EO

EO is currently streaming in Australia on Stan, and in the US on HBO Max Amazon Channel and Criterion Channel, and it earns its set pieces rather than just delivering them. It knows exactly what kind of film it is from the opening scene, and never loses that thread. With 427 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Sandra Drzymalska's performance is the throughline that holds the set pieces together. Start it on Stan whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

There is a reason EO keeps coming up in conversation. The set pieces are impressive, but it is the story underneath them that gives EO its staying power. The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence. Sandra Drzymalska and Isabelle Huppert lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2022. The geography of every set piece in EO is legible, which is rarer in the genre than it should be. There is real craft here, even in the moments that do not fully land.

EO is the kind of thing you put on to unwind and find yourself sitting forward twenty minutes in. If you have run out of similar titles to watch, this is a strong next pick. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Sandra Drzymalska is the obvious draw, but the supporting cast gives the action the context it needs to land. The action holds up because the character work underneath it never lets up.