Movies are a funny business. They are made and presented to critics, and to the public, in good faith. Sometimes the critics love something and the public doesn't. Sometimes the opposite happens. Sometimes nobody loves a movie. But occasionally, due to bad timing, bad advertising, or other unknowable factors, the critics or the public simply misread or dismiss a movie. At that point, the movie belongs to only a few lonely souls who found something in it that was worthwhile or wonderful. Here are a handful of those kinds of movies, all streaming on Netflix.
To the Wonder
★★★★★
Terrence Malick's sixth movie in 40 years was also his first to be received with complete indifference. Like Malick's universally acclaimed The Tree of Life, To the Wonder (2013) employs a slow, dreamy, drifting quality. However, it's presented on a much smaller scale, focusing on one man and his relationships with two women, which must have seemed less worthy than the more personal/cosmic themes of The Tree of Life. Nonetheless, To the Wonder gets closer to the emotional truth of a relationship than most normal movies, and the addition of Javier Bardem as a tormented priest brings a fascinating layer, leaving both God and love ultimately ungraspable. Ben Affleck stars in a purposely emotionally clouded role, with the beautiful Olga Kurylenko and Rachel McAdams as the alternating objects of his affection.
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