Top 5 new movies to watch this week

Best New Films This Week

Here’s a look at the latest films making waves in Australian cinemas this week. From heartfelt dramas to high-octane action, these movies are worth checking out.

Pasa Faho – 1 June (SBS On Demand)

This film, set in 2025, follows Azubuike, a charming shoe salesman trying to make ends meet in Melbourne. When his 12-year-old son, Obinna, moves across the country to live with him, the two face challenges in finding stability during a turbulent time. With the news that Azubuike’s shop is set to be sold to developers, the pair must find answers or risk losing more than just their business. The film won the Best International Feature Film at the 2025 AFRIFF Globe Awards and was made in association with SBS.

Carol – 1 June (MUBI)

Directed by Todd Haynes, this 2015 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt is a defining love story in modern queer cinema. It traces a tender and emotionally charged relationship in 1950s New York through powerful performances from Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

Beast – 4 June (Stan)

Russell Crowe delivers a commanding performance as Sammy, a trainer whose relationship with champion fighter Patton James embodies tough love, hard-won forgiveness, and the complex bonds between mentors and the fighters they shape. This powerful story of redemption, sacrifice, and family bonds pulses through every frame.

From the review:

As Beast joins the hordes of sports-focused action dramas where packing a punch, and landing one, is the noblest deed there is, this new Australian film makes those declarations itself. Beast might be a mixed-martial arts movie rather than a boxing film, but it loves and embraces the latter’s long-established tropes. Sometimes those proclamations are verbal, and also thoroughly unnecessary. Before the feature’s climactic fray, revenge and redemption earn a mention, for instance, as if viewers aren’t already keenly aware that this is a flick partly about vengeance and vindication.

Dead of Winter – 5 June (HBO Max)

In a remote Minnesota blizzard, a grief-stricken loner (Emma Thompson) stumbles upon a young woman held captive by a desperate, armed couple. Forced into action, she becomes an unlikely protector in a brutal fight for survival. Starring Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, and Marc Menchaca, and directed by Brian Kirk.

Office Romance – 5 June (Netflix)

Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein star in a saucy rom-com about a secret office romance and the chaos two workaholics get into following their hearts. Starring Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein, Betty Gilpin, Bradley Whitford, and Amy Sedaris.

Recent Best New Films

Journey Home, David Gulpilil – 27 May (SBS On Demand)

When Australia’s most renowned Indigenous actor David Gulpilil passes away far from his Homeland, his family struggles against huge logistical challenges to fulfill his final wish—to bury him on his Homeland, over 4500 kilometres away. The incredible access granted to the filmmakers is David’s family’s gift to the world, continuing his legacy of sharing his culture.

Propeller One-Way Night Coach – 29 May (Apple TV)

Directed, written, produced, and narrated by John Travolta, this film follows young airplane enthusiast Jeff (Clark Shotwell) and his mother (Kelly Eviston-Quinnett) as they set off on a one-way cross-country odyssey to Hollywood in the golden age of aviation, transforming a simple flight into the trip of a lifetime.

The Long Walk – 30 May (HBO Max)

Teens participate in a gruelling high-stakes contest where they must continuously walk or be shot by a member of their military escort. Starring Francis Lawrence, Cooper Hoffman, Ben Wang, and Mark Hamill.