The 7 Best Movies New to Netflix in November 2019

7. “The King” (2019)

A large-budget, medieval war movie loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Henriad” and the historical events that inspired those plays, David Michôd’s “The King” is so eager to be a mud-and-guts epic about inherited violence and the corruption of power that it sometimes loses sight of the rich coming-of-age story at its core. But that only feels like such a loss because that core is composed of Timothée Chalamet as a soft prince who would rather sleep in his bed than sit on the throne, and Robert Pattinson as a hilariously sociopathic dauphin who looks like Klaus Kinski and talks like a castrated Pepé Le Pew. It’s a shame the movie doesn’t take full advantage of such a stacked deck, but Michôd excels whenever he brings the camera low to the ground, following the ever-eager Chalamet through an absolute shitstorm of sopping-wet Earth as Hal crawls toward his father’s dream. Few actors seem to want it worse than Chalamet, and the power of “The King” radiates from that powerful desire to go to hell and back in order to get the job done.

Available to stream November 1.

6. “I Lost my Body” (2019)

Jérémy Clapin’s debut feature is a French animated film about a disembodied hand that escapes from a Paris laboratory and skitters across the City of Lights in search of the body to which it once belonged. That may not sound like it has the makings of a tender and poetic love story about the forces that keep us together, but the ever-dexterous “I Lost My Body” has a funny way of keeping you on your toes (or fingers, for that matter). Accessible, moving, and filled with adventure, this is the kind of left-field delight that reinforces what animation can do, and the audience for whom it can do it. And while “I Lost My Body” isn’t especially heavy on dialogue, Netflix is bringing it to the States with a fetching new voice cast that includes Dev Patel and Alia Shawkat. If you’re looking for a more adult alternative to “Frozen 2,” consider it found. 

Available to stream November 29

5. “The Game” (1997)

One of the more daring cinematic feints this side of “F for Fake,” David Fincher’s “The Game” is more satisfying as an idea than it is as a movie, but it sure is one hell of an idea. 

There are a few different reasons why “The Game” has seen its stock go skyward over the last decade or so. For one thing, minor works by major filmmakers tend to appreciate in value over time, especially when they’re as clever and slippery as this. For another, the raw simplicity of the premise — a rich, lonely man played by Michael Douglas is gifted an all-consuming ARG by his impish Sean Penn of a brother — allows it to function as something of a hyper-elaborate Rorschach Test. If you want, you can think of the movie as a more grounded precursor to “The Matrix,” a stress test for reality at a time when pop culture was really starting to push back against the runaway train capitalism of the ’90s. You can think of it as a story about the illusory nature of control, and how letting go (or jumping off) can be the most liberating thing someone can do. Or, if you want to be literal about it, you can think of it as a reminder that real life itself is a game, one played by rules that are made to be broken. Fincher has designed this rewarding thriller so that it works both ways.

Available to stream November 1

4. “Atlantics” (2019)

A vengeful ghost story about the human costs of modernization, “Atlantics” — the beguiling debut feature from Claire Denis protege (and Djibril Diop Mambéty niece) Mati Diop —  finds its considerable strength as a warning shot to a Senegal that’s willing to bury its poor beneath the future they’re building for the rich. The elliptical story is set in a suburb of Dakar, where a young construction worker named Souleiman grows frustrated about not being paid for his labor, and sets sail for a brighter tomorrow aboard an ill-fated raft. The world grows feverish for Souleiman’s girlfriend (Mame Bineta Sane), who finds herself haunted by her dead lover’s return from the moment she’s betrothed to another man. 

“Atlantics” paints a world in which old and new — past and present — are living on top of each other; a world in which uniquely cinematic expressions of memory become the heroes’ best hope against being forgotten. The first movie by a black woman to ever screen in Competition at Cannes, Diop’s film an evocative illustration of cinema as a growing source of cultural memory, and a powerful, articulate declaration of intent from a vital new voice. 

Available to stream November 29

3. “Step Brothers” (2008)

“Did we just become best friends?”

“Yep!”

[Hall & Oates’ “You Make my Dreams Come True” begins to play over the soundtrack, and a cinematic masterpiece is forged before your eyes.]

Available to stream November 1

2. “The Matrix” (1999)

Back on Netflix for the first time since “The Matrix 4” was announced, as steadily grown from an unexpected hit, to a forward-thinking display of special effects, to the epochal masterpiece that it’s considered today. While the film is iconic for its transgressive style and visionary sci-fi spectacle — only the Wachowskis had the wherewithal to imagine how skin-tight leather and balletic kung-fu could be natural bedfellows — it’s probably most revered for how it bridged the gap between centuries, using bullet-time to shoot the world into a future ruled by the same technology that seemed poised to liberate it.

Available to stream November 1

1. “The Irishman” (2019)

The biggest original movie that Netflix has ever released (both in terms of budget and cinematic heft), Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” is a three-and-a-half-hour, $200 million gamble that leans on unproven de-aging technology that no other studio had the chutzpah to pay for in 2019. According to IndieWire’s Eric Kohn, who hailed the epic as “Scorsese’s best crime movie since ‘Goodfellas,’” that gamble has paid off — at least for Netflix’s subscribers.

“The Irishman” follows Philadelphia hit man Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) across the back half of the 20th century, as he matter-of-factly walks us through his glory days as a hired gun who found himself caught between Sicilian mafioso Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and corrupt union overlord Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Kohn writes that the film is “at once taut and funny, the essence of Scorsese’s ability to humanize the mob as prickly macho men just a few notes shy of lovable. In that fundamental disconnect — between endearing people and the psychotic world they represent — the movie presents a fascinating onramp to America’s obsession with organized crime… Forget that it’s a touch too long and the much-ballyhooed de-aging technology doesn’t always cast a perfect spell; the movie zips along at such a satisfying clip that its flaws rarely amount to more than mild speed bumps along the way.” 

Available to stream November 27.