01 A washed-up boxer reflects on his career in one of Portugal's first great documentary-fiction hybrids.
12 Best Portuguese Movies to Watch
By Vlad Zakh · September 1, 2026
Portugal Arthouse slow and atmosphericthought provoking
Portuguese cinema is defined as much by Manoel de Oliveira, who kept directing well into his hundreds, as by the younger generation carrying his patient, formally daring style forward.
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02 A road movie loosely inspired by Nobel laureate José Saramago's own travel memoir.
03 A prison guard's routine takes a dark turn when inmates are forced into an underground fighting ring.
04 A young woman's illness forces her to confront a family she's long kept at a distance.
05 A doctor's letters home from the Portuguese Colonial War reveal a marriage quietly falling apart.
06 A destitute painter drifts through a Lisbon boarding house full of eccentric fellow tenants.
07 A lonely garbage collector's isolation curdles into an increasingly obsessive fixation.
08 An aging stage actor rebuilds his life after his family dies in a car accident.
09 A photographer becomes obsessed with the ghost of a bride he was hired to photograph after her death.
10 A colonial-era love affair in Africa is recalled by an old woman's dying neighbor, split into two contrasting halves.
11 A dim-witted star striker sees giant fluffy puppies on the pitch and gets caught up in a bizarre political conspiracy.
12 Three shepherd children in 1917 Portugal claim to witness visions of the Virgin Mary that draw national attention.
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