Hi! I'm Beth, a producer on the NPR Culture desk. For the last few weeks we've been cooking up a little movie project in the lead up to the Oscars: We asked you, our NPR audience, to share your suggestions for what to watch after you've watched the best picture nominees. Your responses were thoughtful, funny, full of creative connections — and occasionally out of left field (in the best way!) We're highlighting a few of your recommendations below.
Clockwise from top left: Sinners, The Secret Agent, F1 and One Battle After Another. Warner Bros. Pictures; NEON; Scott Garfield/Warner Bros. Pictures/Apple Original Films; Warner Bros. Pictures
If you loved Bugonia, try: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Directed by Dan Trachtenberg; starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr.
A woman awakes from a car crash in an underground bunker where a doomsday prepper claims the apocalypse has made the outside world uninhabitable. For those who liked the ambiguous science fiction elements of Bugonia, here is another abduction movie sure to have you guessing what is real and what is conspiracy. The small cast is incredible and John Goodman turns in a career defining performance that will make your skin crawl. – Tristan Olson, Olympia, Wa. More Bugonia recommendations
If you loved F1, try: Le Mans (1971) Directed by Lee H. Katzin; starring Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen stars as a grizzled vet who is competing in the 24 hour Le Mans race. So if you liked Brad Pitt doing this in 2025, I think you'll enjoy a star of a previous generation doing the same. Lots of great car scenes (and it's all practical effects!) – Victor Catano, New York, N.Y. More F1 recommendations
If you loved Frankenstein, try: The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920) Directed by Paul Wegener, Carl Boese; starring Paul Wegener, Albert Steinrück, Lyda Salmonova
The 1920 German Expressionist film The Golem directed by Paul Wegener is a nearly lost Weimar era classic. It takes the old Jewish folklore myth of the clay golem becoming a protector for the Jewish community of Prague and turns it into a horror film that served as stylistic inspiration for later Frankenstein films. With innovative special effects for the era, this beautiful film is a century old, but hey, Nosferatu made a comeback in the 21st century. – Sean Wempe, Bakersfield, Calif. More Frankenstein recommendations
If you loved Hamnet, try: Hamlet (1996) Directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Kenneth Branagh, Julie Christie, Derek Jacobi
Are you a 6-foot-2 inch, 225-pound former Marine? Did you spend two hours in the back of a theater trying to muffle your sobs only to finally let them go during the finale? Well me too. Go (re)watch Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. His ability to translate Shakespeare to film is unmatched. After watching Hamnet — and doing enough swearing about the Paul Mescal best actor snub (if Jessie Buckley loses best actress I swear I will throw my TV out of a window) — a reminder of how many meanings this endlessly fascinating play can have is a nice way to keep the Bard's spirit around. – Eric Forbes, San Francisco, Calif. More Hamnet recommendations
If you loved Marty Supreme, try: The Color of Money (1986) Directed by Martin Scorsese; starring Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
I believe the obvious next watch here is The Color of Money. These two ballsy movies are a perfect double feature when the theme is hustling! – Sarah Wright, Nantucket, Mass. More Marty Supreme recommendations
If you loved One Battle After Another, try: 120 battements par minute (2017) or 120 BPM Directed by Robin Campillo; starring Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel
This film explores the complex lives of AIDS activists in 1990s France. We see heart-pounding protests, squabbles among allies, mundane domestic moments, and euphoric celebrations before returning to the good fight. This and One Battle are both about survival, courage, struggle, and the unconditional love of chosen family. – Hannah Duff, Seattle, Wa. More One Battle After Another recommendations
If you loved The Secret Agent, try: I'm Still Here (2024) Directed by Walter Salles; starring Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, Fernanda Montenegro This recent film is also set during the dictator days in Brazil. It portrays the trauma of a husband and father who is disappeared by secret police and how the family survives, led by its formidable mother and wife. – Margaret Lacey, Tucson, Ariz. More The Secret Agent recommendations
If you loved Sentimental Value, try: Tár (2022) Directed by Todd Field; starring Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss
Starring Cate Blanchett as a renowned conductor, Táralso focuses on a singular talent and destructive urges in the pursuit of artistic greatness. – Robert Morris, Brookline, Mass. More Sentimental Value recommendations
If you loved Sinners, try: Fréwaka (2024) Directed by Aislinn Clarke; starring Bríd Ní Neachtain, Clare Monnelly, Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya
In this Irish folk horror film, a home care worker, Shoo, is assigned to stay with an elderly woman who's convinced she's under siege by malevolent fairies. Like Sinners, Fréwaka blends folk traditions and social commentary with horror. The social failures Shoo copes with (untreated mental health issues, religious abuse) are just as frightening as the supernatural forces. – Kerrin Smith, Baltimore, Md. More Sinners recommendations
If you loved Train Dreams, try: You Won't Be Alone (2022) Directed by Goran Stolevski; starring Sara Klimoska, Alice Englert, Carloto Cotta, Noomi Rapace, Anamaria Marinca
If you enjoy golden light and mountain vistas while being reminded that earlier times were no simpler, I recommend You Won't Be Alone by Goran Stolevski. A woman in a 19th century Macedonian village discovers adulthood holds both sensuous beauty and gruesome tragedy. – Kirsten Frobom, Copenhagen, Denmark More Train Dreams recommendations
As always, we love hearing from you, and we hope you'll come away from these pages with a to-watch list that will keep you busy until the March 15 ceremony and beyond. Happy Oscars!
I liked reading Harry Styles' conversation with author (and noted runner) Haruki Murakamithis week in Runner's World. They both circle around the ways that creativity is intangible and fleeting, and how the idea of being an "artist" comes with weight, but running is both very literal and very ordinary: you put one foot in front of the other. Harry says, "running is a conversation with myself," a line I found poetic and relatable and, interestingly, a lot like writing. — Editor Clare Lombardo
What's Making Us Happy
Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are:
Barrie Hardymon: The Throne of Glass book series, by Sarah J. Maas
