Best movies of 2025
Maternal rage, bromance, conservative coupling—the year in review.
Earlier this month, on Instagram, my friend Kate was bemoaning the first week of December—the unofficial holiday when the critics start revealing their year-end lists, reliably touting the same four best movies in the name of good taste. (John Waters, famously, remains the exception.) “Best,” of course, shouldn’t be confused with “favorite,” though both are kinda subjective anyway—so why pretend otherwise? It makes things more fun.
I labored over my list, hence this very late newsletter, then decided to stop. On a different day, things might look different.
Read ahead for my favorite/best movies, and the ones that, to me, defined the year.
Happy New Year.
A few things I wrote in 2025
Essay on Tabea Blumenschein for the Metrograph Journal
Cover story on Vicky Krieps for Cultured
Interviews with filmmakers Mary Bronstein, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Zeinabu irene Davis, and Oliver Laxe
Interview with friend and critic Saffron Maeve on art movies
These film festival diaries, which you all seemed to like!
Movies that defined the year
