Unsure of what to watch on a night in? When the paradox of choice has you paralyzed, don’t queue up the same half-hearted scroll through every streaming app imaginable. Instead, turn to a recommendation from one of our CULT100 inductees. They’ve got films for any mood. Looking for a heart-wrenching epic? Comedian Mary Beth Barone has a suggestion that sent her to therapy. Antsy to impress your Letterboxd crush? The app’s co-founder gets real about what’s in his top four. Craving a sense of childlike wonder? Actor Natalia Dyer picks the best Miyazaki films to satisfy the urge. Scroll down for the full watchlist.
Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. Image courtesy of Mubi.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Watch On: HBO Max, Mubi
“During a moment of extreme writer’s block and probably depression, I would watch the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire every single day. This went on for an entire winter, and I am not exaggerating. Tennessee Williams’s language is always like a sauna for me—I feel so purified and energized and never want to leave. Also, what’s captured of Marlon Brando on the screen in that film is just wild.” – Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, playwright
A holy trinity from Fellini: Nights of Cabiria (1957), La Dolce Vita (1960), 8½ (1963)
Watch On: Nights of Cabiria: Apple TV, Amazon Prime; La Dolce Vita: Apple TV; 8½: HBO Max, Tubi, Pluto TV, YouTube
“I often refer to the wisdom of Fellini. He made three films in succession that, taken together, express a coherent philosophy for an authentic life practice:
(1) Have the courage to have your heart broken repeatedly. From Nights of Cabiria.
(2) Create enough quiet that you can hear your inner voice. From La Dolce Vita.
(3) Avoid respectability. La Dolce Vita.
(4) Don’t put exchange value on your self. La Dolce Vita.
(5) The means and the end are one and the same. From 8½.” – Carol Bove, artist
Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie (2026)
Watch On: Hulu
“Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie. I came in cold to these characters and their perennial quest to play a gig at the Rivoli. On its surface the film is hilarious, and only funnier if you’re a Toronto native, I expect. Discovering later on how they pulled off the time travel scenes really tickled that part of me that loves learning how this stuff gets made.” – Matthew Buchanan, Letterboxd founder
A holy trinity from Miyazaki: Nausicaä (1984), Spirited Away (2001), and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
Watch On: HBO Max
“Miyazaki films like Nausicaä, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle were seminal to me and my imagination growing up.” – Natalia Dyer, actor
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Watch On: YouTube
“Barry Lyndon is my favorite movie by my favorite director [Stanley Kubrick]. I throw it on whenever I need to see something beautiful. When that movie came out, it was original and controversial. In The New Yorker, Pauline Kael ripped it as ‘a coffee-table movie,’ but it’s such an ambitious and complete vision (much of the film was filmed by candlelight with lenses from NASA). I can’t help but find it inspiring.” – Mark Guiducci, Vanity Fair editor-in-chief
Hairspray (1988)
Watch On: Amazon Prime
“John Waters‘s Hairspray, 1988, got me through many moments in my life.” – Ebony L. Haynes, senior director and global head of curatorial affairs at Marian Goodman Gallery
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Watch On: Apple TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube
“One [answer] is tough. It’s like when someone asks what’s my favorite movie or what’s my favorite color. I’m not 6 anymore. I don’t just have one, I like a lot of them now. That said… Brokeback Mountain.” – Robby Hoffman, comedian
To Sir, with Love (1967)
Watch On: Apple TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube
“To Sir, with Love. I turned to Sidney Poitier’s character as I made my way through academia and the challenges of being the only one in the room.” – Walter Hood, landscape designer and founder
The Holdovers (2023)
Watch On: Peacock, Fandango
“A couple of years ago, I was going through a pretty rough heartbreak, and I found myself watching a lot of my comfort movies again. One of those was The Holdovers. It’s something I go to in order to take my mind off things in the best way possible.” – Wisdom Kaye, fashion influencer
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Watch On: Apple TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube
“Do the Right Thing. It raises the important question: What is it to do the right thing? But I do believe there is a right and a wrong, and we should push towards trying to always do the right thing.” – Lyas, fashion influencer
“Do the Right Thing. It got me through a moment of adolescence when I was trying to understand what the world could be for a young boy against an urban backdrop.” – Rashid Johnson, artist
Ratatouille (2007)
Watch On: Disney+
“Ratatouille? ‘Anyone can cook’ is a perfect mantra, no matter the context. My impostor syndrome hears it and bolts.” – Havana Rose Liu, actor
A Mighty Wind (2003)
Watch On: Apple TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube
“Christopher Guest’s A Mighty Wind. I was in my peak puberty awkward years (imagine the worst-case scenario, then multiply that by five), and I would come home every day, turn on A Mighty Wind, and laugh my ass off. It’s a masterpiece.” – Owen Thiele, actor
Barton Fink (1991)
Watch On: Mubi
“The Coen brothers’ Barton Fink is a film I’ve watched many times that I find oddly comforting as a writer. It’s a brilliant screenplay about, among many other things, someone who is struggling to write a screenplay. I like to watch it when I’m really having a hard time getting words on the page.” – Rachel Reid, author
Le Sauvage (1975)
Watch On: Mubi
“Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s 1975 film Le Sauvage. It’s a romantic comedy in which the sublime, lively, and amusing Catherine Deneuve falls in love with Yves Montand, a moody yet seductive perfumer. He portrays a solitary creator who has cut himself off from the world on his island to escape the Big Firm. This fast-paced, brilliant comedy, loved by many from my generation in France, was a revelation for me. This character of the perfumer, idealized and romanticized, has always fascinated me. I wanted to be him!” – Francis Kurkdjian, perfumer
Interstellar (2014)
Watch On: Amazon Prime, Paramount, YouTube
“When I was 25, I blew up my life in order to become a stand-up comedian. I was watching Interstellar every single day. It gave me a lot of comfort, and then after three months of doing that, I started therapy for the first time.” – Mary Beth Barone, comedian
The Last Emperor (1987)
Watch On: HBO Max, Mubi
“The Last Emperor, with its visual and historical richness, awakened my fascination for China and Asia, for craftsmanship and a certain sense of luxury. Those inspirations are woven into many of my creations today; they were the spark that started my passion for history, artistry, and culture.” – Yann Vasnier, perfumer
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Watch On: HBO Max
“The Wizard of Oz. Something about stepping into a completely new world and making it your own has always stuck with me—maybe that’s why I love reinvention so much. (And maybe why I insisted on dressing like Dorothy for an alarming amount of time as a kid.) I grew up addicted to early-2000s internet culture. I came up in the era of chaotic Tumblr fandoms, hyper-personal LiveJournal essays, and niche forums where people wrote with zero filter and maximum passion. That kind of raw, unpolished, emotional storytelling shaped the way I think about writing today. I love stories that feel personal—like they were made by a real person with a real perspective. I love writing that leaves me thinking about it the next day. And the days after.” – Willa Bennett, editor
13th (2016)
Watch On: Netflix
“Ava Duvernay’s film 13th certainly changed the trajectory of my life. It was the impetus for starting the Art for Justice Fund eight years ago. I am also a voracious reader and have at least three to four books on my nightstand on any given day.” – Agnes Gund, late art patron
La Grande Bouffe (1973)
Watch On: Mubi
“My thoughts turn to the greatest food film ever, La Grande Bouffe, the first meal in the film being a heavy-set roasting tray full of roast marrow bones. Marcello Mastroianni and Philippe Noiret and their companions go around sucking on the bones, and they’re still looking bonny! Not the liverish, bloated gentleman they become on their fatal culinary adventure. That was a ‘do you see the light’ kind of moment for me, a matter of weeks before St. John opened. I went to see this film and it became our signature dish!” – Fergus Henderson, chef
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Watch On: Apple TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube
“One of my favorite all-time movies is Natural Born Killers. Tarantino wrote the original screenplay but [Oliver] Stone reworked it. I loved the final product. I appreciate an antihero—a transgressive savior.” – Tschabalala Self, artist
The Kid (1921)
Watch On: HBO Max, Tubi
“Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid was the first film I ever saw in theaters. I had a strange hyperfixation on him throughout my childhood.” – Scarlett White, model
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