Netflix’s Best New Movie Arrives With A Perfect 100% Critic Score

This article was published on 8/17 and republished on 8/19 and 8/20.

This is going to be one that slides under the radar, despite a perfect 100% score from critics, but Netflix has a new best movie at the moment, one that is not appearing on the top 10, likely given its subject matter and a lack of awareness about it.

That movie is Daughters, a documentary focused on the Date with Dad program, where daughters come to prison to see their fathers and it’s more than just a visitation, it’s a little party in an era when many prisons have stopped in-person visit altogether in favor of video or phone calls, at best.

Daughters was released on August 14, and has racked up 43 reviews, a lot more than some Netflix original movies get, and has maintained a Certified Fresh, perfect Rotten Tomatoes score.

This being not well-watched may have something to do with Netflix’s recommendation algorithm. It took about five scrolls on Netflix’s “New” section to find it, and of course Netflix doesn’t show critic scores, so there’s nothing to indicate how good it is. And I suppose most people’s recommendation algorithm does not circle to “documentaries about daughters visiting their fathers in prison.”

It’s not a purely feel-good story. The daughters often have complicated reactions to their fathers and the film does not shy away from that. While it’s a documentary, not a fun blockbuster to watch on the weekend, it very much seems worth watching. Right now, the full top 10 movie list, where Daughters has not been found after three days is:

1. The Union
2. The Emoji Movie
3. Night School
4. Trolls: Band Together
5. The Lorax
6. Saving Bikini Bottom
7. Pearl
8. Inside the Mind of a Dog
9. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
10. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

So yes, a lot more mainstream competition there, but maybe shining a light on Daughters like this may make it more watched. If it really is this good, we might expect even an Oscar nomination in the documentary category later this year, but we’ll see, it’s a bit early yet to know that. And yet with several dozen reviews in, we rarely see perfect scores like this.

When I get time this weekend or next week, I will definitely be giving it a watch based on the praise it’s getting, and even though Netflix does not appear to want to market it to me directly. Which is too bad, as it seems like it deserves better.

Update (8/19): Well, I thought I would swing by Netflix’s top 10 list and see if this movie has had its profile elevated at all. There is a new movie near the bottom of the list. It is not Daughters. It is Minion. Alas.

I have been reading up more on the film ahead of watchiing it, and there are some neat interviews with the co-directors Natalie Rae and Angela Patton. Here’s Rae after a showing at the August Academy in Beverly Hills:

“That screening was just so powerful,” said Rae. “It was five standing ovations and so much laughter and joy and energy. You’ve been working on the edit for three years off and on. So finally, being able to share it and feel the level of emotion, I was not prepared for it.”

Netflix bought the movie after it won the US Documentary Audience and Festival Favorite Awards at Sundance. And now they want it to be an Oscar contender when the time rolls around, which it certainly seems on track for. Here’s Rae again.

“This is a young girls’ story about the wisdom that these young girls had to know what they needed to say. ‘I want to have a dance with my father in this jail.’ It’s so profound. This was about their internal world, their experience, the power that they have to make change in the world.”

Daughters is streaming now.

Update 2 (8/20): I was curious so I went and tracked down a list of what the highest scored Netflix original movies of all time were, to see if anything else compared to the 100% we’re seeing from Daughters here which yes, a week later it still maintains with 50 reviews in (though no, it has not placed on the Top 10 list which is now almost entirely kids movies).

Turns out there is only one 100% Netflix original film according to a list that I think is 1.5 years out of date, but it’s still probably good enough. Here are the top scored Netflix original films so far:

1. Calibre – 95%
2. The Irishman – 95%
3. Tramps – 96%
4. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – 96%
5. Roma – 96%
6. Dolemite is My Name – 97%
7. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – 97%
8. The Forty Year-Old Version – 99%
9. Daughters – 100%
10. His House – 100%

Some really interesting stories on that list, but no doubt many films you haven’t heard of as they were smaller offerings. Others like The Irishman were hugely high profile, an expensive Martin Scorsese film that Netflix landed. Roma was a big Oscar film. But I was really surprised to see To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before on the list, an admittedly good teen romcom, but a 96%? No wonder it spawned an entire trilogy and spin-offs.

As for His House, yes, I have seen that one. It’s a horror film about a family haunted by their past, demons that live in the walls from their previous lives. It has a 100% with a stunning 127 reviews in, and you have no idea how hard it is to maintain a perfect score with that many reviews. Really impressive and obviously the 2020 film is worth a watch.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.