63 Best N/A Movies to Watch (Page 3)

Find the best movies rated N/A, as per MPAA rating standards. These recommendations are at the same time acclaimed by critics and highly-rated by users.

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31. Burnistoun, 2012

This is a funny sketch comedy show set in an imaginary small town called Burnistoun. The characters include Kelly McGlade, the town’s answer to Beyoncé, and The Burnistoun Butcher, the town’s serial killer who’s always angry with the media because they keep confusing him with the actual butcher. Most of the characters are played by Robert Florence and Iain Connell (pictured above). In the first episode, they play two co-workers who get into an elevator that only works on voice-recognition. The voice-recognition software starts reflecting how many Americans feel and pretends it doesn’t understand Scottish accents. The two Scots end up getting so worked up that they hilariously recreate the “freedom” scene in Braveheart. In a way it’s saying: if you enjoyed Braveheart and understand the reference, there is no reason you shouldn’t enjoy Burnistoun.

32. Your Name Engraved Herein, 2020

Your Name Engraved Herein is a melancholy and emotional film set in 1987 just as martial law ends in Taiwan. The film explores the relationship between Jia-han and Birdy, two boys in a Catholic school who are in a romantic relationship. The movie tackles homophobia and social stigma in society which evokes a bleak and rather depressing atmosphere, emphasised by the movie's earthy aesthetic. There is a rawness in the film’s narrative and dialogue, topped off by the lead actors’ successfully raw performances. Your Name Engraved Herein is tender as well as heartbreaking, occasionally depicting the joy of youth.

33. I’m Sorry, 2017

In one scene, the main character’s husband looks at her with disdain after she makes an inappropriate joke - “you are somebody’s mother!” She looks back with the same disdain - “I’m sorry, I forgot, moms aren’t supposed to be funny.”

Funny is a good word to use here, because this show is hilarious. Comedian Andrea Savage makes a TV show based on her life, or rather, that is her life (it’s a thin line). The show’s easy going tone is only interrupted by Andrea’s lack of consideration of what is appropriate.

Her jokes are heavy and offensive, and if you don’t mind either, so funny. They range from teaching her mom about unexpected sexual slang to trying a by-all-means approach to comfort her daughter’s fear of Nazis.

Funny, natural and entertaining - I’m Sorry is a joy to watch.

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34. The Bacchus Lady, 2016

Before her triumphant Oscar win for her role in Minari, Youn Yuh-jung starred in The Bacchus Lady as So-young, an aging sex worker strugglin to make ends meet. Youn brings a certain dignity to the role that’s rarely seen in typical depictions of sex work around the world. Her work isn't framed as something disgusting or immoral, but as something that's natural and normal. Writer-director E J-yong clearly sides with and respects the people that you don't normally see in K-dramas—characters that have been pushed aside in favor of the stereotypical “ideal” Korean. While meandering at times, the film's warm and bittersweet approach to these characters acts as a reprimand to Korean society on how they fail those at the margins.

35. Summerland, 2020

Named after the Celtic concept of heaven, Summerland is a rare queer period drama that feels hopeful rather than despairing. The film takes us to the countryside in World War II, where our protagonist, the reclusive writer Alice Lamb (Gemma Arterton), studies the folklore about Summerland. We know that her isolation wasn’t fully chosen; her refusal to marry causes adults to gossip and causes children to speculate that she’s a witch. But this all changes when a young evacuee is entrusted to Alice’s care.

Gemma Arterton shines as a reluctant guardian stifled by repressed grief, and she makes Alice’s dynamic with Frank (Lucas Bond) and her former lover Vera (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) incredibly believable. And while it would have been lovely to see more of Vera, even just their first meeting easily captures that heady sense of pure enchantment with another person. It’s no wonder that Alice has to cling to folklore the same way we do. For many of us, it’s the only way we can express our hopes, fears, and dreams.

36. Saint Frances, 2020

This fun comedy-drama is about Bridget, a 34-year-old who hasn't quite got it all figured out, but at least she’s trying: after terminating an accidental pregnancy, she gets herself a summer gig as a nanny for a fearless six-year-old by the name of Frances.

Tackling a myriad of "taboo" topics including abortion, menstruation, and depression, the movie visually normalizes human experiences that remain underrepresented in mainstream cinema. And writer Kelly O’Sullivan, who also plays Bridget, has a screenplay that manages to do it all without feeling didactic.

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37. Little Big Women, 2020

This sensitive and elegantly crafted melodrama recognizes that a death in the family doesn't have to lead to the same expressions of mourning we expect from movies; there might not be any real sadness at all. But when different family members come together again and bring their own personal conflicts with them, suddenly everyone else's little griefs fill the space, and the road to recovery becomes even messier. Little Big Women understands all this with an understated touch and brilliant, naturalistic performances from its cast. It makes for a loving tribute to the generations of tough and complicated women who often hold a family together.

38. Girl, 2019

Girl won four awards at the Cannes Film Festival last year and was nominated to 9 Magritte Awards. It was also Belgium’s entry to the Oscar for best foreign-language film. When a dance school accepts her, Lara has the opportunity to realize her dream and become a professional ballerina. The dancing takes a toll on her body, but her biggest obstacle is that she was born into the body of a boy. Girl illustrates the trans teenage experience with sensitivity, slowly and humanly making Lara’s anguish become the viewer’s. Based on a true story.

39. Elena, 2012, 2013

Filmmaker Petra Costa tells the story of moving to New York from Brazil to follow her dream, the same one her mother once followed, of becoming an actress.

She carries memories of a third person who made the same move, a sister called Elena. Elena left her when she was seven-years-old, and after intermittent calls and messages, disappeared.

This documentary is a tale of three women: of their feelings separation, longing, and ambition. It’s made to be a visual poem of their story.

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40. Beats, 2019

This drama is about two friends attempting to rave in 1994 Scotland, after a recent Thatcher-era law banned the act and all music “characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”.

Johnno and Spanner, one living in fear of his older brother and the other of his stepfather, want to turn things around by joining their first and probably last rave. They’re introduced to the world of illegal parties, a movement as influential as punk, that in the 1990s was born in reaction to the U.K.’s oppressive policies.

41. The Last Family, 2016

Set between the years 1977 and 2005, this Polish drama goes through various stages in the life of the controversial surrealist-expressionist painter Zdzisław Beksiński. The extensive video archive left behind by the artist was used to craft an intimate portrait of three interdependent people: Beksiński himself, his suicidal and neurotic son, and his wife.

Beksiński is superbly played by veteran actor Andrzej Seweryn, known for his appearance in numerous Andrzej Wajda films. Even though the film focuses less on Zdzisław's painting career and more on his relationship with his family, it will definitely inspire you to dig deeper into both his tragic life and impressively dark body of work.

42. Thunder Road, 2018

Thunder Road is both a single-shot 13 minute short and a 91-minute feature-film expanding the story. Both are excellent and award-winning, but I really recommend the full experience!

Jim Cummings (above) is the director, writer, and main actor of this dark comedy. He plays a police officer having the worst day of his life as he tries to sing Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road at his mother’s funeral.

This sight is funny, and so is most of the story. But it’s also cringe-inducing, and because the main character is so sincere in his decline, will make you feel guilty about laughing so much.

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43. Pee Mak, 2013

Pee Mak is a hilarious and heartwarming comedy that blends horror, romance, and slapstick humor with Thai folklore. The story follows a group of friends who return from war to a remote village, only to realize the village folks now fear Mak’s beautiful wife, believing she is now a ghost. The film's clever and witty dialogue and its eerie and suspenseful moments create a unique and memorable experience. Even with all of its cliche horror-comedy tropes, it’ll be hard not to enjoy all the heartfelt ridiculousness pulled off so well.

44. The Break (La Treve), 2019

The body of a footballer from Togo is found in a small Belgian village. Suicide is suspected, but things don’t quite add up. Recordings of Skype sessions with his family show him happy, excited and looking forward to sending money back to them.

The seemingly quaint town where the incident takes places sees its secrets uncovered by a detective from Brussels. The farm where the body was found harbors Nazi symbols, 100-year-old weapons, and um.. a dominatrix.

If you liked Broadchurch or Happy Valley, you will love The Break. It’s a true hidden gem that sports a production value rivaling the biggest U.S. hits. A good reward for anyone willing to turn on the subtitles (or the dub).

45. The African Doctor, 2016, 2017

In this French movie based on a true story, a med-school graduate from Congo is offered a job as the doctor to the president of Zaire. He refuses and chooses instead to move to a small town in France in hopes of getting French citizenship and securing a better future for his children.

The story, which starts in 1975, is set in a village where people had never seen a Black person. To that, Seyolo, the doctor, says: “so what? Now they will.”

The culture clash is both villagers-to-new-arrivals and the other way. Seyolo tells his family that he was hired in a village “north of Paris”, but all they hear is “Paris”, only to be shocked by the state of the rainy and muddy countryside village.

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