi took home the Special Jury Prize at the 2025 Venice Film Festival for this portrait of life in Naples as the foot of Mount Vesuvius, the still-active volcano that destroyed the city of Pompeii in 79 A.D. Rosi, a consistently surprising filmmaker with a unique perspective, captures the daily lives of archaeologists, firefighters, teachers, and children in Below the Clouds.

"It is an intensely disquieting, utterly distinctive film and a superb final panel to his triptych." —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Stream it at MUBI.

Adventure/Drama - dir. Lav Diaz

The newest film from Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz is in color and only 160 minutes long. Why is this notable? His prior films, From What Is Before, The Woman Who Left, and Season of the Devil, were shot in black-and-white and run from almost four to over five hours. Diaz is also working with an international star for the first time in Gael García Bernal, who plays Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. As he navigates a fleet of ships to Southeast Asia and the Malay Archipelago, Magellan and his crew are pushed to the edge of madness. Diaz exposes the colonization of the Philippines as a shocking encounter with the unknown, reckoning with the role of Christianity in humanity's drive for wealth and power.

"With a breathtaking eye for one-shot scenes and unwavering confidence in the demands he makes on our monkey-brained attention spans, Diaz has crafted a stunning piece of time travel, its languidness and exquisitely hued imagery working in perfect sync." —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

Rent or buy it at Prime Video or Apple.

Foreign/Drama - dir. Mascha Schilinski

Shortlisted (but not nominated) for the Best International Feature Oscar after tying for the third-place Jury Prize at last year's Cannes, German writer-director Mascha Schilinski's sophomore feature chronicles the lives of four young girls—Alma, Erika, Angelika, and Lenka—as they grow up in the same farmhouse in northern Germany over four time periods that cover the century from before World War II to the present. These coming-of-age stories speak intimately to the complexity of being human—the trauma, the joy, and the sensuality.

"This highly experimental, deeply unsettling tale about the fates of women and their echoes down history plays like a psychosexual fever dream of epic scope. While it will confound and upset plenty, hardcore cinephiles can mark this down as their next film to obsess over. It's quite a feast." —Zhuo-Ning Su

Stream it at MUBI or rent/buy it from Apple.

Drama - dir. Ildikó Enyedi

After the misstep of The Story of My Wife, Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi, best known for her 2017 Golden Bear-winner On Body and Soul , is back in critical favor with this story of how three lives are connected to the same ginkgo tree over more than a century. Each time period features its own distinct cinematography as Enyedi takes us to 1908, when the university accepts its first female student (Luna Wedler, winner of the Marcello Mastroianni Best Young Actor Award at the 2025 Venice Film Festival); to 1972, when a student keeps watch over a geranium; and finally to 2020, when a visiting neuroscientist from Hong Kong (Tony Leung) begins to experiment on the old tree. While the tree is the real star of the film, Silent Friend also features Léa Seydoux, Enzo Brumm, Sylvester Groth, and Martin Wuttke in its human cast.

"Immersing yourself in the daze of Silent Friend is like accepting a joyous gift, even if you don't ultimately believe that plants can or want to communicate with us. With her exquisite new work, Ildikó Enyedi has achieved the improbable goal of making non-human, humanistic cinema that is inclusive and reverent without falling into idolization (of plants) or condemnation (of humans)." —Savina Petkova, The Film Stage

The film is not yet available to watch at home but can be preordered at Prime Video.

Documentary - dir. Brittany Shyne

Brittany Shyne took home the U.S. Grand Jury Prize (Documentary) at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for her directorial debut about Black farmers in the southern United States. Shot in black and white, the documentary intimately explores the lives of three farmers, exposing their struggles, joys, and what it means to own the land they work. After being shortlisted for a Best Documentary Feature Oscar, the film finally opened in theaters in early 2026.

"It's an incredibly rewarding journey, a film indebted to the past that feels brilliantly alive." —Esther Zuckerman, IndieWire

The film is not yet available to watch at home.

Drama - dir. Sophy Romvari

Metacritic's Best New Film of the First Half of 2026. Officially released in April, the best-reviewed movie of the year so far first appeared on the festival circuit in 2025. Writer-director Sophy Romvari's debut feature chronicles the struggles of a Hungarian family of six as they settle into a new home on Vancouver Island. Told through the gaze of the youngest child, Sasha, who later in the film appears as an adult, this moving portrait of a family hinges on the erratic behavior of Sasha's older brother Jeremy, a taciturn teenager. It's a sensitive, heart-stirring story that's sure to land on many top ten lists at the end of the year.

"This devastating drama is an act of remembrance for its filmmaker, who has been open about how much of this story is her own. It's also a reminder of the power of filmmaking to turn the deeply personal into relatable art, and an announcement of a major talent, one who has made the best film of the year to date." —Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

Buy it at Prime Video or Apple. The film will also begin streaming on the Criterion Channel on July 21.