Movies that can be seen on October 23

October 23, 2026 arrives with a billboard that combines independent cinema, family drama, documentary memory and proposals available in streaming: Fliesby Fernando Eimbcke; Blue Heronby Sophy Romvari; Kakeruby Hirokazu Kore-eda; the documentary 200 lives. Paco Rabal, by Vanesa Benítez; Play with fireby Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, on Movistar+; and Drive Back Homeby Michael Clowater, on Amazon Prime.

Flies (Fernando Eimbcke, 2026)

Very heartfelt melodrama in black and white that, instead of creating distance, brings the camera closer to a child and his father who rent a room near the hospital where the mother and wife are admitted. They stay at Olga's house, a dull woman who soon changes her attitude. The director opts for a non-linear, although very eloquent, dramatic structure, moving from one character to another. The portrait of the boy, with his video game fantasies, is very believable. A stimulating work of always valuable independent Mexican cinema.

Blue Heron (Sophy Romvari, 2025)

A couple of Hungarian emigrants in Canada, with a teenager and three younger children, see their daily life becoming more and more restless because of their son at the age of turkey. Not many things happen or very serious, but everything seems to be shaky and uncertainties blind the family's future; Perhaps the integration of the parents—they speak Hungarian among themselves—and the children, who speak English, does not have the same rhythm or the same emotional conditions. A small piece, the debut of a filmmaker who has probably captured personal experiences.

Kakeru (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2026)

The Cannes chronicles spoke of “minor work” when reporting on this piece by my admired Kore-eda; But we already know that a minor work by a great master has its magnitude. Indeed, the script seems hesitant at times in this fable about a mother who, having lost her son, takes on a similar-looking humanoid to pour all her tenderness into him and overcome her grief. But the robot has its own plans and, like biological children, demands its emancipation from parents, who are always overprotective. A film full of suggestions: at times I thought about the punishment of the gods who grant us our wishes, that architect mother who makes models to build a world to suit her was suggestive, although her son prefers the top of a tree for a home, the child machines end up supporting real children… Quite recommendable.

200 lives. Paco Rabal (Vanesa Benítez, 2026)

It contrasts the remarkable material from the family archive (photos, recordings of conversations, Super 8 pieces, notebooks… most of them blurry and grainy images with the flavor of the authentic) with the brief inclusion of film fragments, which brings this documentary to a balance between the personal and the professional. Also valuable are the testimonies of other people about the figure of Paco Rabal, who in this centenary has taken on the magnitude of a myth.

Play with fire (Delphine Coulin y Muriel Coulin, 2024) (Movistar+)

Powerful family melodrama starring Vincent Lyndon that deals with the crisis experienced by a family made up of the father and two children – the mother died of cancer some time ago – with them in the last years of high school. The oldest of them comes into contact with extreme right-wing groups and becomes more violent and intolerant while the youngest manages to be admitted to the Sorbonne University. The film is a little predictable at first, but then it gains more strength, especially because instead of presenting the didactics of how far-right groups are formed, what it does is present the point of view of that father who has been a rank-and-file metalworker, has participated in unions and now sees his son thrown into the arms of the ultras. Communication with that son is broken and the father feels that his family is destroyed. Quite convincing, a serious drama that is worth your time.

Drive Back Home (Michael Clowater, 2024) (Amazon Prime)

Half a century ago, homosexuality was criminalized and socially stigmatized, so that homosexual people suffered marginalization and all kinds of attacks from their families. This is what a true story set in Canada talks about, with the journey of transformation that a provincial plumber experiences when he has to go to Toronto to rescue his brother, imprisoned in a police station. Well shot and performed, an interesting piece that recalls intolerance towards “others”, perhaps not very different from the current one towards poor African or Asian immigrants.

Premieres October 23, 2026