It's hard to pick which movies to watch during this time. Having so much free time gives us a chance to catch up on classics or pick new favorites. Well, Indiewire dug deep in the annuls of their interviews to see which movies some of our best directors have recommended recently. 

These are movies that are all streaming and easy to access. 


Check out the list and let us know what you love! 

What Movies do the Best Directors Think You Should Stream? 

Pedro Almodóvar: The Florida Project (Netflix)

“Baker uses his own heart and a special ability for the ellipsis to tell the story of a group of kids that live in a poverty-stricken building painted in purple in the proximity of Disney World. Willem Dafoe is touched by the grace, plus two enormous discoveries: the girl Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite, who plays her mother. I hope that Vinaite gets all that Courtney Love deserved as an actress and very unfairly didn’t get to achieve. Possibly no other film this year breathes a reality as palpable as this one. Sean Baker is my bet for the future,” Almodóvar told IndieWire

Lynne Ramsay: Roma (Netflix)

“The sound and image make you feel you’re inside it, like virtual reality but more emotional. A modern classic, a rarity now. Technically unmatched. Every detail and moment so considered but feel just happened upon. So many scenes remain indelibly seared on the brain, the surrealism of life, the connections, horror, humor, and beauty,” said Ramsay.  

Martin Scorsese: Midsommar (Amazon Prime)

Scorsese said, “I can tell you that the formal control is just as impressive as that of Hereditary, maybe more so, and that it digs into emotions that are just as real and deeply uncomfortable as the ones shared between the characters in the earlier picture. I can also tell you that there are true visions in this picture, particularly in the final stretch, that you are not likely to forget. I certainly haven’t.”

Bong Joon Ho: Hereditary (Amazon Prime)

"While the film is an impeccable work of genre in which occult elements are cleverly, tightly woven together, I wonder if genre is just a cover for the real horror,” Bong Joon Ho writes for A24. 

Christopher Nolan: First Man (Amazon Prime)

Nolan raves, “It’s a masterfully staged re-creation of the space program with utterly compelling physical detail and layers of cinematic immersion that command credence and ensure that the radical and intensively subjective nature of Chazelle’s point-of-view comes as a gradually unveiled shock.”

Quentin Tarantino: The Social Network (Netflix)

Tarantino told Premiere magazine, “It’s The Social Network, hands down. It is number one because it’s the best, that’s all! It crushes all the competition.” 

Paul Thomas Anderson: Lady Bird (Netflix)

PTA wasn't shy about his feelings about the movie and its lead actress, “You see this Irish actress be somebody from California, and more specifically from Sacramento, and you go, ‘How did she do that?” Anderson said at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. “That’s the best feeling, when you see a magic trick in front of you and all the things you know about being a director go away.”

Damien Chazelle: Dunkirk (Amazon Prime)

“It’s cinema as music — a continuous, breathless flow of images and sound that feels elemental and primal,” Damien Chazelle tells Indiewire.

Wes Anderson: My Neighbor Totoro (HBO Max)

 The director told Vanity Fair, “There’s a giant monster and a number of [soot] sprites, but two-thirds of the movie is spent cleaning the house, wandering the property, getting to know the neighbors, taking a bath,” Anderson said of his admiration for the movie. “And there’s a lot of nature. There’s a different kind of rhythm and emphasis than you’d find in American movies.”

Guillermo del Toro: A Ghost Story (Netflix)

The Pan’s Labyrinth filmmaker would later take to social media to hail A Ghost Story as a “masterpiece.”

Ana Lily Amirpour: Phantom Thread (Amazon Prime)

Ana Lily Amirpour told IndieWire, "The performances, the cinematography, and that music…OOOF. This is euphoric cinema. So emotional and deeply honest about the conflict between romantic love and the megalomania of an artist. I’ve seen it twice and can’t wait to watch it again. And again. Paul Thomas Anderson for the win.”

Josephine Decker: Suspiria (Amazon Prime)

“Its mystery is physical,” Josephine Decker told IndieWire. 

Olivier Assayas: Ford v Ferrari (HBO Max)

“I love Christian Bale and I found him quite remarkable in Ford v Ferrari,” Olivier Assayas told IndieWire

Sofia Coppola: Uncut Gems (Netflix)

Sofia Coppola told IndieWire“I thought Adam Sandler was great in Uncut Gems. I totally believed he was that guy and you felt his heart underneath all the hectic energy.”

Luca Guadagnino: The Irishman (Netflix)

“The finale is as astonishing as the performance at the center,” Gudagnino said. 

Justin Simien: I Am Not Your Negro (Netflix)

“James Baldwin’s words echo into the present like a bolt of lightning in Raoul Peck’s gorgeously crafted documentary,” Justin Simien told IndieWire

Catherine Hardwicke: The Farewell (Amazon Prime)

Catherine Hardwicke told IndieWire that Lulu Wang’s “fantastic debut” movie The Farewell was one of her favorite movies of 2019. 

Adam McKay: Parasite (Hulu)

“The movie that really knocked me over was Parasite,” Adam McKay said to IndieWire

Alex Ross Perry: Under the Silver Lake (Amazon Prime)

Alex Ross Perry told IndieWire“It is the most (only?) unique attempt at reconsidering the rules of storytelling, both written and visual. Of course, it was ‘dumped’ into only two theaters, given the tiniest sliver of support, and will have to work to find the audience it deserves. Nothing says ‘2019’ to me more than an out-and-out gonzo masterpiece that most people probably don’t even know was released.”

James Ponsoldt: The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Amazon Prime) 

The Last Black Man in San Francisco topped James Ponsoldt’s IndieWire list of the best films of 2019.

James Gunn: Green Room (Netflix)

Director James Gunn published a list of his 50 favorite horror movies on Twitter and Jeremy Saulnier’s 2015 horror-thriller was #6! 

Lulu Wang: One Child Nation (Amazon Prime)

The director told IndieWire that Nanfu Wang’s documentary One Child Nation was one of her favorite films of 2019.

Xavier Dolan: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Netflix)

“I love everything in Killing of a Sacred Deer,” Xavier Dolan once said to IndieWire. 

Robert Eggers: The Lost City of Z (Amazon Prime)

Robert Eggers told IndieWire he “loved the photography and tangible atmosphere.” 

Alma Har’el: You Were Never Really Here (Amazon Prime)

Alma Har’el told IndieWire, “This film proves that through a woman’s eyes, men benefit from a new gaze too.”

Amma Assante: If Beale Street Could Talk (Hulu)

Amma Asante told IndieWire If Beale Street Could Talk is “absolutely magical — a mesmerizing adaptation that brings James Baldwin’s book to fruition on screen.” 

Ari Aster: Burning (Netflix)

Aster said, “It’s the most haunting and densely layered film I’ve seen in ages. Its mysteries are still feeding me; its questions are still energizing me. Slyly ambiguous and totally concrete; ethereal and impenetrable — it’s a dream movie about people as islands, and it feels bottomless.”

Debra Granik: Minding the Gap (Hulu)

Director Debra Granik praised Minding the Gap as a masterclass in depicting “who is telling the story and how…that [approach] just got fresher.”

Don Hertzfeld: The Favourite (Amazon Prime)

Hertzfeld wrote that The Favourite is “tragic, funny, bleak, and wonderful. Costume dramas have no business being this entertaining. Everything Mr. Lanthimos directs is a must-see.”

Karyn Kusama: Mandy (Shudder)

“One of the most thrilling cinematic experiences I’ve had in a long while,” Karyn Kusama wrote to IndieWire.

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