(Credit: Netflix)
Every week, I explore the thousands of movies on Netflix, monitoring what's topping charts on the streaming service and bringing you recommendations. I use metrics like popularity, ratings on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, and my deep Letterboxd archive. This week, Apex still leads the rankings, so let's take a detour and share four films for Mother's Day bonding.
Dumplin'
One of the hardest parts of parenting is realizing that your kids are going to have different priorities than you do, and the 2018 comedy Dumplin' leans into that idea for big laughs. It stars Jennifer Aniston as a former beauty queen with a teenage daughter she's too busy to parent. When the aunt who had been raising her dies, the two must rebuild their relationship and understand each other before it's too late. With a killer soundtrack courtesy of co-producer Dolly Parton, this is both very funny and heartwarming.
- Director: Anne Fletcher
- Cast: Danielle Macdonald, Jennifer Aniston, Odeya Rush
- Genre: Comedy
- Rating: PG-13
- IMDB Rating: 6.5/10
I Am Mother
It's the future, moms don't have to be human. I Am Mother is a compelling Australian cyberpunk movie with some unexpected twists. Post-apocalypse, an automated system inside a secluded bunker grows a human embryo, which is then birthed and raised by a robot named Mother. Years later, the teenaged Daughter lets in a woman from the outside, which causes chaos in their relationship and reveals some unpleasant secrets. It's a very well-acted and smart film that'll make you think about what motherhood really is.
- Director: Grant Sputore
- Stars: Luke Hawker, Rose Byrne, Maddie Lenton
- Genre: Science Fiction
- Rating: TV-14
- IMDb Rating: 6.4/10
Bird Box
One of Netflix's first breakout hit movies is also a rich portrait of how far mothers will go to keep their kids safe. In Bird Box, mysterious entities that drive people who look at them completely insane ravage the planet, and the only way to survive is to not look at them. Sandra Bullock plays a mother of two trying to find a safe place for her two children, with flashbacks to the beginning of the event. It's a spectacular, tense, and unique movie that deserves all the hype it got.
- Director: Susanne Bier
- Stars: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich
- Genre: Horror
- Rating: R
- IMDb Rating: 6.6/10
Con Mum
In this deeply strange documentary, British chef Graham Hornigold is contacted by a globetrotting socialite who claims to be his long-lost mother. The pair quickly bond as she lavishes him with expensive items and trips, but when she's diagnosed with terminal cancer, their roles switch, and she eventually swindles him out of £300,000 using a variety of tricks. The third-act twist in this one will blow your mind.
- Director: Nick Green
- Genre: Documentary
- Rating: TV-MA
- IMDb Rating: 6.6/10
Want to see everything that's new on Netflix this month? We've got you covered.