35 best new Netflix movies and shows coming in February 2020

26. Anna Karenina

Release Year: 2012

Directed By: Joe Wright

Starring: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald, Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Olivia Williams, Ruth Wilson, Emily Watson, Michelle Dockery, Raphaël Personnaz, Cara Delevingne, Emerald Fennell, Holliday Grainger, Hera Hilmar, David Wilmot, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Bill Skarsgård, Guro Nagelhus

Release Date: Wednesday, Feb 12

There’s a time growing up when we’re tasked with reading some of the longest books we have ever encountered. And sometimes, we opt to watch the movie instead. (Tip: Just read the book and then watch the movie.) Any student assigned Anna Karenina has probably already scoped out the film adaptations worth giving a shot, but Netflix offers a companion to your reading. Even if you aren’t reading the book, you should check out 2012’s stylized Anna Karenina adaptation.

Based on Leo Tolstoy’s 1877 novel of the same name and a remake of the 1985 film of the same name, Anna Karenina stars Keira Knightley as the title character, who is the wife of Russian imperial minister Count Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin (Jude Law). She creates a scandal amid the high society by engaging in an affair with Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As a result of the scandal, Alexei offers Anna a decision to either live in exile with Vronsky and never seen her son again or follow the rules of set for her.

Anna Karenina comes from director Joe Wright, who also directed such movies as Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, The Soloist, Hanna, Darkest Hour and the upcoming The Woman in the Window. Upon release, the film earned mixed to positive reviews and holds a 62% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film only made $68.9 million against a budget of $40.6 million, but it also received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, the latter of which it won. Don’t miss the Oscar-winning film adaptation of Anna Karenina when it begins streaming on Feb. 12.