18 Hidden-Gem Movies To Stream On Amazon Prime Video

Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet, a remake of Ang Lee’s queer romcom starring Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, and Lily Gladstone, is currently making waves at Sundance. In anticipation of its wider release, why not dig into the acclaimed director's earlier work with this Hong Chau- and Brian Dennehy-starring film?

It should be said up top that this quiet little indie couldn't be more different in tone from Ahn's recent films (particularly, Fire Island). Driveways is a slow burn that takes its time introducing us to the small town (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and our three central characters (a retired war veteran [Dennehy], an introverted young boy [Lucas Jaye], and his grieving single-mother [Chau]) who are each in a period of transition. The sweet and unlikely relationship that's formed between Jaye's Cody and Dennehy's Del, who spends his days playing Bingo and sitting alone on his porch, is the reason to watch this film. It's a life-affirming film I recommend to just about anyone looking to calm their nerves.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Every awards season, Oscar prognosticators remind us to save a slot in the Best Director category for an international auteur. Thomas Vinterberg — the Danish filmmaker who earned one of the most surprising nods in recent memory for Another Round — is a big reason for that. 

Perhaps best known stateside for directing The Hunt prior to this film, Vinterberg darkhorsed his way into the category, upsetting assumed frontrunners Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7), Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah), and Darius Marder (Sound of Metal). Even with its Best International Feature Film win, this sneakily existential comedy about four middle-aged teachers who try maintaining a daily blood-alcohol concentration level of .5 to optimize their performance, has remained criminally underwatched. And believe me when I tell you, it's worth watching just for the culminating dance sequence of Mads Mikkelsen absolutely freaking it on the Copenhagen waterfront.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Paterson, which stars Adam Driver as a — say it with me — driver named Paterson living in Paterson (N.J.), is a soothing balm of a movie about the occasionally agonizing but worthwhile pursuit of creativity. Along this meditative two-hour journey, we see the world through Paterson's eyes — rising early with him as he begins his usual bus route and carries out his daily tasks. Only, Paterson, who also happens to be a poet, finds inspiration in each seemingly banal moment or encounter. 

Most importantly, it features a "Palm Dog" award-winning performance from the late English bulldog Nellie — one of the greatest dog performances since Wendy and Lucy. Sorry to Anatomy of a Fall's Messi!

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Our first clue that the Academy would say "Guadagni-NO" this year and shut out both Queer and Challengers from all eligible categories should have been this blanked cannibal love story from 2022 starring Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, and Mark Rylance. Like Queer, and to a lesser extent Challengers, Luca Guadagnino took some big swings that left many viewers with a bad taste in their mouth. (A human carcass taste, even.)

That's unfortunate, because I'm confident history will smile upon Bones and All and its distinct, singular vision. Even taking Timothée's star power out of the equation, this film is still worth sinking your teeth into for the haunting supporting work from Rylance and, of course, Russell's utterly magnetic performance as a teenage misfit discovering that she is part of the cannibal community.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Did you hear? The White Lotus is back for Season 3 on Feb 16 (and renewed for a Season 4 already). In case you're looking to explore more of writer-director Mike White's deliciously cringey material, you'll definitely want to check out this slept-on film starring Severance's Ben Stiller, Austin Abrams, and Jenna Fischer.

You can see a clear through-line from this film to the complicated father-son relationships depicted in both S1 and S2 of The White Lotus. Here, we follow a father (Stiller) and his wise-beyond-his-years, deadpan son (Abrams) on a college tour that unearths complicated feelings of paternal jealousy. Surely, someone has ranked all of Stiller's most neurotic performances and put this at the top of the list alongside Greenberg. (Mostly complimentary.)

Watch it on Prime Video. 

I thought about this film when How To Blow Up a Pipeline had a big moment in 2022, and I thought about it again with the big year Dakota Fanning (Ripley), Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain), and Peter Sarsgaard (September 5) all had in 2024. I'm sure I thought about it on several other occasions in between, too, because Night Moves — a political thriller about three environmentalists who decide to blow up a hydroelectric dam — is just that type of slow-burn film that you never stop thinking about.

How Night Moves ended up being one of the least-watched films of Kelly Reichardt's oeuvre I'll never quite understand, but this mood piece demands to be seen now more than ever. Even if... you have to squint at moments to see it. (Yes, it is arguably even darker than The Batman.)

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Okay, so you probably know this as the "small film with a giant heart." Or, more specifically, the film with the infamous "grassroots" Oscar campaign for Andrea Riseborough which successfully resulted in a Lead Actress nomination for the actor (and the Academy's Board of Governors to update its campaign promotional regulations). But... did you know that Riseborough's performance, and by extension, To Leslie, was not entirely underserving of its accolades? Yes, I am brave enough to say it.

While I'm not here to pretend that this type of addiction drama reinvents the wheel, I will say that it was more than just industry cachet that landed Riseborough the nomination; delivering a remarkable performance as a small-town single mother burning every bridge as she struggles with alcoholism, the British stalwart manages to breathe new life into the stale Oscar-bait genre. Also, Marc Maron is... pretty good in it! 

Watch it on Prime Video.

We live in the age of the 10-minute-long standing ovation, so it's always refreshing to remember a time when a film could elicit a smattering of outraged boos (and walkouts) from the crowd at its Sundance premiere. Such was the case for this button-pushing psychological thriller from Craig Zobel — based on a series of real-life prank phone calls — which involves a man impersonating a police officer calling up a fast food restaurant to report that one of the workers has stolen money from a customer. 

What follows is a chilling examination of, well, compliance — specifically, how we've been conditioned to respond to authority. It is a completely fascinating, and deeply uncomfortable, look at human behavior with unforgettable performances from Anne Dowd and Dreama Walker.

Watch it on Prime Video.

If you are: interested in hearing Jennifer Jason Leigh perform a melancholic cover of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," someone with a vague interest in Charlie Kaufman (best known for his screenplays Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich, and Adaptation), or just someone interested in witnessing a true master of animation at work, Anomalisa should be the first on your to-watch list. 

There are moments in this short (90-min, can you believe?), immaculately designed film that make you forget that what you're watching is an ensemble of stop-motion puppets and not real-life actors — and that's part of what makes this film exploring human intimacy and desire so successful.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Called "low-key devastating" by Vulture, this Indie Spirit-nominated film about a teen who meets her 39-year-old self (played by Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza, respectively), was one of the big Sundance discoveries of 2024. 

You'd be forgiven for not picking up on this from the broadly comedic humor in its trailer (or, its title), but this is a sneaky tearjerker. At its core, My Old Ass is a movie about regret, asking us whether we might change our paths in life if we knew they led to heartbreak and defeat. Are we laughing?

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Trey Edward Shults has a knack for capturing the visceral — at times, claustrophobic — feeling of dread on screen. He did so with the Taylor Russell-starring drama Waves in 2019 and before that, with the more genre-leaning It Comes At Night. But where it all started was with this micro-budget A24 film, Krisha, which was shot in nine days and takes place almost entirely in one place — at our titular lead's sister’s home, where the family has gathered to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner. As the film unravels, so, too, does Krisha. As she plunges into a deep pit of despair and paranoia, Shults's clever camerawork mirrors this inner turmoil. 

It is a remarkable sensory experience and, in a just world, the film would be referenced as frequently as Uncut Gems. Also impressive is the fact that Shults wasn't even 30 when he directed this John Cassavetes Award-winning debut feature film, which he also stars in as Krisha's estranged son.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Speaking of claustrophobia, you might be aware of Emma Seligman's word-of-mouth hit Shiva Baby. Her splashier followup stars real-life NYU friends, Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott, as "ugly, untalented gays" who start a fight club at their high school to curry favor with two popular, beautiful cheerleaders. 

The word "camp" gets thrown around a lot in our post-Met Gala landscape, but it definitely belongs here to describe this absurd, tonal rollercoaster of a teenage sex comedy. The film is bolstered by some standout supporting performances, including the much-talked-about former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch (as the fight club advisor) and Nicholas Galitzine as a dumb quarterback (proving he belongs in this comedic register).

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Topping countless year-end film lists from 2020, this critical favorite from writer-director Eliza Hittman (Beach Rats), tells the story of a 17-year-old (Sidney Flanigan) who, unable to get an abortion in rural Pennsylvania without parental consent, must travel to New York for the procedure. In standard Hittman fashion, the film is unshowy but packs a punch. 

Never Rarely Sometimes Always, alongside well-reviewed indie gems First Cow and Saint Frances, suffered at the box office as a result of their March 2020 theatrical releases. (We all know what happened shortly after.) So, it's heartening to see this film having a second life on streaming, especially as its story becomes more and more vital.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Grossing less that $4 million at the box office, this little A24 horror film that could has still managed to make a huge impact on the culture. In the gruesome story that unfolds from writer-director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Rebel Ridge), a touring punk band accidentally witnesses a murder and are held hostage in a bar by a gang of neo-Nazis. Sir Patrick Stewart delivers an unforgettable (against-type) performance as the gang leader — regarded as one of the most terrifying villains in recent memory.

Notably, the film also features the late Anton Yelchin, in one of his last on-screen performances. Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and Callum Turner lend their acting chops to this gripping, blood-bathed film that is unmistakably grounded in the real world.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Patti might give a damn about this Ari Aster-directed A24 film, calling it "the best role [she's] ever been offered on-camera." (She plays the suffocating mother to Joaquin Phoenix's Beau.) But should you? Yes — though your mileage may vary.

Following the one-two punch of Aster's acclaimed films Hereditary and Midsommar, there was an untenable level of anticipation for Beau. Described as "a supersized, fitfully amusing, self-important tale of fear and loathing" by the New York Times, its divisive reception — particular around its ending — no doubt turned people off from checking it out in theaters. Fortunately, with the film streaming for free on Amazon Prime Video, the stakes have never been lower — unlike in this operatic film... where one man's crippling Jewish guilt, self-hatred, and paranoia causes the whole world to come crashing down.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

The cavalry is not coming! The journey of the Duplass Brothers from scrappy young "mumbelcore" filmmakers to powerhouse creatives and producers has been well documented in commencement speeches, panels, and interviews over the years. But nothing is more inspiring — particularly for young filmmakers — than to see the debut film from brothers Jay and Mark Duplass in all of its dirt-cheap, 85-minute glory. 

Shot with Mark's real-life partner Katie Aselton, this early Sundance breakout has a deceptively simple premise — a man (played by Mark Duplass) convinces his girlfriend (Aselton) to join him on a roadtrip to collect a Lay-Z-Boy recliner he's won in an eBay auction and deliver it to his father as a birthday surprise. Of course, as with every road movie, it's about the journey, not the destination — and a handful of memorable, unplanned encounters, notably Josh's brother Rhett (Rhett Wilkins) who crashes the party, provide comic relief and deep truths about relationships that make it worth watching.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

We called this a film that will make you want to call your sister several years ago, and we're sticking with that assessment. Bill Hader (Milo) and Kristen Wiig (Maggie) play twins who haven't spoken in a decade. That all changes when Maggie invites Milo to stay with her and her husband Lance (Luke Wilson) after an attempted suicide. Here's a film that certainly buys into the theory that "no one gets you quite like your sister. Over the course of the film, it becomes clear that the two share an ironclad bond that is built to withstand just about every life obstacle. 

Both SNL alums have gone on to create an impressive body of dramatic work since this film, but there's no doubt that this deeply sad (and occasionally very funny!) film from Craig Johnson about mental illness was an important stepping stone for both to show the world their ranges.

Watch it on Prime Video. 

Sacramento moms... they're going to make you cry. At least that's what the recent evidence suggests with Lady Bird's Laurie Metcalf and, here, with Other People's Molly Shannon. This cancer-comedy is written and directed by SNL alum Chris Kelly (who is now probably best known for creating The Other Two) and follows David (Jesse Plemons), a down-on-his-luck comedy writer who returns home to care for his mother with terminal cancer. 

If this plot sounds familiar, that's probably because there have been several movies in recent memory that have used this same setup. In fact, the John Kransinki-directed dramedyThe Hollars, you might remember, came out the very same year and overshadowed Other People. That's a shame, because Chris Kelly — a very skilled observer of human behavior — is able to create something much more worthwhile, elevating his story with poignant, hyper-specific dialogue.

Watch it on Prime Video.