The top 10 narrative films of 2026… so far!
Today we are closing out our midyear check-in series with our most watched narrative films.
Where the US list trends toward true stories and quiet character studies with The Life of Chuck, H Is for Hawk, The Luckiest Man in America —Canada and Australia/New Zealand lean into literary adaptation and classic drama, with titles like Howards End, The Importance of Being Earnest, and That They May Face the Rising Sun drawing on acclaimed novels and stage works.
Below, the top 10 most-watched narrative films in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and Canada.
United States
The Life of Chuck
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From the hearts and minds of Stephen King and Mike Flanagan comes The Life of Chuck, the extraordinary story of an ordinary man. This unforgettable, genre-bending tale celebrates the life of Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz as he experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.
The Worst Person in the World
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Set in contemporary Oslo, this sharp romantic comedy follows Julie (Cannes Best Actress winner Renate Reinsve), a witty and impulsive woman in her thirties, as she ricochets between careers, lovers, and existential doubts. Torn between the stable, older Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) and the free-spirited Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), she stumbles through a whirlwind of breakups, hookups, and self-reinvention. With bursts of surreal humor and emotional honesty, her search for meaning becomes both chaotic and painfully relatable. Nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay at the 94th Academy Awards.
Jane Austen’s Period Drama
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In the middle of a long-awaited marriage proposal, Miss Estrogenia Talbot gets her period.
Ex-Husbands
Manhattan dentist Peter Pearce (Griffin Dunne) is facing a midlife crisis after his wife of 35 years (Rosanna Arquette) leaves him. On the spur of the moment, he books a trip to Tulum, Mexico, only to crash his son’s bachelor party. A warmhearted comedy drama co-starring Richard Benjamin, James Norton, and Miles Heizer.
H Is For Hawk
H is for Hawk follows Helen (Claire Foy), who, after the sudden death of her father (Brendan Gleeson), loses herself in the memories of their time birding and exploring the natural world together and turns to the ancient art of falconry–rooted in European tradition–by training a wild goshawk named Mabel to navigate her profound loss. As she teaches Mabel to hunt and fly free, Helen discovers how deeply she has neglected her own emotions and life. What begins as an act of endurance transforms into an intimate journey of resilience and healing. Based on the award winning memoir by naturalist Helen MacDonald.
You’re Dating a Narcissist!
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When a psychology professor (Marisa Tomei) with a knack for spotting narcissists discovers her daughter is marrying a man she just met, she flies cross-country to prove he’s a fraud.
Sorry To Bother You
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In a surreal dark comedy with science fiction edge, telemarketer Cassius “Cash” Green (LaKeith Stanfield) discovers a magical “white voice” that propels him into corporate stardom, straining his relationship with artist girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson) and drawing him deeper into the orbit of ruthless CEO Steve Lift (Armie Hammer). Marking the directorial debut of musician Boots Riley, co-founder of The Coup, the film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.
An Irish Goodbye
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Winner of Best Live Action Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards. On a farm in rural Northern Ireland, estranged brothers Turlough and Lorcan are forced to reunite following the untimely death of their mother. But when the pair discover an unfulfilled bucket list belonging to their late mum, their pained reunion takes an altogether different course.
The Luckiest Man in America
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Based on a true story, The Luckiest Man in America is set in May 1984, when an unemployed ice cream truck driver from Ohio (Paul Walter Hauser) steps onto the game show Press Your Luck harboring a big secret: the key to endless amounts of money. His winning streak is threatened when the bewildered executives in the control room start to uncover his real motivations.
The Return
After 20 years away, Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The King has returned from the Trojan War, but much has changed in his kingdom. His beloved wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is a prisoner in her own home, hounded by suitors vying to be king. Their son Telemachus faces death at the hands of these suitors, who see him as merely an obstacle to their pursuit of the kingdom. Odysseus has also changed–scarred by his experience of the Trojan War, he is no longer the mighty warrior from years past– but he must rediscover his strength in order to win back all he has lost.
Australia & New Zealand
Nuremberg
A WWII psychiatrist evaluates Nazi leaders before the Nuremberg trials, growing increasingly obsessed with understanding evil as he forms a disturbing bond with Hermann Goring.
Memory
Sylvia is a woman living with trauma whose carefully structured life is disrupted when she forms an unexpected connection with Saul, a man living with early-onset dementia, in this tender and compassionate drama about memory, love and human connection.
Secrets & Lies
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When her adoptive mother dies, Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a 27-year-old Black woman, sets out to find her birth mother and is stunned to discover that Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), a white working-class woman, is her biological mother. Cynthia, who lives with her sharp-tongued 20-year-old daughter Roxanne (Claire Rushbrook), is thrown into emotional turmoil by Hortense’s unexpected arrival.
Klute
When small-town police detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) comes to New York to investigate the disappearance of his best friend, his only lead is a letter to prostitute Bree Daniels (Fonda). As these two very different people discover a romantic attraction to each other, Klute realizes Daniels is the murderer’s real target.
An Irish Goodbye
Watch An Irish Goodbye on Kanopy
Winner of Best Live Action Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards. On a farm in rural Northern Ireland, estranged brothers Turlough and Lorcan are forced to reunite following the untimely death of their mother. But when the pair discover an unfulfilled bucket list belonging to their late mum, their pained reunion takes an altogether different course.
The Penguin Lessons
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The Penguin Lessons on Kanopy follows a disillusioned Englishman (Steve Coogan) who accepts a job at a prestigious Argentine boarding school in 1976. Expecting an easy ride, he discovers a divided nation and a class of unruly students. But when he rescues a penguin from an oil-slicked beach, an unexpected bond forms–one that will transform his life in ways he never imagined.
Cashback
After a painful breakup, Ben develops insomnia. To kill time, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket, where his artistic imagination runs wild.
Howards End
Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters’ lives are connected to the ownership of Howards End, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman’s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society’s moribund conformist values. Winner of three Oscars including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Emma Thompson). Winner of a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA for Best Actress as well as a BAFTA for Best Film. Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Last Showgirl
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After 30 years as the face of a Las Vegas floor show, Shelly (Pamela Anderson) and her co-workers face an uncertain future when their stage manager reveals that their act has been cancelled. Supported by her brazen best friend, and with her career and identity on the line, Shelly must figure out what comes next–a daunting task when she is in her 50s, and the show has been her whole world. Feeling vulnerable, she tries to take control of her life and repair the relationship with her estranged daughter, who took a backseat to her showgirl family.
Memoir of a Snail
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Grace Pudel is a lonely misfit with an affinity for collecting ornamental snails and an intense love for books. At a young age, when Grace is separated from her fire-breathing twin brother Gilbert, she falls into a spiral of anxiety and angst. Despite a continued series of hardships, inspiration and hope emerge when she strikes up an enduring friendship with an elderly eccentric woman named Pinky, who is full of grit and lust for life. From Academy Award(r)-winning animation writer and director Adam Elliot, Memoir of a Snail is a poignant, heartfelt and hilarious chronicle of the life of an outsider finding her confidence and silver linings amongst the clutter of everyday life.
Canada
Stash Short Film Festival: Comedy
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Spanning a spectrum of filmmaking styles, tones, and techniques, these seven films all have one goal common: to lighten your day with humor. From whimsical and ridiculous to dry and ironic, you’ll find the hit of comedy you need in this collection from the editors of Stash Magazine.
Ex-Husbands
Manhattan dentist Peter Pearce (Griffin Dunne) is facing a midlife crisis after his wife of 35 years (Rosanna Arquette) leaves him. On the spur of the moment, he books a trip to Tulum, Mexico, only to crash his son’s bachelor party. A warmhearted comedy drama co-starring Richard Benjamin, James Norton, and Miles Heizer.
The Bookshop
England, 1959. Free-spirited widow Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) risks everything to open a bookshop in a conservative East Anglian coastal town. While bringing about a surprising cultural awakening through works by Ray Bradbury and Vladimir Nabokov, she earns the polite but ruthless opposition of a local grand dame (Patricia Clarkson) and the support and affection of a reclusive book loving widower (Bill Nighy). As Florence’s obstacles amass and bear suspicious signs of a local power struggle, she is forced to ask: is there a place for a bookshop in a town that may not want one? Based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s acclaimed novel and directed by Isabel Coixet (Learning to Drive), The Bookshop is an elegant yet incisive rendering of personal resolve, tested in the battle for the soul of a community.
Jane Austen’s Period Drama
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In the middle of a long-awaited marriage proposal, Miss Estrogenia Talbot gets her period.
The Phone Call
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This Oscar-award winning short film follows Heather (Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water, Blue Jasmine), a shy lady who works at a helpline call center. When she receives a phone call from a mystery man she has no idea that the encounter will change her life forever. Winner of Best Short Film, Live Action at the Academy Awards. Winner of Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Film Festival. “The Phone Call tells a wrenching story of loss and depression that somehow by the end is so uplifting you’ll wonder how it can do in 20 minutes what some full length features can’t in two hours.” – Casey Cipriani, IndieWire “20 minutes of pitch perfect, wrenching cinema.” – Sharan Shetty, Slate
That They May Face the Rising Sun
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Based on internationally acclaimed Irish author John McGahern’s award winning novel of the same name, That They May Face the Rising Sun is a vivid evocation of nature, humanity and life itself, set in a 1980’s rural community in Ireland. Joe and Kate Ruttledge have returned from London to live and work among the small, close-knit community near to where Joe grew up. Now deeply embedded in life around the lake, the drama of a year in their lives and those of the memorable characters around them unfolds through the rituals of work, play and the passing seasons as this enclosed world becomes an everywhere.
Match Point
When a former tennis pro marries into London’s elite, he seems set for a life of comfort and success–until a dangerous affair with his brother-in-law’s fiancee threatens to unravel everything.
The Summer Book
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Nine-year-old Sophia (Emily Matthews) spends the summers at her family’s seasonal home on a tranquil isle in the Gulf of Finland, but this will be the first summer without her mother. Her father (Anders Danielsen Lie) remains numbed by grief, while her grandmother (Glenn Close) guides her on a giddy, winding path towards young adulthood. With a sense of infinite possibility and a tender regard for the wonders of the natural world, Sophia and her grandmother explore the terrain, celebrate midsommar, and test the limits of faith in the face of life’s many storms. Adapted from Tove Jansson’s beloved novel, The Summer Book is a delicate account of growing up and growing old, beautifully filmed on 16mm in majestic natural light.
The Importance of Being Earnest
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Set in 1890s England, two charming bachelors secretly live under the invented name Ernest, with Jack (Colin Firth) and his friend Algy (Rupert Everett) using their duplicity to escape social obligations. Their schemes collide when they fall in love with women devoted to the name Ernest, Gwendolen (Frances O’Connor) and Cecily (Reese Witherspoon), provoking escalating misunderstandings and the stern intervention of Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench) in this classic comedy of mistaken identity.
The Shrouds
Karsh, 50, is a prominent businessman. Inconsolable since the death of his wife, he invents GraveTech, revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living to communicate with their dear departed in their shrouds. One night, multiple graves, including that of Karsh’s wife, are desecrated. Karsh sets out to track down the perpetrators.
That’s a wrap on our midyear check-in series. Thanks for following along as we looked back at what’s resonated with Kanopy audiences across documentaries, TV series, world cinema, Kanopy Kids content, and narrative films so far this year!
For our US and Canadian patrons, Labor Day weekend is right around the corner, which offers a perfect excuse to work through this list, or revisit any of the titles from our earlier midyear reaps.