Shannon Gorman and Brendan Fraser in Rental Family. Photo by James Lisle/Searchlight Pictures. © 2025 Searchlight Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
Hedda. Nia DaCosta’s epic take on Ibsen’s play perfectly captures Hedda’s (Tessa Thompson) ruthlessness while updating the story to take place within the rigid class structure and ingrained misogyny of 1950s Britain (although it sometimes seems to be taking place in a land out of time inhabited only by the very rich). It won’t serve as a Cliff’s Notes for those hoping to avoid their assigned reading, but it’s one wild ride that combines the vibes of All About Eve with strong doses of Saltburn and Lord of the Flies.
It Was Just an Accident. Ethical dilemmas abound in Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner, which was filmed in secret (first clue: a central female character mostly leaves her hair uncovered). The central ethical issue regards taking revenge and how sure you need to be that you’ve got the right guy, but concerns soon expand to more everyday questions like the obligation to try to improve a corrupt society, the appropriate weight to grant to the letter of the law, and under what circumstances one is expected to accept an apology.
Lilo & Stitch. Kids’ movies don’t get much respect at awards time unless they’re directed by Stephen Spielberg, but what is a “best of” list without one eccentric inclusion? Lilo & Stitch is not only a lot of fun, it’s a film for our time with central messages about the need for tolerance, the importance of created families, and the positive roles that agents of chaos play in the world. Plus, as a girl whose family swears she ran before she walked, it’s not often I get to see a mainstream movie centered on a character like my younger self, so here’s to the representation of messy, chaotic girls and their efforts to navigate a world that’s not always ready for them.
No Other Choice. Keep your ears peeled for the title phrase in Park Chan-wook’s searing black comedy, whose recurring refrain might as well be “and so it was capitalism after all.” The action comes fast and furious in the heightened reality created by cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung, production designer Ryu Seong-hie, and costume designer Cho Sang-kyung, which centers on paper executive Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) and his family. In Man-su’s world, money serves a fourth function* as a way to keep score, so his desire for more of it is without bound, as are the methods he uses to of pursue it.
Rental Family. Hikari’s bittersweet comedy-drama stars Brendon Fraser as a middling Western actor in Tokyo who survives on bit parts until he discovers a new source of work: an agency that provides actors to play roles for real-life occasions (like mourners at funerals). This practice seems a sensible way to accommodate unbending social expectations until the temptation to become emotionally involved becomes too great. Although Fraser is reliably endearing as the story’s central character, it wouldn’t work without a strong supporting cast including Takehiro Hira as the agency owner, Mari Yamamoto as an agency employee who specializes in playing apologetic mistresses, and Shannon Mahina Gorman as the child of one of the clients.
The Secret Agent. Resistance to the Brazilian military dictatorship creates strange bedfellows in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s period political thriller, whose surreal touches within a mostly naturalistic film mirror the experiences of those who lived through this period. It’s one of the best-made films of the year and if Wagner Moura doesn’t get a nomination for the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, there’s no justice in the world.
Sentimental Value. Stellan Skarsgård is delightfully pretentious and self-absorbed as an often-absent family patriarch in Joachim Trier’s latest film, while his daughters (Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) struggle to protect themselves from his microaggressions and put their lives back together after the death of their mother. Elle Fanning excels in a difficult role that is crucial to making it all work, while the wordless conclusion to this family drama is a masterpiece of understated filmmaking.
Sinners. Ryan Coogler’s period horror film features Michael B. Jordan in the role of twin brothers “Smoke” and “Stack” Moore, military veterans who return home to Mississippi in the 1930s to create a juke joint. Their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) joins the effort, drawing the disapproval of his preacher father (Saul Williams). Roving vampires may not be the greatest danger faced by this film’s multicultural cast of characters, given the economic exploitation and racial prejudice that form the backdrop of their lives, or maybe all those forces work together to create the conditions under which they live.
The Testament of Ann Lee. Seldom has the experience of spirituality been portrayed as convincingly on screen as in Mona Fastvold’s film. It’s anchored by an astonishing performance by Amanda Seyfried as Mother Ann Lee, founder of the Shaker religious movement, which was well ahead of its time in its assumption of gender equality and insistence on the personal experience of religion. Daniel Blumberg’s score, which draws on traditional Shaker hymns as well as newly composed material, plays a key role in creating the film’s immersive environment, as does the choreography of Celia Rowlson-Hall.
The Voice of Hind Rajab. Prepare to have your heart broken in Kaouther Ben Hania’s drama, a marvel of minimalist filmmaking shot with handheld cameras that portrays the efforts of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society to save a 6-year-old girl who miraculously survived an Israeli Army attack that killed six of her relatives. Actors play the rescue workers, who must navigate a gruesome, real-life game of telephone as they try to negotiate an ambulance route to rescue the child, but the voice heard over the telephone is a recording of the real emergency call placed by Hind Rajab (used with permission of her mother).
Honorable mention: Belén, Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, KPop Demon Hunters, Left-handed Girl, The Life of Chuck, Nouvelle Vague, Sirat, Train Dreams. | Sarah Boslaugh
*The first three being, as every economics student knows, a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value.
