The best movies on Netflix to learn about filmmaking

There are two ways to watch a film: let it carry you, or look at how it was made. This selection is for the second. These are titles usually found in the Netflix catalogue that teach something concrete about the craft.

Note: the catalogue changes by country and date. If one is missing, it is probably on another platform.

To understand cinematography

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón). Digital black and white, a camera almost always at eye level and slow lateral moves. It is a lesson in how framing decides who the audience looks at without needing a close-up.

The Irishman (Martin Scorsese). Beyond the digital de-ageing, it shows how light and colour can age or rejuvenate an entire scene.

To understand editing

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle). The cutting rhythm mirrors the musical rhythm. Watching the final sequence with the sound down teaches more about editing than many tutorials.

Society of the Snow (J. A. Bayona). How to sustain tension for two hours by managing information: what is shown, what is withheld and when.

To understand sound

Sound of Metal. It builds point of view through audio rather than image. It is the best argument for not treating sound as something fixed at the end.

To understand documentary

My Octopus Teacher. A reminder that a documentary needs a character and an arc, not just good images. The patience of the shoot — years of immersion — is what makes the story possible.

Icarus. It starts as a personal experiment and ends somewhere completely different. It teaches that in documentary the script is rewritten while shooting.

How to watch them if you work in audiovisual

• The first time, enjoy it without analysing.
• The second, mute the sound and look only at the framing.
• The third, listen without looking at the screen.

Separating the channels is the fastest way to understand what each one does. Almost always you discover that the emotion you remembered came from the sound.