Best movies of the year so far: Project Hail Mary, Pillion, Marty Supreme and more

You would have heard all about Super Mario Bros 2, Toy Story 5 or The Devil Wears Prada 2.

Sometimes you wonder if you have to either a franchise movie or a horror made by a YouTuber to dominate the box office.

But this year has already thrown up a wide variety of big screen experiences from a range of different storytellers who want to make original movies.

So, here are the best movies so far released in Australia in 2026.

PROJECT HAIL MARY

Could anyone but Ryan Gosling pull off sharing the screen with nothing but a rock puppet? It was a role that required oodles of charisma, and Gosling is nothing if overflowing with charm.

Adapted from an Andy Weir book about a reluctant astronaut on a solo, potentially one-way, world-saving mission to the far reaches of the galaxy, Project Hail Mary surprised everyone by being that rare combination of undeniably crowd-pleasing and also brilliantly made.

It had heart and humour, pathos and a generosity of spirit that earnestly declared that we still had the capacity to work together for the betterment of all. Perhaps it was a message that resonated stronger this year because, oh, you know, various things in the world, but it hit with such a force that it’s emotional even now just to think about it.

NO OTHER CHOICE

A biting comedy-drama-satire from South Korean master filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Oldboy), No Other Choice went a little under the radar because it didn’t get as much awards attention as some of its non-English language compatriots.

Which is a shame because this film about our intrinsic and toxic relationships with our work identity is all sharp elbows. Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) is a middle-class father of two and life-long manager at a paper plant who is made redundant. Unable to find another position, he decides to kill off his competition, literally.

Through its main character, No Other Choice explores the extremes we go to maintain the façade of success and comfort, and asks how much of that is individual culpability and how much of that is a system designed to dehumanise the workers within.

PILLION

Can a BDSM comedy-drama, a “dom-com” if you will, be transgressive and tender at the same time? Absolutely, especially if it’s Pillion, which balances both tones as required.

From first-time director Harry Lighton and starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling, the film is about Colin, a young man in his 30s who is still coming of age and discovering his sexual desires and boundaries.

Colin meets the handsome and taciturn Ray, a dom, and the two men enter an agreement in which devoted Colin cooks and sleeps on the floor by the bed. The younger man is also introduced to a community of bikers in BDSM pairings.

Pillion is only shocking if you’re particularly sheltered, but it isn’t shy about kinks, and portrays them in a way that is imaginative but not cynically titillating.

MARTY SUPREME

Timothee Chalamet’s cosplaying of his Marty Supreme character turned half the internet against him, which also means that if nothing else, it was an effective marketing campaign.

Marty Mauser is not likeable and he’s not meant to be. He is the human equivalent of American exceptionalism, this unyielding faith that he is meant for greatness – in this case, as a ping-pong champion, and will stop at nothing to achieve it. Narcissistic? Probably.

Directed by Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme is a fast-moving, sometimes chaotic and deeply committed movie with a proper tour de force performance from Chalamet. Did he need to sledge opera and ballet? No. Is this a must-see? Yes.

THE SECRET AGENT

Kleber Mendonca Filho’s period drama is evocative in two ways, which work in tandem to bring about this wholly lived-in political thriller set during the Brazilian dictatorship in the 1970s.

The first is that its production design, costuming and score are so vibey for its 70s-era Brazil, and the cinematography even looks like it could’ve been filmed then. It looks amazing.

The other is that it is an incredibly politically potent story about an academic who is persecuted by the government because he stood up to a powerful industry figure who has been backed in by corrupt officials.

Historical memory is so important in how the past is depicted in modern culture, and The Secret Agent makes a strong case as to why.

HAMNET

Hamnet can be melodramatic and wrenching, but the difference between a film of this calibre versus, oh, say, a soap opera, is that big emotions here are carried by a tremendous performance from Oscar winner Jessie Buckley.

Chloe Zhao’s film is adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s book (O’Farrell co-wrote the screenplay with Zhao), an imagined story about Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare (also historically known as Anne Hathaway), who has been given agency and interiority in this tale about motherhood, loss, grief and love.

Hamnet is not going to vibe with everyone, but if you give yourself over to it, it does what so few films do, which is that you will actually feel something.

TUNER

When is a heist movie not a heist movie? When it’s Tuner, in which the actual thieving is more like a distraction than the main game, and yet this character-driven piece still has the intensity of a more conventional thriller.

The lead character is Niki, a young man with hyperacusis, which is an increased sensitivity to sound. He has perfect hearing – and works as a piano tuner – but can’t tolerate ambient and environment noise so has to wear earplugs and headphones.

While tuning a piano for a well-heeled client, he disrupts a robbery in progress, and more to get them heisters to stop than anything else, he cracks the safe open for them.

Leo Woodall has been building a profile over the past three or four years and this is the first project in which he’s really stepping into his moment.

THE SHEEP DETECTIVES

OK, this is super cute. Predictable, sure, but super cute.

It has a human cast including Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Molly Gordon, Nicholas Braun and Nicholas Galitzine, but the main attraction are the CGI sheep, voiced by the likes of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Regina Hall and Brett Goldstein.

This is not a movie about detectives solving mysteries about sheep, it’s about sheep playing detective to solve the death of their shepherd’s murder, like a cross between Babe and Agatha Christie.

Ultimately, it’s a warm-and-fuzzy that touches on memory, grief and coming to terms with mortality – that those we love won’t always be with us but how we remember them is how we keep them with us.

THE CHRISTOPHERS

A two-hander between Ian McKellan and Michaela Coel, Steven Soderbergh’s art caper, The Christophers, is a performance showcase between two actors bouncing off each other, and slowly finding that intimate spark between their characters.

McKellan plays a famous artist named Julian who is best known for a series of paintings from some decades ago called The Christophers, which were portraits of his then lover. There is a third, unfinished set of The Christophers in Julian’s studio that have languished there for years.

His ratbag children then hires Lori to pose as his assistant and secretly finish the artworks so that they could be “discovered” after Julian’s death.

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT

The first thing you should know about It Was Just an Accident is that it’s funny. Not in a Kevin James way but in a darkly comedic absurd way. It helps to know that because there’s a large swath of the audience that might be reticent to see it if they hear it’s an Iranian film and assume that it’s going to be heavy and therefore in the “too hard” basket.

Persecuted filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning movie does not recoil from the political reality of its setting, in fact, it’s a direct engagement with a world in which the authoritarian regime rules over everything. But it does it in such a refreshing and unexpected way.

The story follows that of a former political prisoner who chances upon someone he suspects was the guard who tortured him in this tale about justice, revenge and resolution.

BLUE MOON

When Ethan Hawke finally got his first lead actor Oscar nomination, of course it would be for a Richard Linklater film. The two have been close and prolific collaborators since they made Before Sunrise together more than three decades ago.

Blue Moon is a wonderful showcase for Hawke, who embodies Lorenz Hart, considered one of the great American songwriters of the 20th century (Blue Moon, My Funny Valentine), and for Linklater, who has a knack for intimate human portraits of people.

Set over one night, the Broadway premiere of Oklahoma! which was co-written by Hart’s former professional partner Richard Rodgers, Blue Moon is a study of an artist aware that his creative journey is nearing the end.

SEND HELP

Not the kind of movie you’d expect to find on a list like this, but, oh, man, it was entertaining and often unhinged, and the reason it works is because of a full throttle turn from Rachel McAdams, who elevates everything she is in.

Send Help is a horror thriller (not that horror-y, but can be gory) about an office worker named Linda Liddle, who is meek and overlooked at work, where her younger nepo baby boss Bradley (Dylan O’Brien) never credits her for her work.

When the two of them survive a plane crash and wash up ashore an abandoned island, the tables are turned and the pampered prince must rely on Linda, the secret Survivor queen, to stay alive.

It’s funny and dark, and there are few things more delightful than watching McAdams dominate a terrified O’Brien. The Blue Lagoon this is not.

SIRAT

Heed this warning. Don’t watch this if you’re feeling fragile or anxious for any reason. Even if you’re in a calm and centred mindframe, Sirat will still shred your nerves and f—k you up.

This Spanish and French co-production is set in a recognisable near-future where a cataclysmic event has sent the world into a potentially apocalyptic tailspin. But that’s just background to the real story, and remains somewhat mysterious.

The film follows Luis (Sergei Lopez), who sets out with his young son Esteban (Bruno Nunez Arjona) to find his adult daughter. They drive to a massive rave in the Moroccan desert, where the two end up joining a convoy of ravers looking for the next meet-up.

It’s a Job-ian journey with great challenges and tragedies, scored to the most incredible and visceral sound design whose beats seem to punctuate your very being.

Honourable mentions: Is This Thing On?, Power Ballad, The Testament of Ann Lee, The Voice of Hind Rajab, Hoppers, I Swear, Megadoc, L’Etranger, Wolfram, Life Could Be a Dream, Finding Emily and Disclosure Day