711 Best Discussion-sparking Movies to Watch (Page 40)

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It’s no coincidence that many of the highest-acclaimed movies are also controversial. Serving beyond entertainment, these stories provoke essential social dialogues. As a case in point, here are the best discussion-sparking movies and shows available to stream now.

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, 2020

Sincere and direct, Ana Rocha de Sousa’s debut feature is a tragic portrayal of an immigrant family in the United Kingdom. Known best abroad for her role in Love Actually, Lúcia Moniz shines as devoted mother Bela, who, along with Jota (Ruben Garcia) struggles to keep their family together. The couple and their three children, including the deaf middle child Lu (Sophia Myles), come under the scrutiny of social services, especially after the unexplained bruises. While at times heavy-handed, the film raises important questions on family separation and social services, especially with their limitations with children with disabilities.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Aaron Brookner, Ângela Pinto, António Capelo, Brian Bovell, Holly Horne, Jay Lycurgo, Jon Rumney, Kiran Sonia Sawar, Lúcia Moniz, Maisie Sly, Ruben Garcia, Sian Abrahams, Sophia Myles, Susanna Cappellaro

Director: Ana Rocha de Sousa

Rating: Not Rated

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, 2008

Women are rarely depicted in prison for a serious drama– usually, it mostly happens in exploitation films. So when Lion’s Den was released in Cannes, it’s no wonder that it garnered attention, even to the point of being submitted as Argentina’s entry for the Oscars. It’s really mostly a realistic depiction of how an incarcerated mother raised her child, as per Argentine law, they remain together for only four years. However, it’s because of sticking to that fact that the law ends up becoming a time limit that helps drive the story forward. It’s a simple approach, but writer-director Pablo Trapero sticks to this straightforward style, and it ultimately works because of Martina Gusmán’s star-making performance. It’s tough to watch, with the assault, strip searches, and riots, but Leonera is a much more empathetic depiction that’s sadly rare to see.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Elli Medeiros, Laura García, Martina Gusmán, Rodrigo Santoro, Tomás Plotinsky

Director: Pablo Trapero

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, 2019

When thinking about buying something, it’s easy to only think about price and quality, but with many investigations around the world about inhumane labor practices, it’s no wonder that more people would like to look at the companies they’re buying from, or at least buy secondhand when possible. One such investigation is depicted in Letter from Masanjia. While it starts first at the discovery of the letter in Oregon, the true story continues on the other side of the world, through the difficult experiences Sun Yi and his fellow detainees were forced to go through when the Falun Gong movement grew greater in number than the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a harrowing tale, with certain sequences being animated due to a natural lack of footage, and it’s one that needed to be made.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Fu Ning, Julie Keith, Sun Yi

Director: Leon Lee

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, 1997

Adults and kids can be friends, but there’s obviously a line that shouldn’t be crossed. This line is why most people would look at a friendship like this and automatically assume terrible things, but Lawn Dogs depicts one such connection in such a way that it’s clear how easy and disproportionate these assumptions are made for marginalized and less powerful people, over the affluent sociopaths that can and have gotten away with the accusations they lobby against others. The fairy tale ending, and of course, the disgusting behavior done by the rich guys, might turn some viewers off from the movie, but there’s also something genuine with the way screenwriter Naomi Wallace depicts a girl with a literally different heart who just wants to befriend someone real.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Angie Harmon, Beth Grant, Bruce McGill, Christopher McDonald, David Barry Gray, Eric Mabius, Kathleen Quinlan, Miles Meehan, Mischa Barton, Sam Rockwell, Tom Aldredge

Director: John Duigan

Rating: R

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, 1995

Stereotypically made to look like one-note villains in many other films, the kinds of characters who lead Land and Freedom are rightfully depicted as people acting out of a desire for something constructive and good. Through director Ken Loach's trademark approach to no-frills storytelling, the complex ideologies motivating each of these factions against the common enemy (and against each other) are laid out with crystal clarity. In fact, the most exciting confrontations in the film aren't the skirmishes between the fascists and the revolutionary militias, but the debates held between allies, as they figure out the next best steps forward for every liberated person involved.

Genre: Drama, History, Romance, War

Actor: Angela Clarke, Daniel Muñoz, Eoin McCarthy, Francesc Orella, Frédéric Pierrot, Ian Hart, Icíar Bollaín, Jordi Dauder, Pep Molina, Rosana Pastor, Suzanne Maddock, Tom Gilroy

Director: Ken Loach

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, 2023

If you’re looking for exotic locations, glamorous spies, and dramatic shoot-outs, Khufiya is not the espionage film you’re looking for. Like the original novel it’s based on, the film adaptation is a complex, intricate spy story where countries try to interfere with each other’s affairs, and agents handle the dry and dirty work to achieve this. With the true-story-based details of the source material, writer-director Vishal Bhardwaj keeps the story’s historical accuracy, but also adds a personal revenge subplot through the addition of a female main protagonist. The result of the changes complicates the film’s introduction, but if you have the patience, Khufiya still has what makes a spy drama compelling– the double-agent turns, the doubts and mistrust, and a satisfying resolution to the operation.

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Alexx O'Nell, Ali Fazal, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Atul Kulkarni, Azmeri Haque Badhon, Disney James, Jan Graveson, Lalit Parimoo, Navnindra Behl, Priyanka Setia, Purnendu Bhattacharya, Rahul Vohra, Shashi Bhushan, Shataf Figar, Tabu, Wamiqa Gabbi

Director: Vishal Bhardwaj

Rating: R

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, 2024

Given the current tension around reproductive health issues, it should be no surprise that Joy might feel rather tame. To a certain extent, it is, as in vitro fertilization doesn’t have the same controversies compared to abortion. But it does hold some of the same questions, asked through straightforward dialogue from screenwriter Jack Thorne and an effective, if a bit by-the-numbers approach from director Ben Taylor. With strong performances from Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie, and James Norton, Joy does have a tinge of schmaltz in its approach, but nevertheless celebrates the real life creators and the believers that made IVF all possible, in spite of the fear surrounding the then-new technology.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Adrian Lukis, Anastasia Hille, Ashna Rabheru, Bill Nighy, Cecily Cleeve, Charlie Murphy, Douggie McMeekin, Ella Bruccoleri, Emily Fairn, Harriet Cains, James Norton, Jemima Rooper, Joanna Scanlan, Justin Edwards, Louisa Harland, Mariam Haque, Michael Keogh, Miles Jupp, Nicholas Rowe, Pip Torrens, Richard Durden, Rish Shah, Robert Wilfort, Ruth Madeley, Simon Paisley Day, Suzanne Burden, Tanya Moodie, Thomasin McKenzie

Director: Ben Taylor

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, 2023

The Syrian refugee crisis is still ongoing, so it can understandably be difficult to create a nuanced and accurate depiction. Jacir is an earnest attempt at this. Keeping it on the more personal side, the film focuses on the journey of one Syrian refugee as he gets to know members of his neighborhood, like his black co-worker Jerome and his opioid-addicted neighbor Meryl. Though occasionally bogged down by clunky dialogue, their struggles genuinely outline the same struggles faced by communities failed by their institutions. It’s only through banding together as a community that Jacir and his friends can survive.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Christine Solomon, Jonathan Stoddard, Lorraine Bracco, Luke Barnett, Mark Jeffrey Miller, Rosalyn R. Ross

Director: Waheed AlQawasmi

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, 2022

A deep dive into African-American cinema in the 1970s, Is That Black Enough for You?!? may at times feel like an extended audiovisual Wikipedia article, but it convincingly sets up its ideas in breezy, entertaining fashion. And it successfully argues that Hollywood today just hasn't cashed in on the wealth of innovative Black art that already existed 50 years ago. At the center of this talking heads documentary is director and narrator Elvis Mitchell, who elevates the assembled footage with frank commentary that isn't afraid to make things personal or to throw shade at other filmmakers who've made a career out of appropriating Black film traditions.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Antonio Fargas, Billy Dee Williams, Charles Burnett, Elvis Mitchell, Glynn Turman, Harry Belafonte, James Signorelli, Laurence Fishburne, Louise Archambault, Margaret Avery, Mario Van Peebles, Roscoe Orman, Samuel L. Jackson, Sheila Frazier, Stan Lathan, Suzanne de Passe, Whoopi Goldberg, Zendaya

Director: Elvis Mitchell

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, 2008

Anthology films are interesting because it’s not just one film on screen– it’s multiple stories, one after the other, that might have different plots, but share similar themes, ideas, and styles that the filmmaker(/s) would like to display. Involuntary does have five separate short films, but rather than play one by one, writer-director Ruben Östlund chops them up and alternates between them, starting with small instances where the group pushes someone into a behavior, then eventually escalating and accelerating into much more difficult consequences. This makes for a very slow start to the one and a half hour film, but it also allows Östlund some scope, with this simple group dynamic directly affecting larger ideas such as public morality, masculinity, and high-risk behavior in teens amongst others.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Cecilia Milocco, Henrik Vikman, Leif Edlund, Leif Ericson, Linnea Cart-Lamy, Lola Ewerlund, Maria Lundqvist, Olle Liljas, Sara Eriksson, Simeon Nordius, Vera Vitali, Villmar Björkman

Director: Ruben Östlund

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, 2017

In Fatih Akin’s In the Fade, Katja is seeking justice after the killings of her Turkish husband and their young son in a terrorist bomb attack. Diane Kruger in the role of Katja delivers a powerful and rather grueling performance, for which she was awarded Best Actress at Cannes Film Festival. Her grief is vivid and forces viewers to bear witness to her inescapable pain. In the Fade also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, beating astonishing films such as Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless. This moving story about a fearless woman determined to take justice into her own hands to fight the cruelty of others delivers a message that needs to be heard.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Actor: Adam Bousdoukos, Aysel Iscan, Cem Akin, Denis Moschitto, Diane Kruger, Edgar Selge, Hanna Hilsdorf, Henning Peker, Jessica McIntyre, Johannes Krisch, Karin Neuhäuser, Laurens Walter, Numan Acar, Samia Chancrin, Şiir Eloğlu, Ulrich Brandhoff, Ulrich Tukur, Uwe Rohde, Yannis Economides, Youla Boudali

Director: Fatih Akin

Rating: R

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, 1996

You would think that a film made with Demi Moore, Sissy Spacek and Cher would be a major theatrical release, but even in 1996, the topic of abortion rights was still quite controversial. If These Walls Could Talk may be relegated to the small screen because of this, or because of being an anthology of shorts, but with each lead starring each segment, the film outlines real experiences with abortion, from the dangerous ways women had to resort to without it, to the way, that even with the Court’s support, these rights were actively suppressed. Of course, it’s a harrowing, unsubtle watch, and it would have been great to have a segment depicting the safety of modern day procedures, but if you have a friend that’s unconvinced of the procedure’s necessity, or if they’re entirely new to the conversation, If These Walls Could Talk is a place to start.

Genre: Drama, TV Movie

Actor: Aaron James Cash, Aaron Lustig, Anne Heche, Ben Marley, Brendan Ford, Carmen Thomas, Catherine Keener, CCH Pounder, Cher, Chris Ellis, Christine Avila, Craig T. Nelson, Demi Moore, Diana Scarwid, Eileen Brennan, Geoffrey Nauffts, Georganne LaPiere, Harris Yulin, Hedy Burress, Ian Bohen, Jack Kehler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Janna Michaels, Jason London, Joanna Gleason, Jordana Spiro, Judith Drake, Kevin Cooney, Lindsay Crouse, Lorna Scott, Lorraine Toussaint, Mary Portser, Matthew Lillard, Phyllis Lyons, Rita Wilson, Rob Camilletti, Robert Wisdom, Robin Gammell, Rusty Schwimmer, Sally Murphy, Sarah Koskoff, Shirley Knight, Sissy Spacek, Susie Spear Purcell, Tim DeKay, Vaughn Armstrong, Xander Berkeley, Zack Eginton

Director: Cher, Nancy Savoca

Rating: R

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, 2023

With nearly a century to cover, If These Walls Could Sing had the daunting task of giving justice to the history of the iconic Abbey Roads Studios. In 89 minutes, Mary McCartney outlines the studio’s history through archival footage and a stacked selection of artist interviews, popping only in random moments to organize the timeline. With the wide selection of artists, the film can feel scattered, as it jumps from classical music, to rock and roll, and to film scoring. The documentary doesn’t really go in-depth into how the studio developed its sound, but there are some interesting insights into certain tracks, like how the studio approached contracts, experimentation, different genres, and technology. While the film relies too much on nostalgia, it’s still an interesting tour based on the subject matter alone.

Genre: Documentary, Music

Actor: Brian Epstein, Cilla Black, Cliff Richard, David Gilmour, Elton John, George Harrison, George Lucas, George Martin, Giles Martin, Jimmy Page, John Legend, John Lennon, John Williams, Kanye West, Kate Bush, Liam Gallagher, Linda McCartney, Mary McCartney, Nile Rodgers, Noel Gallagher, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Roger Waters

Director: Mary McCartney

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