Best new films – quick links
Best new films
Hello World? – 25 August (MUBI)
Spotlight collection. Aimed at teenagers, students, and twenty-somethings, this collection of coming-of-age films speaks directly to the experiences of young audiences. Classic titles and new releases come together in a heartfelt exploration of transitional moments – the new chapters young people face, and the friendships that help shape who they become.
Includes: Gasoline Rainbow, All These Sleepless Nights,, Shiva Baby, Actual People, Tendaberry, Toxic.
The Last Sunrise – 26 August (Prime Video)
Film (2026). Based on the beloved novel, The Last Sunrise follows Ry (Maia Reficco), a college student with a chronic illness, on a summer escape to Mallorca with her mother (Eva Longoria).
As she unexpectedly falls for Julián (Fernando Lindez) and begins to embrace living in the moment, her worsening condition and long-hidden family secrets threaten to unravel everything before the summer ends.
Wear It Purple Day 2026 – 28 August (SBS On Demand)
Collection. A celebration of diversity, Wear It Purple Day raises awareness and empowers LGBTQIA+ young people in Australia.
Homebodies: Darcy (Luke Wiltshire) returns home to look after his estranged mother (Claudia
Karvan) and discovers her unusual housemate (Jazi Hall): the teenage ghost of his pre-transition
self. Darcy must face the past or risk losing himself completely.
What It Feels Like For A Girl: a wild, anarchic Y2K spin on a coming-of-age drama, inspired by the
acclaimed memoir of the same name by the award-winning writer and journalist Paris Lees.
New movies include:
• Janet Planet
• To Freely Flourish
• A Useful Ghost
• Dicks: The Musical
• Love Lies Bleeding
• We Were Dangerous
• The Swimmer
The Whisper Man – 28 August (Netflix)
Film (2026). When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
Starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan, Adam Scott and Hamish Linklater.
Recent best new films
Fuze – 21 August (Prime Video)
Film (2025). When a massive bomb discovery forces a citywide evacuation, bomb disposal commander Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) races to stop a catastrophic detonation – while, above ground, criminal mastermind Karalis (Theo James) and his brutal partner (Sam Worthington) use the lockdown to execute a precision bank heist.
Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Saffron Hocking and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
The Loneliness of Lizards – 21 August (MUBI)
Film (2025). Inês Nunes’s first feature is a subtle Portuguese-Spanish co-production that introduces a promising new voice in European independent cinema.
Hamnet – 22 August (Binge)
Film (2025). Jessie Buckley won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of grieving mother Agnes Hathaway in Hamnet. Also stars Paul Mescal.
From ScreenHub‘s review:
‘What’s in a name? the doomed Juliet asks Romeo in a little play by William Shakespeare you may have heard of?
‘Though a different fragment of that text appears in Chloé Zhao’s England-set Hamnet, which just closed the British Film Festival before opening nationally on 15 January, the idea of nominative determinism howls through this heartsore film like wind in the woods.
‘Adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s historical fiction of the same name, with the author as co-writer, Hamnet underlines that names matter. They tie us to our families, for better or worse, sometimes saddling us with fates beyond our control. All have layers of deeper meaning.
‘So there’s a chill in the air, as an opening intertitle announces that, during the 16th century, given names were often interchangeable.’ Read more …
Plainclothes – 15 August (HBO Max)
Film (2025). A police officer works undercover to lure and arrest men who display lewd behaviour in public restrooms. However, he soon finds himself torn between duty and desire when he develops a secret connection with one of his targets. Written and directed by Carmen Emmi.
Starring Tom Blyth, Russell Tovey and Maria Dizzia.
