5 Hidden Gems On Netflix, According To Rotten Tomatoes

I have spent a lot of time highlighting the best movies on Netflix, as well as the most highly rated movies on Netflix according to Rotten Tomatoes. But there are so many more movies that fly under the radar that don’t receive the recognition and attention they deserve. Even a service like Rotten Tomatoes can only do so much – even if a movie achieves a score over 90%, the highest achievement a film can achieve in the critical community, they often dissipate like dust in the wind as larger films with bigger budgets (and even bigger narrative issues) receive five times as many reviews. These are the kinds of movies that can change someone’s life, that can expose a whole new line of thinking, that can alter our very perception of the world. These movies have gone beyond the 90% barrier – we just didn’t hear about it.

Well, now that can change – for seven movies in particular, anyway. I scoured the Netflix movie database to find lesser-known films that have achieved critical success. All of the movies below, which were largely released in the past ten years, have scored at least 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and have been waiting for a wider audience to find them. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you likely didn’t even known these movies were available to you – so don’t waste anymore time and get to it.

5 Hidden Movie Gems On Netflix

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (2024)

59 reviews — 97% approval rating

You don’t expect to find the most heartfelt of stories born from games like World of Warcraft. But then again, you probably don’t know Mats Steen, Norwegian man who lived with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and passed away at 25. His physical world might have be restrained, but his imagination and ability to connect with others knew no bounds – Mats found freedom and kinship in the online realm of World of Warcraft, a massive role-playing game that currently hosts over 7 million players. In The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, director Benjamin Ree blends together home video footage with animated recreations of Mats’ in-game experiences (Ree had access to approximately 42,000 pages of Mats’ in-game chat logs), where he embodied the charismatic character of Ibelin Redmoore. After Mats’ death, his parents were overwhelmed by messages from his online friends, revealing the profound impact he had on their lives – a facet of Mats they had been unaware of. From the very beginning, the film has enjoyed great success with both critics and audiences – the film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, winning both the Audience Award and the Directing Award in the World Cinema Documentary category.

Güeros (2014)

56 reviews — 93% approval rating

The act of revolution, of fighting for what’s right at any cost, is a rich subject for cinema, and has been since its early days, tracing all the way back to Abel Gance in the 1910s or Sergei Eisenstein in the 1920s or – and perhaps this is most apropos for Güeros – Fernando de Fuentes Carrau in the 1930s. Carrau, a Mexican filmmaker, crafted the Revolution Trilogy between 1933-1936, a series of movies about the Mexican Revolution. Eighty years later, director Alonso Ruizpalacios used black-and-white cinematography to tell a new story of Mexican rebellion involving three teenagers searching for a folk singer during the bloody 1999-2000 strike at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (the largest university in Latin America). The film deftly recreates many of the issues facing Mexican society at the time, evoking themes like student activism, class disparities and the search for identity in a quickly changing cultural landscape. Güeros garnered widespread critical acclaim upon its release just over 10 years ago, winning five Ariel Awards, including Best Picture, and earning accolades at international festivals like Berlin and Tribeca.

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024)

48 reviews — 98% approval rating

I already highlighted this movie in a recent article, but it feels wrong to ignore it for this particular article – it’s rare for a modern movie to come this close to achieving a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes (there is currently only one negative review) and still be relatively unknown. But hopefully that can change as How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies gains exposure to a wider audience on Netflix, and possibly recreate the massive success the film found overseas (produced on a modest $1 million budget, the film grossed approximately $73.8 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Thai film of all time). This Thai dramedy follows the character of M (Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul), a 26-year-old university dropout who attempts to secure his dying grandmother’s inheritance by becoming her primary caregiver. But before long, he develops a deep, life-changing relationship with Amah (Usha Seamkhum), forcing M to reevaluate his intentions and understanding of family bonds. Thailand selected the film as its official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars, where it made the shortlist.

The First Slam Dunk (2022)

46 reviews — 100% approval rating

I gotta say: this one took me by surprise. As someone who doesn’t watch very much anime, it was a shock for me to discover that a film based upon a 1990s manga series had produced one of the rare 100%-approved flicks on Rotten Tomatoes – so I knew I had to check out The First Slam Dunk. Takehiko Inoue, the original creator of the Slam Dunk manga, took on the roles of writer and director for the film, marking his first time directing an animated feature – and boy did he knock it out of the park. His story centers on Ryota Miyagi (Shugo Nakamura), the quick and determined point guard of Shohoku High School’s basketball team – he mourns the tragic death of his brother, Sota, who inspired his passion for the sport, and fights to honor his legacy by winning the Inter-High School National Championship. Such a simple story propels to unbelievably heights thanks to the eye-popping blend of 3D CGI for basketball scenes and hand-drawn 2D animation for everyday moments. Believe it or not, The First Slam Dunk became the highest-grossing basketball film of all time, grossing over $279 million worldwide (it also ranks among the top Japanese films in global box office history), while also winning the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year

The Look of Silence (2014)

142 reviews — 96% approval rating

Director Joshua Oppenheimer is undoubtedly best known for his transfixing 2012 documentary The Act of Killing (another movie available on Netflix, by the way), which told the story of those who participated in the Indonesian mass killings between 1965-1966, deepening our understanding of those horrific events and the West’s involvement. But slightly lesser known is that film’s sort-of sequel, The Look of Silence, in which tells the stories of victims of such atrocities. Specifically, the film centers on Adi Rukun, a middle-aged optometrist who confronts the men responsible for his brother Ramli’s brutal murder during the anti-communist purges. Through a series of interviews conducted under the guise of eye examinations, Adi seeks to break the decades-long silence surrounding said barbarity and challenges the perpetrators to acknowledge their crimes – this lends to Oppenheimer’s signature approach, which emphasizes authenticity and avoids clichés that might offer false reassurance. The film received widespread recognition upon its release, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Despite challenges, the film has been screened over 3,500 times to more than 300,000 people in Indonesia, reflecting its profound resonance and the growing demand for truth and reconciliation.

Happy as Lazzaro (2018)

92 reviews — 91% approval rating

Alice Rohrwacher might just be the most celebrated modern filmmaker you’ve never heard of, winning the Grand Prix for her 2014 film (The Wonders), directing one of the top five international films of 2023 by the National Board of Review (La chimera), and being nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the Academy Awards (Le pupille). She also won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival for a transfixing film you can find on Netflix, Happy as Lazzaro. Set in the isolated rural estate of Inviolata, the story follows Lazzaro (Adriano Tardiolo), a kind-hearted and naive young peasant who, along with fellow laborers, is exploited under a feudal sharecropping system by the aristocratic Marchesa Alfonsina De Luna (Nicoletta Braschi). Lazzaro forms a bond with her rebellious son, Tancredi (Luca Chikovani), who enlists him in a scheme to fake his own kidnapping. Then, a sudden twist propels the narrative into a surreal exploration of time, as Lazzaro awakens years later, unchanged, and ventures into a modern world where the injustices of the past persist in new forms. This genre-defying Italian film mixes magical realism and neorealism to create a story that is both grounded and otherworldly in its social commentary, making for an incisive, enlightening experience you’ve likely never encountered before.

System Crasher (2019)

35 reviews — 94% approval rating

I have to admit, I’m always a bit hesitant when it comes to dramas starring children as the main characters. It’s not that I don’t believe they can be great – after all, I love movies like The 400 Blows, Where is the Friend’s House? and George Washington – but it always seems the hard-hitting reality of their worlds is lost to the conventions of the coming-of-age formula, which stifles a young actor who cannot break beyond such boundaries. But that certainly was not the case with System Crasher, an unflinching portrayal of childhood trauma that was captured beautifully by the film’s star, Helena Zengel. This German drama directed by Nora Fingscheidt follows the nine-year-old Bernadette (Zengel), whose explosive outbursts and violent tendencies make her a “system crasher,” a term used in Germany for children who defy placement in civilized society. Desperate to reunite with a mother unable to care for her, Benni drifts from home to home, constantly defying the efforts of her dedicated social worker Frau Bafané (Gabriela Maria Schmeide) and school escort Micha (Albrecht Schuch), making for a narrative that’s just as much of an exploration of childhood trauma as it is a piercing commentary on the system that fails such children. System Crasher was Germany’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards and won multiple German Film Awards, including Best Feature Film and Best Actress.