100 Best Movies on Kanopy Right Now

100 Best Movies on Kanopy Right Now

March 31, 2025

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Kanopy is a platform that allows you to stream movies for free with your library card or university login. It’s just like making a trip to the library to borrow DVDs, except without the trip or the DVD part – just the watching. And like your library, Kanopy is full of classics. That’s a great thing if you’re into older movies, but if you’re looking for quality recent titles, you have a lot of digging to do. That’s where we come in. In this list, we’re gathering excellent recent movies available on Kanopy in one place. All 100 of these movies, like everything else on agoodmovietowatch, are highly rated by viewers and acclaimed by critics, so make sure you visit our other lists, or browse the site by mood, if you want more recommendations.

11. City of Life and Death (2009)

7.8

Genres

Drama, History, War

Director

Lu Chuan

Actors

Beverly Peckous, Fan Wei, Gao Yuanyuan, Hideo Nakaizumi

Moods

Dark, Depressing, Gripping

When we think about the atrocities committed during World War II, most people would remember the Holocaust, but this war was fought on multiple fronts, not just the West, and one of the most notorious incidents was the Rape of Nanjing. City of Life and Death depicts the massacre in black and white through various perspectives, which proved to be controversial considering some Japanese soldiers were depicted with sympathy, but it drives home the horror, the devastation, the terrible reality of the evil unfurled in the war. City of Life and Death is truly harrowing. The only consolation is that Nanjing thrives today as the Jiangsu province’s capital.

12. The Naked Kiss (1964)

7.8

Genres

Crime, Drama

Director

Samuel Fuller

Actors

Anthony Eisley, Barbara Perry, Betty Bronson, Constance Towers

Moods

Challenging, Dark, Intense

Despite the title and the premise, The Naked Kiss is actually less raunchy than it sounds. Sure, it does have themes that seem more explicit than what’s expected from older classic films, but writer-director Samuel Fuller considers these themes with the weight it deserves, directly challenging the way the men of the town would scorn Kelly’s wares at the same time they’re taking a taste, and at the same time they’re willing to look away from the unpleasant truths lurking in the suburbs because of money. With memorable shots and a surprising song number halfway, The Naked Kiss plays with expectations for an earnest belief in change.

13. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)

7.8

Genres

Crime, Drama, Thriller

Director

Sidney Lumet

Actors

Albert Finney, Aleksa Palladino, Amy Ryan, Brían F. OByrne

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is Sidney Lumet’s last film, and in many ways, it distills what the director explored in his prolific body of work: What is justice? And does everyone deserve it? Shot digitally at a time when the concept was still quite new, Before the Devil moves fast and takes us uncomfortably close to the lives of three desperate men: cash-strapped Hank (Hawke), corrupt Andy (Seymour-Hoffman), and vengeful Charles (Finney). The same tragic events unfold through their perspectives, but in any case, we get to see what drives them to do such horrid things. Are we suppose to sympathize with them? It’s a question that will nag you long after the credits roll.

14. The Official Story (1985)

7.7

Genres

Drama, History

Director

Luis Puenzo

Actors

Analia Castro, Andrea Tenuta, Aníbal Morixe, Augusto Larreta

Moods

Challenging, Character-driven, Depressing

Most people aspire to have families, deciding to form their own by marrying, bearing children, and if fertility makes that impossible, adopting one. The Official Story is centered on upper middle class Alicia, who’s already made the idyllic family life, with the last piece completed with her adoption of Gaby, but there are secrets held from her, or rather, there are realities that she chose not to listen to because of the painful implications. Writer-director Luis Puenzo juxtaposes the family secret to the violent ones the Argentine junta government kept from its citizens. It’s not a subtle comparison– Puenzo makes it obvious– but it’s an effective one, as Alicia has to reckon with the fact that she lies in bed with a stranger, as Argentina has to reckon with the remaining junta members and enablers.

15. The Host (2006)

7.7

Genres

Drama, Horror, Science Fiction

Director

Bong Joon-ho, Joon-ho Bong

Actors

Ah-sung Ko, Bae Doona, Baek Do-bin, Bong Joon-ho

Moods

Action-packed, Character-driven, Discussion-sparking

So far, chemical waste hasn’t mutated amphibious creatures enough to create giant monsters large enough to swallow people whole… yet. This sort of monster film premise is familiar, especially for fans of 1950s sci-fi movies, but in the hands of director Bong Joon-ho, The Host transforms what could have been B-movie schlock into a drama examining the ways generations within a family, as well as generations within a country and within the world, have failed each other. As the Park family try to save their own, the actions they take feel all the more important, knowing what’s at stake on multiple levels. While at the time, there were doubts that Bong Joon-ho and the Korean film industry could pull off the monster, The Host proved that there was more to come from the then emerging film giant.

16. I Wish (2011)

7.7

Genres

Drama

Director

Hirokazu Kore-eda

Actors

Hiroshi Abe, Isao Hashizume, Joe Odagiri, Kanna Hashimoto

Moods

Character-driven, Easy, Emotional

Divorce is hard, even with a fairly civil separation and moving to another place entirely free from the divorced parent. The main emotional stakes are usually carried by the parent, but even then, children have some stake in this relationship, seeing that this permanently affects their relationship with both parents and any siblings they may have. I Wish tackles a separated family through the kids’ eyes– taking a rumored wish-making pair of bullet trains to get their family together, but in the optimistic reality kids tend to have, rather than a fantastical fairytale adventure. Through Hirokazu Kore-eda’s frames, and the precocious real life brothers portraying the main duo, I Wish effectively balances its hopeful tone all throughout, capturing the kids’ hopes and dreams in an endearing, but not overly sentimental, way.

17. Secret Sunshine (2007)

7.6

Genres

Drama

Director

Chang-dong Lee, Lee Chang-dong

Actors

Cha Mi-kyeong, Do-yeon Jeon, Go Seo-hee, Jang Hye-jin

Moods

Challenging, Character-driven, Dark

For better or worse, death strikes us all, fast and unexpectedly. It’s tough enough if the death is caused by ill health or accidents, but when premeditated by another person– it can be easy to lose faith in a higher power. Secret Sunshine depicts a grieving mother trying to start a new life in the countryside, though certain events make it tough to fit in. There’s a well-meaning, long-term bachelor who’s interested in her, though she’s not ready to reciprocate, and there’s townsfolk that would like to invite her to their church, though she’s reluctant to join. There’s curious, gossipy neighbors ready to comment on her every action. Secret Sunshine reveals a darker layer to the countryside towns we retreat to to cope, but it also examines the ways we grieve, cope, and deal with forgiveness, in a community that would prioritize itself at the expense of what’s morally right.

18. Amy (2015)

7.6

Genres

Documentary, Music

Director

Asif Kapadia

Actors

Amy Winehouse, Blake Fielder, Frankie Boyle, Jay Leno

In Amy, Kapadia eschews talking heads for something more intimate: home videos, photographs, and phone messages from Winehouse’s earliest and closest friends, which he stitches together to reintroduce a version of the singer that has, up till this point, been ignored by the public. It’s an attempt to reverse Winehouse’s vilified public persona, not by denying her struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, but by showing as many parts of her as possible. The musical prodigy, jazz fanatic, and sweet friend, as well as the troubled soul, hurt child, and obsessive lover. She’s far from perfect, but she is human, not some punching bag caricature the media has made her out to be. Though Kapadia’s methods sometimes get a little too close for comfort (using phone messages intended for her friends and private clips of her being high feels borderline voyeuristic), they also feel necessary in reclaiming an identity that’s closer to her true self. During these questionable moments, Amy feels not just hard but wrong to watch, but that discomfort is also the point. It should be unsettling to get to know a real person.

19. Queen Margot (1994)

7.6

Genres

Drama, History, Romance

Director

Patrice Chéreau

Actors

Asia Argento, Barbet Schroeder, Bernard Nissile, Bernard Verley

Moods

Character-driven, Discussion-sparking, Dramatic

Before Games of Thrones delivered court intrigues, shocking murders, and adulterous affairs, Queen Margot delivered all these nearly two decades earlier, depicting the dramatized, real life events of the French Wars of Religion. While it doesn’t have dragons, it has style, with some of the most stunning scenes intercut with some of the most gruesome, pushing the envelope with a freedom only possible due to none of their descendants still holding the French throne. It’s also one of the most expensive French films ever made, but every franc was put to good use, with luxurious sound, sets, costumes, and camerawork excellently supporting the cast’s performances. Initially released to mixed reception in America with 20 minutes cut from the runtime, La Reine Margot has thankfully been restored and re-released in full for its 20th anniversary in 2014.

20. Tabu (2012)

7.6

Genres

Drama, Romance

Director

Miguel Gomes

Actors

Ana Moreira, Carloto Cotta, Henrique Espírito Santo, Ivo Müller

Moods

Challenging, Discussion-sparking, Dramatic

Something about falling in love in an exotic place makes it feel much more romantic, leading to plenty of classic black and white films centered on the idea, with a visual language and a set of aesthetics meticulously enacted in 2012’s Tabu. These classic films, however, rarely contemplate the actual reality behind these films– the reason that made these romantic trips possible in the first place. Tabu subtly critiques this indulgent imagination, with the silent memory melodramatically portrayed and narrated by the white lovers, but with the African natives and their homes and landscapes depicted naturally. Writer-director Miguel Gomes remixes classic cinema techniques to paint and reframe the lovers’ myopic memory, in such a striking fashion.

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