It’s no secret that I love streaming television. And rainy days. And fires in my fireplaces. So on my latest crawl-under-the-covers-and-light-a-fire rainy day, I took a few minutes to compile my 7 favorite quietly gorgeous, new-ish movies and documentaries that moved me spiritually—and that you can stream right into your living room right now.
These are the kind of movies I watch in the wee hours of a Sunday morning, then I make my husband watch again with me when he wakes up. They’ll make you laugh, cry, wonder, and dream. Find all my picks (offered in no particular order) on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
And because I really, really, really love TV so much (really), I want your recommendations for your favorites. Give me all the genres from any time period. I just want to feel something, learn something, and finish on a note of hope.
Lucky (Comedy, Drama)
➤➤ LUCKY follows the spiritual journey of a 90-year-old atheist and the quirky characters that inhabit his off the map desert town. Having out lived and out smoked all of his contemporaries, the fiercely independent Lucky finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self exploration, leading towards that which is so often unattainable: enlightenment. Acclaimed character actor John Carroll Lynch’s directorial debut “Lucky”, is at once a love letter to the life and career of Harry Dean Stanton as well as a meditation on morality, loneliness, spirituality, and human connection. — rottentomatoes.com
180° South: Conquerors of the Useless (Documentary)
➤➤ 180° SOUTH: CONQUERORS OF THE USELESS follows Jeff Johnson as he retracesthe epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia. Along the way he gets shipwrecked off Easter Island, surfs the longest wave of his life – and prepares himself for a rare ascent of Cerro Corcovado. Jeff’s life takes a turn when he meets up in a rainy hut with Chouinard and Tompkins who, once driven purely by a love of climbing and surfing, now value above all the experience of raw nature – and have come to Patagonia to spend their fortunes to protect it. — Amazon.com
Stories We Tell (Documentary)
➤➤ The film looks at the relationship between Polley’s parents, Michael and Diane Polley, including the revelation that the filmmaker was the product of an extramarital affair between her mother and Montreal producer Harry Gulkin. It incorporates interviews with Polley’s siblings from her mother’s two marriages, interviews with other relatives and family friends, Michael Polley’s narration of his memoir, and Super-8 footage shot to look like home movies of historical events in her family’s life. The faux home video footage appears exceptionally authentic due to the performers’ close resemblance to the real-life characters. The cast in the Super-8 re-creations includes Rebecca Jenkins, who plays Diane – who had died of cancer, on January 10, 1990—the week of Polley’s 11th birthday. Polley began work five years before completing the documentary, taking many breaks in between. In her blog post on the NFB.ca website, Polley reveals that several journalists including Brian D. Johnson and Matthew Hays had known about the story of her biological father for years, but respected Polley’s wish to keep the matter private until she was ready to tell her story in her own words. — Wikipedia.com
Our Souls At Night (Drama)
➤➤ Based on the best-selling novel written by Kent Haruf and adapted for the screen by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (The Fault in Our Stars), Our Souls at Night is set in Colorado and begins when Addie Moore (Jane Fonda) pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters (Robert Redford). Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they’d been neighbors for decades, but had little contact. Their children live far away and they are all alone in their big houses. She seeks to establish a connection, and make the most of the rest of the time they have. — rottentomatoes.com
I Am Not Your Negro (Documentary)
➤➤ I Am Not Your Negro envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, a radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words, as read by actor Samuel L. Jackson. Alongside a flood of rich archival material, the film draws upon Baldwin’s notes on the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. to explore and bring a fresh and radical perspective to the current racial narrative in America. — PBS.org
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (Documentary)
➤➤ Through the lens of his stunningly immersive performance as Andy Kaufman, Jim Carrey ponders the meaning of life, reality, identity and career. — Netflix.com
Under an Arctic Sky (Documentary)
➤➤ A film project documenting the journey to the most remote corner of Iceland in the middle of winter in search of perfect surf. A few days in, the worst storm in twenty five years blows through and shuts down the country, turning the search for waves into a life-threatening prospect. — underanarticsky.com
Don’t forget to let me know what your favorites are in the comments or in my private Facebook community. We’re partners in co-inspiration, so I want to know where you find your everyday inspiration!
Rebekah “Bex” Borucki, founder of BexLife.com and the Blissed In® wellness movement, is a mother-of-five, TV host, meditation guide, author, speaker, birth doula, fitness and yoga instructor, and popular social media personality. Her first book, You Have 4 Minutes to Change Your Life (Hay House 2017), is available now, wherever books are sold.
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