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*This post was originally published in March.
It has been updated with more films my parents and I have enjoyed during quarantine.
Let me just say: #NotAllBoomers.
(Everyone complains about helicopter parents until its the Fall of Saigon.)
How should we fill the time?
Scene after scene of lovingly photographed French dishes!
Amy Adams is in it, too.
Its religious but nottooreligious the Christmas and Easter Christians of movies.
DirectorSean Bakerhas such a light touch that you dont see the sad stuff coming until its too late.
Watch it and think about what restaurant youll go to when this is all over.
(Thendonate to their staff.)
(A very20th Century Womentype of thing to happen.)
So lets replace it with another semiautobiographical A24 period piece about a rocky parent-child relationship in California.
You wont need tocall your mom shes sitting right next to you!
My parents enjoyed it!
The Station Agent(available to rent onAmazon)
The movie that madePeter Dinklagea star.
Late Night(available onAmazon)
A Sundance movie of a more recent vintage.
But if your parents have slightly different tastes, perhaps they will enjoy this twisty neo noir.
Its a big, loud love story between two of our biggest, loudest stars Cher and Nicolas Cage.
People do die in these movies, but overall theyre all pretty jolly.
The Shawshank Redemption(available to rent onAmazon)
The coziest movie ever made?
Its also 15 minutes longer thanThe Irishman, which is a further bonus.
If they win, no taxes for three years.
If they lose, they have to pay triplelagaan.
The Avengersof musical biopics.
A Little Chaos(available onNetflix)
This is a weird movie for me.
Its kind of like mySo Much Better!
The late Alan Rickman directed it and cast himself as Louis XIV!
The Duchess(available onAmazon)
More Kiera Knightley!
Anna Karenina(available onNetflix)
Even more Knightley!
This movie is theGodzilla vs. King Kongof performers who know their lanes.
A reminder that there are worse forms of government-mandated isolation.
The other half is a stuffy drawing-room drama where people debatewhether women do or do not belong in balloons.
Which half will your parents prefer?
Theres only one way to find out.
The British Corner
My mom loves British things so much, she married one.
So heres another selection of charming British films, non-costume-drama division.
Its the ultimate high-concept conceit, but Patels Everyman performance grounds it.
But on the bright side, maybe that means your parents havent seen it yet.
They play Born to Run all the way through at least twice.
and finds his heart torn between Alice Eve and Rebecca Hall.
And his buddies from home are played by James Corden and Dominic Cooper!
Anyway, your parents almost certainly have a crush onsomeonein this ensemble.
(Her fourth,The Souvenir, came out last spring.)
My friendLindsaycoined the term going Whole Hogg to describe watching them all.
I recommend you do it, but I dont recommend you do it without a break.
Now hes the only person who can ferret out a mole high in the ranks of British intelligence.
Not that anyone would watch movies instead of working!
But if you did, you would hit 5 p.m. very grateful for your own kind of family.
Argue with Mom and Dad over whether these gambits play fair with the audience.
Prisoners(available onHulu)
Another suggestion from the neighborhood Facebook group.
Denis Villeneuves Hollywood debut is an incredibly dark thriller about a child kidnapping.
I have met a surprising number of people who say this is their favorite movie ever.
The Usual Suspects(available onHulu)
Recommended by multiple neighbors.
My dad couldnt stop doing a Hardy voice (this time hes Welsh) for days afterward.
You will not forget the title, or the ending.
A special recommendation if your parents wereGame of Thronesfans its got Jaime LannisterandMelisandre in it.
Documentaries
Why let fiction have all the fun?
Despite the best of intentions, cultural frictions inevitably emerge but so do some deep international friendships.
The amazing thing is, it actually works.
And it looks absolutely fantastic.
Free Solo(available onHulu)
Another recent Oscar winner.
Climber Alex Honnold attempts to scale Yosemites El Cap cliff face without the aid of any safety equipment.
Your parents will be glad you are doing literally anything else with your life.
You cant even trust the archival photographs (some of them are Photoshopped).
But the concert footage is all real, and it slaps.
But if you want to take your parents on a journey into their youths, few movies are better.
