Netflix has just added a 5/5 thriller that deserves a bigger audience

Made in Ireland, the film also features a major Irish star in one of the lead roles.

Shot in Ireland but set in America, the film focuses on the affluent Taylor family. The story begins with the clan gathering for the 25th wedding anniversary of liberal Georgetown professor Ellen (Diane Lane, Unfaithful) and restaurateur Paul (Kyle Chandler, The Rip).

Attending are their four children: Cynthia (Zoey Deutch, The Outfit), an environmental lawyer like her husband Rob (Daryl McCormack, Wake Up Dead Man); Anna (Madeleine Brewer, Netflix's You), a caustic stand-up comedian; Birdie (Mckenna Grace, Sunrise on the Reaping), a teenager with an interest in science; and Josh (Dylan O'Brien, Send Help), an aspiring novelist.

Also at the event is Liz (Phoebe Dynevor, Bridgerton), Josh's new and enigmatic fiancée, who is a writer as well.

It turns out that Josh's girlfriend was once a student of Ellen's at Georgetown, where they clashed frequently. In particular, the professor took issue with Liz's totalitarian ideas.

Suspicious of her future daughter-in-law's motives, Anniversary follows Ellen and the rest of the Taylor family over several years, as Liz's controversial writings begin to sweep the nation.

Anniversary Trailer

The movie was directed by on-the-rise director Jan Komasa (Corpus Christi, The Good Boy, The Hater), based on a screenplay by Lori Rosene-Gambino.

The film was only given a limited cinema release in 2025, which its producer Nick Wechsler has suggested was down to its dark political story, which depicts the United States slipping into a dystopian, authoritarian regime.

Speaking to TheWrap, who drew comparisons between Anniversary and America's current "political reality", Wechsler said:

“I’ve never had a movie that we thought was really interesting that no one was aware of.

"It’s hard to market a political film today. People are afraid of them – they don’t know how it will be received emotionally. It’s a weird time.”

We'd urge people to check out Anniversary now that it's on Netflix.

Rosene-Gambino's script is incredibly ambitious, taking place entirely over a series of gatherings of the Taylor clan across a couple of years.

What begins as a domestic drama about this relatively normal and loving family and the simmering tensions between a mother and her daughter-in-law rapidly mutates into a dystopian thriller.

This is as Ellen and Liz's ideological clash spills out into the real world, upending both the Taylors and America.

A cautionary tale of how easy it is to slip into fascism, Anniversary's acting is incredible, its story is haunting, and its allusions to the real world are fascinating to dissect.

Plus, as Irish viewers, it's amusing to see recognisable locations like Trinity College and the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre be repurposed as US locations.

After dropping on Netflix in Ireland and the UK on 1 February, Anniversary made JustWatch's Top 10 movie streaming chart a week later, suggesting that the thriller is thankfully finding an audience.

Anniversary is streaming on Netflix in Ireland and the UK now. It will also be screening at the Dublin International Film Festival on Saturday, 21 February.