10 Best Josh O’Connor Movies, Ranked
Josh O’Connor has steadily emerged as one of the most compelling actors of his generation, known for performances that balance emotional vulnerability with intensity. Whether he’s portraying historical figures, troubled romantics, or introspective outsiders, O’Connor brings an authenticity to the screen that draws audiences in. He’s made the most of his selective movie career and has made an effort to stand out in stories across several genres. Rising to international prominence through his television work, O’Connor’s transition to movies has been marked by bold choices rather than sheer volume. He clearly gravitates toward character-driven stories, often favoring independent or auteur-led projects that allow him to explore morally complex characters. What makes O’Connor’s best movies stand out is not just the quality of the stories themselves, but the way he’s able to stand out in ensembles or anchor a story as a leading man.
10
‘Mothering Sunday’ (2021)
Still from ‘Mothering Sunday’.Image via Lionsgate
Mothering Sunday is a romantic drama set in post–World War I England that follows Jane Fairchild (Odessa Young), a young housemaid who is given the day off on Mothering Sunday and spends it in a secret, passionate affair with Paul Sheringham (O’Connor), the son of her wealthy employers. Their relationship unfolds against a backdrop of rigid class divisions, unspoken grief, and social change, as both are marked by loss and the pressure of expectations. Mothering Sunday is one of O’Connor’s best movies because it showcases his range. He delivers a restrained, quietly devastating performance that relies less on dialogue and more on body language, silences, and fleeting expressions. Paul is tender and romantic, yet has a haunted soul, which allows O’Connor to balance vulnerability with repression. In a movie driven by mood and memory rather than plot, his performance anchors the emotional weight, demonstrating why he excels at complex, introspective characters.
9
‘Emma’ (2020)
Mr. Elton (Josh O’Connor) and his wife, Mrs. Elton (Tanya Reynolds) enduring a dinner party in EmmaImage via Focus Features
Emma is a stylish adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel about Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy), a wealthy, confident young woman in Regency-era England who prides herself on her matchmaking skills. Believing she knows what is best for others, Emma interferes in the romantic lives of her friends, particularly the naive Harriet Smith (Mia Goth), while remaining oblivious to her own feelings. O’Connor plays the Reverend Mr Elton, the ambitious and socially climbing village vicar. Emma stands out as one of O’Connor’s best movies because it highlights his exceptional comic timing and his ability to satirize social privilege. He fully commits to a heightened, almost absurd performance that contrasts sharply with his more restrained dramatic performances from the rest of the ensemble. Ultimately, he succeeds in making Mr. Elton both funny and uncomfortable to watch, using exaggerated politeness, physical comedy, and sudden emotional shifts to expose the character’s vanity and entitlement.
8
‘Bonus Track’ (2023)
Two boys cuddling on a blue tarp in Bonus Track.Image via Fortune Films
Bonus Track is a British coming-of-age musical romantic comedy set in 2006 that follows 16-year-old George Bobbin (Joe Anders), a shy, small-town teen who dreams of becoming a pop musician despite failing academically and being overlooked by his peers. His life changes when Max (Samuel Small), the confident son of a famous music duo, joins his school and takes an interest in George’s music, sparking a friendship and blossoming romance as they prepare for the end-of-year talent show. Bonus Track was co-written by O’Connor, who also appears in a brief cameo as a quirky character named Jonno, adding a fun, offbeat presence to the story. This is one of his best projects because it reflects his strengths not just as an actor, but as a storyteller. By co-writing the movie and appearing in a small cameo role, O’Connor helps shape a warm, sincere coming-of-age story that is both personal and emotionally grounded.
7
‘The Mastermind’ (2025)
Josh O’Connor sitting in a car and talking to someone with a bandage on his forehead in The Mastermind.Image via Mubi
The Mastermind is a heist drama set in the 1970s in Massachusetts against the backdrop of social unrest and the Vietnam War. The story follows James Blaine “J.B.” Mooney (O’Connor), a struggling suburban family man and former art student who secretly plots to steal four valuable paintings from his local art museum in hopes of reshaping his dreary life, only for the consequences of the theft and the chaotic aftermath to unravel his world in unexpected ways. The Mastermind is one of O’Connor’s best movies because it allows him to fully inhabit a complex, morally ambiguous lead role. In this role, he balances charm, desperation, and quiet vulnerability, making a character who could easily be unlikable feel human and compelling. O’Connor takes this character and subverts audience expectations of both the genre and himself. Rather than playing a romantic lead or overt antihero, he embodies mediocrity and moral confusion.
6
‘Challengers’ (2024)
Challengers is a romantic sports drama that introduces Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy whose own career ends early and who reinvents herself as a fiercely competitive coach. She marries Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), a successful but faltering tennis champion. When Art enters a low-level tournament to regain his confidence, he unexpectedly faces Patrick Zweig (O’Connor), his former best friend and Tashi’s ex-lover. Challengers stands out as one of O’Connor’s best projects because it showcases his range, charisma, and emotional intelligence. He plays Patrick as cocky, seductive, and wounded all at once. O’Connor uses movement, posture, and timing as much as dialogue to make Patrick worth investing in. This character could easily have been a cliché “bad boy,” but O’Connor gives him vulnerability and self-awareness, making him a man haunted by lost potential and complicated love.
5
‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ (2025)
Josh O’Connor as Jed and Josh Brolin as Jefferson outside a church in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.Image via Netflix
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is the third chapter in the Knives Out series, once again starring Daniel Craig as the brilliant private detective Benoit Blanc. When the charismatic but polarizing Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) is found stabbed to death in a locked church room with no apparent way in or out, Blanc teams up with an earnest young priest, Reverend Jud Duplenticy (O’Connor), and the local police chief to unravel the baffling crime. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery gives O’Connor a chance to prove how effectively he can stand out in a massively talented ensemble. While Daniel Craig’s Blanc is wild and flamboyant, O’Connor acts as a grounded counterbalance and is more restrained and observant. Viewers are never entirely sure whether Jud is naïve, complicit, or quietly manipulative, and O’Connor does well to maintain this tension.
4
‘Aisha’ (2022)
Letitia Wright and Josh O’Connor standing by a sea wall and smiling in Aisha.Image via Sky Cinema
Aisha is an Irish drama that follows Aisha Osagie (Letitia Wright), a young Nigerian woman trapped in Ireland’s Direct Provision asylum system as she desperately seeks legal protection after fleeing violence in her homeland. While living in bureaucratic limbo and facing the emotional strain of uncertainty and isolation, Aisha forms an unlikely friendship with Conor Healy (O’Connor), a kind but troubled former prisoner who works as a security guard. Aisha is another example of a Josh O’Connor movie that sets itself apart because it gives O’Connor the chance to highlight how well he plays morally complex characters. His performance is deliberately low-key, relying on small gestures and hesitant speech, which makes the character authentic. Aisha is the focus of the story, and O’Connor calibrates his performance to serve that focus, creating a relationship based on mutual vulnerability rather than rescue or romance.
3
‘La Chimera’ (2023)
Josh O’Connor as Arthur smoking a cigarette in La Chimera.Image via NEON
La Chimera is an Italian drama that introduces Arthur (O’Connor), a melancholic English archaeologist drifting through 1980s Tuscany after the loss of his beloved partner, Beniamina (Yile Vianello). He’s gifted with an uncanny ability to sense buried Etruscan tombs, and becomes entangled with a group of tomb robbers who loot ancient artifacts for the black market, digging up the past while remaining emotionally stuck. La Chimera is full of vivid characters and digressive storytelling, yet Arthur remains its emotional core, which makes it stand out as one of O’Connor’s most notable works. He grounds the movie’s dreamlike structure with a sense of real pain and yearning, making the movie’s themes, including loss, memory, and exploitation of the past, resonate on a personal level. O’Connor’s physical acting, including how he moves through landscapes, how he reacts to touch, and how he collapses inward, adds layers that dialogue never spells out.
2
‘God’s Own Country’ (2017)
Johnny (Josh O’Connor) and Gheorghe (Alec Secăreanu) staring in opposite directions in Gods Own Country.Image via Picturehouse Entertainment
God’s Own Country is a British romantic drama about Johnny Saxby (O’Connor), a young Yorkshire farmer numbing his loneliness and frustration with alcohol and casual sex while struggling under the weight of family responsibility. His life changes when Gheorghe (Alec Secăreanu), a Romanian migrant worker, arrives to help during lambing season, and the two men develop an intense, initially fraught relationship that gradually becomes tender and transformative. God’s Own Country is one of O’Connor’s best movies because it captures the core of what makes him such a compelling actor. He communicates Johnny’s pain largely through physical behavior, like slumped posture, clenched jaw, and avoidance of eye contact, which shows that he has an instinctive understanding of how trauma lives in the body. This movie marked a turning point in O’Connor’s career. It announced him as a serious, fearless talent willing to inhabit difficult characters and queer stories with depth and respect.
1
‘Only You’ (2018)
Elena and Jake walking while talking in Only You.Image via Curzon Artificial Eye
Only You is a British romantic drama that follows Elena (Laia Costa), a Spanish migrant living in London, and Jake (O’Connor), a British man, who meet by chance on New Year’s Eve and quickly fall into an intense relationship. As their bond deepens, the couple confronts conflicting desires about the future, particularly around having children, with Elena eager to start a family and Jake more uncertain and emotionally guarded. Only You is Josh O’Connor’s best movie because it showcases his ability to make emotional uncertainty feel painfully real, especially within the intimate space of a long-term relationship. The role of Jake is deceptively difficult. He isn’t overtly cruel or dramatic, but quietly conflicted, loving yet evasive. O’Connor excels at this kind of understatement. He plays Jake as a man who cares deeply but cannot fully articulate or commit to what this relationship requires.
Only You
Release Date
July 12, 2019
Runtime
119 minutes
已发布: 2025-12-20 22:10:00
来源: collider.com
