Karenna Umscheid is a staff writer for Boston Hassle based in Brighton. She writes creative nonfiction and criticism on her Substack, party trick.
Streaming services and money-hungry studios might have you believe that the theatrical experience is dying, or at least that there’s no sizable difference between going to the theater to see a movie and watching it at home. The cinematic releases of every year prove this more and more untrue, but in 2025, it never felt so visceral. Wide-screen images of human extinction. A time-bending musical sequence. Dead priests returning to life. Mutilation via MRI machine. There’s so much to love about the movies, be it tense political dramas or hilarious relationship comedies. How often do we sit in a dark room, surrounded by strangers, and reflect on the images and sound that are reflected onto us? It’s difficult to remain optimistic as the evils of late-stage capitalism and imperialism run rampant and unchecked, but for some selfish reason, I find that so long as there are incredible films being made, there is something to be thankful for.
Honorable Mentions: Wake Up Dead Man, Eddington, Splitsville, Hamnet, Is This Thing On?, Final Destination: Bloodlines
10. The Chronology of Water dir. Kristen Stewart
It was impossible for me not to love the adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s otherworldly memoir, which transcends conventions of literature as much as it astounds with the pain of her life. The Chronology of Water is a life told in fits and starts, about a swimmer and a writer who learned to push through the sorrow of her life with resilience found in herself, and home found in water. Stewart’s debut, while imperfect at times, vibrates at the same passionate frequency of Yuknavitch’s prose. Her unique grasp of cinematic language, even in a debut, is moving as hell. Imogen Poots gives a fierce performance as the writer/swimmer/being herself, blending passion and rage with ferocity and power. Stewart is obsessed with the mess of it all, the wildly different pieces of Yuknavitch’s life which coalesce miraculously.
9. Bugonia dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Any English-language remake of an international film seems destined for disappointment, at least in my eyes, but Yorgos Lanthimos’ bleak take on Save The Green Planet! proved to be an excellent one. Bugonia owes its success primarily to its leading performances, Emma Stone’s high-powered female CEO and Jesse Plemons’ conspiracy theorist. Bugonia goes into dark and unexpected places, blending ironic science fiction with intimate, play-like acting, and it remains profound and moving even through its most jarring moments.
8. Sentimental Value dir. Joachim Trier
When Charli xcx stood on a Coachella stage with the words “Joachim Trier Summer” behind her, it seemed a bit of a cheeky joke, or perhaps a flawed pop star’s attempt to cross into film (browse Charli’s Letterboxd before you judge, but I digress). Yet Trier’s Sentimental Value is beyond the intimate family drama it initially presents as, and instead encapsulates the rich nuances of film, drama, and history, as they coalesce in the grief-stricken and bitter cracks of a family.
7. It Was Just An Accident dir. Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi’s weighty road movie is exceptional, one that lodges itself in your consciousness, with the way it grapples with guilt, responsibility, and revenge. The introspective revenge drama is an undersung subgenre, and Panahi’s entry in it is focused on the nuances of exacting revenge; it deliberates meticulously on responsibility, the right of retribution, and the ways in which we move past trauma.
6. Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler
The most memorable blockbuster hit of the year, Sinners is a blend of historical drama and vampire horror which works ridiculously well under Coogler’s direction and an ensemble cast which includes Michael B. Jordan stunning in two different roles. Sinners is a text rich with analytical potential as much as it is an electrifying film to watch. The vampiric thrills pair brilliantly with the familial and historical complexity that fills the drama of the narrative, as well as the theatricality of the musical numbers.
5. Sorry, Baby dir. Eva Victor
The earnestness and gentle honesty of Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby is reminiscent of a finely crafted work of creative nonfiction. Perhaps it’s the centrality of writing and literature which caused me to make this connection, but Victor’s screenplay has a very real and very genuine nature to it. Though the film is visceral and deeply upsetting at times, Victor’s screenplay and direction, along with a stunning blend of performances, is a deeply empathetic and human project.
4. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You dir. Mary Bronstein
Of all the spectacular films this year that spoke to parenthood, I felt as though there were none more visceral and brutal than If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. As a directionless twenty-something I couldn’t relate less to the responsibilities of motherhood and a career in social work, but Mary Bronstein’s ferocious direction assaults the senses in the most astounding way. It’s one of many spectacular films this past year that bewildered me and shocked me with the electrifying power of cinema. Bronstein, along with Rose Byrne’s fearless lead performance, portrays the infinite stresses of motherhood with no inhibitions and plenty of cinematic flair.
3. No Other Choice dir. Park Chan-Wook
Park Chan-Wook has been a favorite director of mine for years, so it feels inevitable that his latest – a sick and hilarious class crime thriller – would make it to the podium of my list. Like the best of Chan-Wook’s filmography, No Other Choice is funny, gross, and deeply unsettling. He shows off his directorial talent with an onslaught of clever dissolves and thrilling sequences. But separate from this auteurism, No Other Choice is finely attuned to the social and cultural landscape of 2025. It portrays the grotesque nature of capitalism, the alienation it seeks for us, and the technological dystopia which awaits.
2. One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
Few films have ever felt as alive as One Battle After Another, and it’s Anderson’s keen and tasteful eye which make all the wild and unexpected elements of the film work so well. Every aspect of the film works brilliantly – the tender familial bonds, every scene with Benicio del Toro, the off-kilter and slightly uncomfortable sense of humor, the electrifying road scene. The maturing of Anderson’s career sees him explore parenthood with the same empathetic gaze with which he once examined adult filmmaking in the San Fernando Valley, for example, but throughout his entire career, that undercurrent of grappling with change and unknowability reflects prominently.
1. Marty Supreme dir. Josh Safdie
Of all the films this year which have electrified and astounded me with that abrasive and beautiful power of capital-M Movies, none felt more alive than Marty Supreme. The film’s clever depiction of restlessness and youth and ambition transcend the confines of table tennis (though indeed an exciting sport to watch onscreen), and detail the scrappy relentlessness of Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet). Marty Supreme, apart from being well-acted and superbly stylish, follows the important cinematic tradition of watching a gambler try to win when he should be trying to get whole. It’s as thrilling as Uncut Gems, but far grander and more moving. I love films that do what Scorsese was doing in the ’90s – examining the chase, the dream, the ceaseless ambition with which overconfident and overzealous protagonists let consume them, and then collapse into the fallout. It’s the rise and fall of capitalist desire. These films live out the psychology of what they depict, and it feels honest. The dream is nauseating and disappointing, beautiful but empty. They chase it anyway.
