Woodlawn

Between everything competing for your attention, Woodlawn in Australia on Netflix and Foxtel Now, and in the US on Angel Studios is worth clearing space for. It knows exactly what kind of film it is from the opening scene, and never loses that thread. A 7/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. C. Thomas Howell sets the tone, and the rest of the cast matches it scene for scene. Start it on Netflix whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

Woodlawn arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. Woodlawn trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. Love and unity in a school torn by racism and hate in the 1970s. A gifted high school football player must learn to embrace his talent and his faith as he battles racial tensions on and off the field. C. Thomas Howell and Sean Astin lead a cast that treats the material with real seriousness. Woodlawn came out in 2015. The performances in Woodlawn do a lot of work in the silences between the dialogue. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

For anyone looking for storytelling that takes its characters seriously, Woodlawn delivers. It has built its own audience without needing a direct comparison. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. C. Thomas Howell's work here is the kind that gets referenced in career retrospectives. It makes everything else feel thin by comparison.

Woodlawn was released in 2015, directed by Andrew Erwin. The full 123-minute film is available to watch now. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.