Here are Cinephile Corner’s picks for the 7 best Josh O’Connor movies, ranked:
7. The History of Sound (2025)
Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound is defined by its restraint, almost to a fault. For a film centered on a romance between two men traveling the U.S. in the late 1910s to capture music, it feels surprisingly muted, with its emotional undercurrents often simmering too quietly to ever fully ignite. On paper, the pairing of Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor – two of the most compelling actors of their generation – should be electrifying. In practice, both give strong performances, but the film rarely provides them with material that resonates beyond fleeting moments.
6. La Chimera (2023)
5. Disclosure Day (2026)
Disclosure Day is an uneven movie. Its great moments are exceptionally thrilling and thoughtful, but it has some glaring stretches that feel formulaic as an action adventure, and its CGI-heavy action drops the ball. Still, I’ve long held the opinion that it’s really difficult to make a bad alien movie. And once again, Spielberg pulls through.
4. Rebuilding (2025)
3. The Mastermind (2025)
Kelly Reichardt continues to be one of the most observant American filmmakers, and The Mastermind is a perfect fit for her patient, detail-driven gaze. Where Showing Up tracked an artist circling her own potential and Night Moves watched activists fumble toward consequence, this new film follows another of her quietly blinkered strivers. Josh O’Connor plays James Blaine “JB” Mooney, a small-town amateur who has mapped out an “easy” art-gallery heist, convinced meticulous lists can substitute for competence. He forgets the one variable he cannot control, the people he brings along, and the plan collapses in slow motion as his frequent gallery visits and affection for art make him an obvious suspect.
2. Wake Up Dead Man (2025)
Wake Up Dead Man is the darkest and most layered entry in Rian Johnson’s series, a knotty whodunit that swaps glass palaces for a small town parish and finds real charge in the pivot. The film opens on Jud Duplenticy, a young priest played by Josh O’Connor, whose past mistake in the boxing ring rerouted his life toward faith. Johnson is interested less in the institution than in individual mercy and failure, and O’Connor makes that tension visible in every choice.
1. Challengers (2024)
Luca Guadagnino directs one of his best movies with Challengers, which pairs his interests in yearning, miscalculated protagonists to the competitive world of tennis. It’s exhilarating and wild, with three prophetic performances from Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor that challenges many of 2024’s best efforts.
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