Britain has such a rich history of film. From the Star Wars movies shot on British soil in the ’70s to Ealing Studios re-inventing comedy on the big screen, Hammer Films scaring the world throughout the ’60s and ’70s and Ken Loach and Mike Leigh bringing kitchen sink realism to movies.
Skip to the 21st Century and British film is now tapping a rich, diverse, impactful vein that stands toe to toe with anything Hollywood can produce.
While Britain’s place on the world’s stage has been tarnished of late, thanks to some rather barmy political decision making, the following movies should give you a decent dose of British pride – and there isn’t a Union Jack suit in sight…
The best British movies
Parts of Paddington 2 feel like a tourist’s guide to the UK. We get to see iconic parts of London, a slice of Somerset and even a bit of Dublin. It’s also the rare case of a sequel to a critically-celebrated movie that’s probably even better than the original.
Sure, Dunkirk itself may be in France, but stories don’t reach deeper into the British cultural spirit than this. It’s the tale of the evacuation of British forces from French beaches in 1940 during World War II. Dunkirk might be Christopher Nolan’s best film, and is certainly his most economical blockbuster, runtime-wise.
Britain’s monarchical past is full of strange characters. The murderous, the gluttonous, those driven mad by syphilis. The Favourite leans hard into the weird side of British royalty. Olivia Colman is Queen Anne, an unhinged and volatile monarch. A real figure, but sent way off-kilter by director Yorgos Lanthimos.
Best watched with its sequel, The Souvenir is a coming-of-age drama that is directed with perfection by Joanna Hogg. The focus is on film student Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) who is living in Knightsbridge thanks to the wealth of her parents. She becomes romantically attached to Anthony (Tom Burke), a man who is brash and packed with put downs about Julie’s chosen career path and life. It’s a tale of class and clashes, artistry and self examination and is a modern masterpiece.
Charlotte Wells’ debut is a movie about memories and how life is seen in different ways by those who were together experiencing it. The crux of the story is a holiday in Turkey, taken by 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) and her divorced father Calum (Paul Mescal). Her innocence on this trip is countered by his mental decline and Sophie looks back on the holiday years later, trying to piece together a story that she didn’t quite understand at the time.
6. I, Daniel Blake (2016)
Ken Loach’s announcement that he is retiring from filmmaking is a shame but he can hold his head up high thanks to his later works. I, Daniel Blake is a superb, angry movie about someone trying to take on bureaucracy just so they can get the benefit relief they deserve. It’s Kafka-esque how he – and others – are falling between the cracks of a system that strips people of their identity.
7. God’s Own Country (2017)
Francis Lee is a stunning filmmaker with God’s Own Country and Ammonite to his name. It’s the first film that is the focus here, a stunning portrayal of love set in the Yorkshire countryside. Johnny (Josh O’Connor) is a sheep farmer content with his life of work, drinking and casual sex. Things take a turn though when a Romanian migrant worker comes to work on his farm during lambing season. It’s a brilliant, bucolic love story that has more than a hint of Brokeback Mountain in its theme.
8. You Were Never Really Here (2017)
New York may be the setting but this UK funded film was directed by Scottish film director Lynne Ramsay. This is a bleak, despairing movie that has an utterly mesmerising dual performance by Joaquin Phoenix and Ekaterina Samsonov, as the hired gun and an abducted girl he saves. You Were Never Really Here is 90 minutes of pure tension, going toe to toe with Taxi Driver in its portrayal of an anti-hero who is trying to find light in a dark world.
Paul Thomas Anderson may be American but there’s an undeniable British core to Phantom Thread. At one point Daniel Day Lewis Reynolds Woodcock sits in a quiet Whitby hotel, the window looking out onto the bay. It’s an iconic picture of quaint Britishness that’s the heart of a movie centred around a dressmaker who is otherwise often cold and controlling. One of PTA’s best.
Lots of movies were made during Covid lockdowns, but none encapsulate that era better than Host, a horror film made over Zoom by British director Rob Savage. It’s absolutely terrifying. It’s less than an hour long. And it centres around a completely believable group of British mates.
