Films That Could Change Your Life

Mark Twain joked, “Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” Come January, many of us decide we want to change our lives. Whether we do or not, only time will tell. But to get you in the mood, we’ve gathered a few films to inspire your resolve.

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris

In Anthony Fabian’s Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Lesley Manville plays the title character, a London charwoman who is so inspired by a Dior gown she sees in a client’s apartment that she makes it her life goal to own one. After scrimping and saving to afford to travel to Paris to buy one, she has to battle the French fashion elite to prove that she deserves to wear it. Her quest is less about looking good than letting your goodness shine through you. Screen Daily writes, “Lit from within by the sunny disposition of its main character, Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris is a lovely, modest ode to kindness, anchored by Lesley Manville’s considered performance as a housekeeper who is tired of feeling invisible.” Let your inner Mrs. Harris guide you with grace and dignity to reach your goals.

Watch Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris now on Apple TV or Amazon!

Piece By Piece

Piece By Piece, Morgan Neville’s LEGO animation documentary not only captures the rise and success of the musical superstar, Pharrell Williams but also his own realization of what matters to him as a musician and man. Collider writes, “It’s a film that’s serious about play, and humble about the need for joy.” For Williams, telling his life story through LEGOs is a metaphor for one’s ability to change their life. “LEGO is all about building something brick by brick, piece by piece, and that’s exactly how I built my career,” Williams tells Essence. “It’s a reminder that anyone, from anywhere, can create their own path if they stay curious and open to their individuality.”\

Watch Piece By Piece now!

Touch

In Baltasar Kormákur’s Touch, an older man’s desire to locate a lover from 50 years ago takes him on an eye-opening journey across time and continents. As Kristofer (Egil Ólafsson) leaves Iceland for England, he remembers how his younger self (Pálmi Kormákur) fell in love with Miko (Kôki Kimura)—the woman he is now trying to locate—in London years ago. Towards the end of his life and at the onset of a global pandemic, the older Kristofer may not be able to alter the past but he can still change his future. Variety writes, “This is a uniquely powerful, humane film about people…choosing courage and love to overcome grief. And there’s nothing more touching than seeing that in action.”

Watch Touch now!

The Holdovers

Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers offers a hilarious lesson on how anyone can help change the lives of others. Three loners—a curmudgeonly classics teacher (Paul Giamatti), an alienated student (Dominic Sessa), and a cook grieving a son who recently died in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph)—find themselves forced to spend the holiday season together in a nearly empty New England prep school. As this unlikely and impromptu family connects, they discover how much they can change. “There are surprises to be found in The Holdovers, but they come from the characters, not the story—from the ways each of the three main figures reveals new depths and confounds expectations,” writes New York Magazine.

Watch The Holdovers now!