Film Essay: Top Ten 2025
This has been a difficult year with the continuing suffering in so many places in the world, the political upheaval and chaos in the United States, the emergence and disruption of AI, but this year has also been difficult for personal reasons, and yet, great films helped me through loss and grief, depression, and isolation. There was especially good escapism in horror films (Sinners, Weapons, Bring Her Back), good but not great superhero films (Superman, Fantastic Four First Steps), funny films that seemingly weren’t comedies (Marty Supreme, One Battle after Another, No Other Choice), and independent films that demonstrated the heart of filmmaking is still alive despite the continually depressing news out of Hollywood (Sorry, Baby, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Train Dreams). But the two trends that impressed me were the incredible number of “foreign” films that were breathtaking. I am well aware that America does not screen most movies from other countries, which is sad because foreign cinema continually puts out great films, but the sheer number of great foreign releases in America in 2025 was incredible. Five of my top ten films are foreign films and I could have had even more on my top ten list. In all of my years reviewing films, I have never had so many foreign films on top ten in a single year. This is also another reason that the idea of tariffs on foreign films is idiotic. These movies do not often breakthrough in American theaters, and we would be denying the small opening they have. Another trend that is fascinating that came up numerous times in my favorite films is the power of art to transform. Whether it is music in Sinners, or a play in Hamnet, or a film in Sentimental Value, or dreams fueling cinema in Resurrection, the power of cinema to heal was on full display, and helped me during this difficult year.
10. Sinners ****
Since Ryan Coogler’s first film, Fruitvale Station, I have said he was a great directorial force. He proves it yet again in his latest film Sinners which combines a genre film with allegories for racism and the power of music. I went into Sinners not knowing that it was a Vampire film and for the first half of the film, it is not. If it had been a movie about two twins (Michael B Jordan pulling double duty in the best of the duel acting roles this year) who return to their home in the South after an attempt to live in the North and end up founding a club that celebrates black song artists, it would have been a great movie. Then the movie turns into unexpected territory and for a second, I worried is this going to be From Dusk till Dawn. But no! Sinners does not devolve into a typical Vampire film but instead uses the Vampires as an allegory for racism, giving us both the gore and horror expected from the genre, but with so much more depth.
9. Marty Supreme ****
Like Raging Bull, the key to Marty Supreme is that we, the audience, hate Marty, brilliantly played by Timothy Chalamet in what might have been the best male performance of the year save for one other film. Marty is talented in both his sport but also his charism, He has to be; but, he is nowhere as talented as he believes he is. While Jake LaMotta used boxing, it is Ping Pong for Marty, which while an incredible sport, is funny when he derives his masculinity from his success in the sport. While Timothy is surrounded by incredible talent playing great characters, his best foil is Gwyneth Paltrow as a star actress who has fallen out of fame. They need each other in the most intimate manner like moths drawn to flame. Similar to a previous Safdie brothers’ film, Uncut Gems, there is a pulse and energy to Marty Supreme that Josh Safide provides in his great direction. Thankfully it is not as debilitating as Uncut Gems, but I also admit, it is less effective. That being said, Marty Supreme is a great film studying toxic masculinity and how desperate men will do anything to fulfill their ego.
8. The Secret Agent ****
What’s so impressive about this incredible political thriller, where there are so many twists and turns, is that everything is in plain sight. The beginning sets up this motif when Armando (Wager Moura) is at a gas station and the police arrive to arrest him, but they ignore the dead body sitting just outside. What follows is a political thriller that moves throughout time as Armando, taking on several other aliases, moves his family, trying to stay one step ahead of the military dictatorship that has deemed his ideas dangerous. What could be confusing is grounded in Wager Moura’s incredible performance. Each time we jump, he is responsible for establishing when and where we are. It is his character that often sees what we miss in plain sight. It’s a film that I have seen three times and liking it more each time. It is an impressive movie with an even greater performance.
7. Resurrection ****
Bi Gan’s films are not for everyone. They are the film equivalent of labyrinth stories from Borges, more similar to Tarkovsky or Mallick than conventional films. Gan’s third film, and for me the one that connected to me the most, follows in this manner. In a future where dreaming has died, “Defiants” still have the ability to dream and are hunted by “Other Ones” who infiltrate their dreams and then extinguish them. The movie follows one such “Other One” who enters the dreams of a “Defiant” only to gain empathy for them. In an act of mercy before death, he installs a film projector in their mind to project their dreams into reality. What follows are vignettes of different dreams. Vignette films generally don’t work for me because there is always one vignette that is better than the others; however, this film breaks that mold by filming each dream completely differently style and each one being as visually engaging as the others. In Resurrection, Bi Gan reinforces the connection between dreams and film, allowing us to understand how film can capture the essence of something more than simply stories and shows that films are worth dying for.
6. No Other Choice ****
Park Chan-wook hit a home run twice this year: first, with the phenomenal opening three episodes of The Sympathizer and then for a second time with his black comedy No Other Choice. In a way, a sister film to Parasite, No Other Choice deals with the issues of class as people are treated like cogs in a machine and must learn how to cheat the game in order to win. Man-su, who had achieved an ideal life, until his long-time job lays him off. The irony for an American audience is that an American company buys the Paper company and lays off the employees, which is exactly what Americans are angry about in our country. Now without a job, losing his house, and possibly his family, Man-su is desperate for work, so desperate that killing his fellow applicants becomes his strategy to both horrific and great comedic effect. While it is not as groundbreaking or breathtaking as Parasite, No Other Choice may be the best shot film of the year with Park Chan-wook again proving he is one of the great modern directors in cinema.
5. Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair ****
I struggled with whether or not to place the new version of Kill Bill on my top ten. At first, I decided not to even though I placed Apocalypse Now Redux on my top ten in 2001. I argued that Redux was a different film than the original, in that Redux is a Vietnam War film while the original Apocalypse Now is a metaphor for exploring the heart of darkness. While Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair does not quite reach the level of an entirely new film with a new theme, on reflecting on the movie, there is something special about combining the two halves and fleshing out the backstories of the villains from Vol 1. It is a great achievement. With that being said, I am probably the only person who still believes that Kill Bill Vol 2 alone is still the best version of the story. Vol 1 is a fun stylish revenge picture, but in the second Vol Tarantino finds a deeper spiritual journey with the villains not being the more typical stock of the first film, but rather parts of the Bride’s psychology. But The Whole Bloody Affair is still a triumph and a fresh experience to earn a place on this year’s top ten.
4. Sentimental Value ****
Family trauma. Dysfunctional families. An emotionally distant parent. Generational pain. An actress with stage fright. An artist who uses their own life as inspiration. Sentimental Value feels like an Ingmar Bergman film in the best of ways. Not since seeing his final work Saraband have I felt as thrilled as if I watching a new Bergman film. For a while I thought Sentimental Value might be my favorite film of the year. Like Bergman (which I always mean as a compliment), Joachim Trier masterfully allows the psychology of each member of the family to slowly bubble to the surface. In this case, a famous father (a wonderful Stellan Skarsgard) who returns to his estranged daughters in hope of filming a new film based on his mother’s life and suicide in the house that the family has owned and occupied for generations. Again, similar to Bergman, Joachim Trier plays with the theatrical and cinematic flourishes by making the house a central character in the story, tracing the generational trauma passed down and connecting the plight of this specific family to the nature of humanity. In a similar way to my favorite film of this year, Sentimental Value also reveals the healing power of art.
3. It Was Just an Accident ****
Jafar Panahi is one of the world's great directors who has suffered more for his art than any other modern famous director. His previous film, No Bears, autobiographically about a director directing a film while under house arrest, was a stunning achievement. No longer in prison or under house arrest, Jafar still must make his films in secret. It is astonishing that a director with such restrictions could make It Was Just an Accident as unlike some of his previous films, it doesn’t feel restricted in space or theme. The film begins with an accident. A father hits and kills a dog and thus needs his car repaired. Vahid, the mechanic, recognizes the sound the man’s prosthetic leg makes and believes that he was the military officer who tortured him in prison. Thus, a mystery begins to unfold. Who is this man? Is he really the mysterious officer who tortured him? Others who were also at the prison are brought in and they too suspect, but cannot prove he’s the mysterious prison official, leading to one of the most taught, moving, and meaningful thrillers of recent memory.
2. One Battle after Another ****
Never before has Paul Thomas Anderson made such an accessible film. Many of his masterpieces are difficult works to engage with: The Master, There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread, or Magnolia. Yet, he sacrifices no complexity in making a film that is thrilling, funny, chilling, and moving all at the same time. One Battle After Another, as the title suggests, is about a serious of battles that never end: the battle to keep family together, the battle to keep family safe, the battle to revolutionize our country to be equitable, the battle over generations to fight racism, and the continuing battle to fight generational trauma. From that description, the movie sounds like a huge downer, but what is remarkable is how PT Anderson weaves this story with a frightening white supremacist and sexist villain (brilliantly played by Sean Penn) and the story of a father (DiCaprio) trying to save his endangered daughter, with such comedy. The comedic elements elevate the tension and yet do nothing to lessen the impact of the reality that mirrors our current troubled country. It is rare for a film that is so nuanced to also be so bloody entertaining.
1. Hamnet ****
Having just lost my mother, no film this year moved me more than Hamnet. Chloe Zhao’s masterful adaptation of the novelization of William Shakespeare and his wife, Anges, mourning the loss of their son, Hamnet, epitomizes the pain of loss and the processing of grief through the creation of art. Just like the novel, the protagonist is not William Shakespeare, but Agnes whose ostracization from British society for her pagan beliefs makes her isolated with her family before she becomes isolated in her grief. Zhao’s decision to imbue the entire film with nature, suggesting the power of life to continue and persist through death is nothing short of beautiful. However, nothing tops the last twenty minutes of the film as Anges witnesses the play Hamlet and understands how her husband’s endeavors have allowed her to grieve and for her son to be immortalized as well. Jesse Buckley turns in the year’s single best performance, grounding the movie in real grief while there is incredible supporting work from Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare and a great Emily Watson as Shakespeare’s mother, but out of the supporting work, it is the young Noah Jupe, who plays Hamnet that imbues their son with life and allows us to miss him after his passing just as much as his parents. Like Shakespeare (I can’t believe that I’m comparing myself to Shakespeare, but I feel such a connection to this film), I too am working on a creative endeavor, which is allowing me to process our families’ loss. Hamnet understands grief in a way few pieces of art I’ve seen do and it is the best film of the year.
Runners up: My Undesirable Friends — Part 1: Last Air in Moscow **** Train Dreams ****, A Living Prayer ****, Bring Her Back *** ½, Sorry Baby *** ½, Frankenstein *** ½, Weapons *** ½, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery *** ½, Orwell 2+2=5 *** ½,
Best Actor: Wagner Mora, The Secret Agent
Runner-up: Timothy Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Best Actress: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Runner-up: Sally Hawkins, Bring Her Back
Best Supporting Actor: Stellan Skarsgard, Sentimental Value
Runner-up: TIE: Jacobi Jupe, Hamnet; Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein; Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro, One Battle after another
Best Supporting Actress: Gwyneth Paltrow, Marty Supreme
Runner-up: Ariana Grande, Wicked for Good
Best Cinematography: Kim Woo-hyung, No Other Choice
Runner-up: Jingsong Dong, Resurrection
Best Art Direction: Brandt Gordon and Celestria Kimmins, Frankenstein
Runner-up: Jonathan Cappel, Timotheus Davis, and Jesse Rosenthal, Sinners
Best Editing: Andy Jurgensen, One Battle after Another
Runner-up: Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Best Score: Jonny Greenwood, One Battle after Another
Runner-up: Max Richter, Hamnet
Best Screenplay: Eskil Vogt & Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Runner-up: Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident
Best Adapted Screenplay: Chloe Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet
Runner-up: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle after Another
Best Animated Film: Arco
Runner-up: Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Best Documentary: My Undesirable Friends — Part 1: Last Air in Moscow
Runner-up: Orwell 2+2=5
Best Director: Chloe Zhao, Hamnet
Runner-up: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle after another
Best Director: Chloe Zhao, Hamnet
Runner-up: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle after another
Most Overrated Film: Superman
Biggest Disappointment: Nouvelle Vogue
Worst Film: Tron: Ares
For another perspective from one of my favorite film critics, here is grouch reviews Top Ten 2025: https://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/694c58608775db8ba75af015
