The best movie of 2026 so far is an unusual mystery with no answers

blue heron It’s not a mystery in the traditional sense. There is no crime to solve and no murderer to apprehend. Instead, it examines a family that slowly falls apart and a young girl who silently accepts everything around her – especially her brother (Eddie Bedos), like a time bomb that may explode at any time.

Sounds like a drama, right? Excellently, blue heron That too. It’s a lot: a meditation on memory, a depiction of mental illness, and the power of storytelling to piece together people and events from the past.

That’s what makes it the best 2026 movie I’ve seen so far this year. It’s a deeply personal and technically superb film that’s small in scope but big in the emotions it evokes within you, and it’s about how we can never truly understand our own families, especially those that fascinate us and scare us the most.

What is “Blue Heron” about?

first half blue heron The story is set in the 1990s and tells the story of a young family moving into a new home in British Columbia. Through the eyes of prepubescent daughter Sasha (Elu Guwen), we realize something is not right with eldest brother Jeremy (Beddoes). He has a cold personality and is taciturn. He always walks behind others and does not listen to his parents’ orders. Gradually, a more disturbing picture emerged: Jeremy had some psychological problems that his parents tried to solve, but to no avail.

second half blue heron The background of the story is set decades later, when Shasha has grown up (Amy Zimmer) now works as a social worker. She’s still trying to unravel the mystery of her brother’s behavior and understand the impact he had on her and her family. What happened to Jeremy? What caused him to behave this way? How does the family cope with a man who seems more like a stranger than a relative?

What makes “Blue Heron” one of the best movies of 2026 so far?

writer and director Sophie Romwari Answers some of these questions, but not all. One of the main points is blue heron There are just some mysteries that can never be fully explained, only solved, and that was the case with Jeremy. After all these years, Sasha is still troubled by her brother’s behavior and how he seems to be a prisoner in his own body.

To be honest, I was afraid the material would cause a stir. We’ve seen deranged boys like Jeremy before in popular media, and they’re almost always portrayed as villains or monsters who inevitably commit some kind of shocking act of violence, like a school shooting or murder.

This is not the case blue heronwhich is more interested in Jeremy’s behavior and his family’s reaction to it than in describing what Jeremy actually did – if he did anything. This is possibility Jeremy’s violence, through his anti-social behavior and threats that seemed to come out of nowhere, put everyone on edge and led his parents to seek professional help. But their therapists knew nothing, and they were left with a troubled child that they loved but who could be a danger to them and their other children.

Forgive but never forget

Romwari admitted in multiple interviews so many aspect blue heron is autobiographical. This makes sense when you watch it because there is a power of truth behind the film’s ambiguity. Towards the end of the film, an adult Sasha confronts her memories of Jeremy.

With some fill-in-the-blank narration and simple editing, Romwari expands what we know about him and gives him a moment of grace and forgiveness. Nothing more will ever be known about Jeremy, Sasha or the audience, but what is left is a portrait of a son, brother and boy who, like the rest of his family, was a victim of his own actions.

blue heron Now playing in theaters.