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For all the talk about the end of the theatre experience, 2025 was a year of transformation for an industry that hasn’t yet recovered from both the pandemic and the change in consumption habits from streaming services. The myriad of choices of services, and how much each of them cost, made it more difficult for films locked inside specific services don’t get the chance to be culturally influenced as before when everyone signed up to the same company. So are movies back? I wish I could say so but I’m forever the optimist. One of the biggest box office successes was a gender-bending original story, and the bet Warner Bros placed on Paul Thomas Anderson paid off in profit, critic’s success, and probably awards. Netflix reserved their most exciting releases to the end of the year, and I still feel that at least two of them would’ve done really well on a normal theatrical run.

All in all it was a good year for cinema. It wasn’t easy choosing 15 titles without feeling regret of not including others, and even now as I’m looking at the films we reviewed this year, I’m left with a gnawing sense I could’ve maybe nudged another one in. Also important to note the absences because I haven’t been able to see, including the new Joachim Trier Sentimental Value, Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams, Nia da Costa’s Hedda and Avatar: Fire and Ash.

Honorable mentions

Every title in this list could’ve made the top in any other year. In fact, some of these titles could potentially go up the scale in the near future. Especially Tim Mielants’ Small Things Like These, a profound and simple analysis of the impact of the Magdalene asylums in an everyday Irish man. It’s trauma that perpetuates. Rasoulof’s The Seet of the Sacred Fig, about two sisters accused by their father of stealing a gun during Iran’s student protest is a tremendous achievement, as much as Akiva Schaffer’s improbably funny The Naked Gun. Ari Aster, David Cronenberg, Paul Schaffer, Luca Guadagnino and Yorgos Lanthimos all caused division by swinging to the fences, in my opinion they all achieved in delivered great films (and Guadagnino, who released two, still makes it to the final list), and Australia’s Went Up The Hill was my favourite Australian film of the year. Sad, grieving, and exactly how to make a gothic love story in the Southern Hemisphere. And then there’s The Mastermind, which really almost made it to the final list and if you ask me again tomorrow will probably be there. It’s Kelly Reichardt’s funniest film, more punk rock, and the one where she really channels the spirit of Hal Ashby.

I’m Still Here by Walter Salles
The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof
Mickey 17 by Bong Joon-Ho
Black Bag by Steven Soderbergh
Flow by Gints Zilbalodis
Oh, Canada by Paul Schrader
Small Things Like These by Tim Mielants
The Phoenician Scheme by Wes Anderson
The Shrouds by David Cronenberg
Friendship by Andrew DeYoung
The Mastermind by Kelly Reichardt
Weapons by Zach Cregger
Eddington by Ari Aster
The Naked Gun by Akiva Schaffer
Went Up The Hill by Samuel Van Grinsven
Superman by James Gunn
The Smashing Machine by Benny Safdie
After The Hunt by Luca Guadagnino
Twinless by James Sweeney
Bugonia by Yorgos Lanthimos
Lurker by Alex Russell
The History of Sound by Oliver Hermanus

15. Bird

It’s so refreshing to see a filmmaker like Andrea Arnold re-invent herself with such gusto, because I wouldn’t guess this is from the same director behind Fish Tank and the 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights. An effective socially conscious drama that doesn’t exploit its subject and instead celebrates their humanity and tenacity. Nykiya Adams is one of the revelations of the year, and Barry Keoghan drops a performance so ecstatic it makes me hope he doesn’t waste his talents in the Hollywood machine. All accompanied by a cracking soundtrack that includes Fontaines D.C., Universal by Blur and Cotton Eye Joe.

14. Warfare

And the award for the most misunderstood film of the year goes to Alex Garland’s Warfare, a film that has been accused of military propaganda by people who haven’t seen it. An intense and brutal account of an attack on a navy SEALs platoon in Iraq is an excuse for Garland to highlight the metaphor of the American military system. The camera doesn’t shy away from the pain, the blood, the suffering and the trauma. The soldiers, who at the start sing and display their relentless masculinity and patriotism, are shells of humans at the end. But it’s Iraq, destroyed, traumatised, despondent, that remains. The last word of the film is of a shocked woman grabbing the American soldier and shouting “WHY?” to him. The one question the film doesn’t answer.

13. Die My Love

Lynne Ramsay returns after eight years with a film that could easily be a companion piece to her feature Morvern Callar. Grace, played exquisitely by Jennifer Lawrence, is a young mother affected by serious mental health issues, but unlike films like Nightbitch and this year’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, the problem stems from the systemic toxicity of society towards mental health issues. It’s probably Lawrence’s best performance, bringing her best Gena Rowlands through grit of teeth.

12. Frankenstein

Every person responsible for not giving this film the theatrical release it deserves should be sent to the gallows. Guillermo Del Toro’s passion project is imbued with the spirit of Mary Shelley’s novel, even in the parts Del Toro dares to change, like the new ending. The result is a unique blend of gothic romance, horror, and Shakesperean tenacity elevated by a gorgeously theatrical performance from Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Oscar Isaacs and Christoph Waltz.

11. Marty Supreme

This is the year the Safdie brothers separated and released their own films. Benny had The Smashing Machine but it’s Josh who took the prize of the best picture with this engrossing film about a young American ping-pong player (played by Timothée Chalamet) grifting his way to the top. Like all grifters, that becomes the reason of his success and subsequent downfall. The ending is a bit of a cop-out for me, but everything until then is electric filmmaking with some of the most impressive supporting cast, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Tyler the Creator, and Kevin O’Leary of all people. Out in Australia on January 22.

10. Hard Truths

It’s strange to say that Mike Leigh’s latest wouldn’t work as well if it wasn’t for the thunderous performance of Marianne Jean-Baptiste, since Leigh himself is one of the most experienced filmmakers around, whose instincts are almost always right. But without Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths wouldn’t hit the same chord. She plays woman consumed by anger and how that affects her relationship with her husband and son, her sister, and the people who stand in her way. Trauma plays a part, but it’s our lack of communication that spreads these sentiments. How Leigh, and Jean-Baptiste, deal with it is a lesson every filmmaker should take.

9. Highest 2 Lowest

I’m baffled by how Spike Lee’s new joint was received. It’s a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic High and Low, here about a music producer, played by Denzel Washington, looking for his son who was kidnapped. But more importantly it’s about culture how it remains in the footprint of New York, even as cost of living and insidious gentrification tries its might to break what makes that city special. Read somewhere that this is Lee’s most conservative film, and couldn’t disagree more. I think this is at his most alert and read to fight for the people who made him.

8. My Favourite Cake

I caught this little film directed by Iranian duo Behtash Sanaeeha and Maram Moghaddam during the Persian Film Festival, and can see it’s now available to stream for free on SBS On Demand and to rent on Apple and Amazon. It’s probably my biggest recommendation on this list. On the surface is a heartwarming story of love at old age. A widow in Tehran goes on a date with an old taxi driver, defying notions of age but also of government control (the woman defends a young lady who is not wearing a hijab against the police, and later she unearths a hidden bottle of wine to have in her date), but right as the audience is comfortable, Sanaeeha and Moghaddam pull the rug under our feet. I’m not ashamed to say this film made me cry profoundly.

7. 28 Years Later

Danny Boyle and his writer Alex Garland return to the world they created in 28 Days Later where the United Kingdom is taken by infected “not-zombies” and the few survivors find refuge in small communities. In here a father and son who live in a closed island community go on a journey in the mainland looking for a doctor (played by Ralph Fiennes) who may have a way to treat their sickly mother. The desolation of the land contrasts perfectly with the feeling of hopelessness and the inevitability of death that afflicts even those strong enough to survive. For the most part it’s a compelling watch (that scene with the pregnant infected giving birth to a baby scarred me), but it’s the epilogue that opens up the franchise to place I don’t think anyone expected. If anything this shows how much both Boyle and Garland grew as artists.

6. Queer

Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs controversial partial-autobiography is the most beautifully poetic film of the year. Daniel Craig plays a gay American writer in Mexico who develops two obsessions, one with another American young man, and the other with experiencing the effects of Ayahuasca. Accompanied by a terrific soundtrack and an expected supporting cast, including Jason Schwartzman as a character inspired by Allen Ginsberg, and Lesley Manville as the mysterious doctor living in the deep jungle. I happily showed it to my wife who later confessed the film had made her too sad, and I understand. It’s not a relaxed watch, but it’s so effective at touching that part of your soul that tells you that maybe we’re all made to be alone.

5. It Was Just An Accident

Winner of this year’s Cannes Palm d’Or, Jafar Panahi’s masterpiece is set to be released in Australia on January 29. It’s the story of a group of people who kidnap a man who may be their former tortured. The event brings up all the trauma that many of them tried to bury, and it reveals in others a hidden will for revenge. And yet Panahi also add beautiful moments of comedy that remind him how Iran can change through the power of oppression, but the spirit of its people remain. The ending courageous, especially that last breath-taking shot.

4. Sorry, Baby

Eva Victor’s directorial debut is so well written and constructed it feels like the work of an experienced director. Victor plays a professor in a local college dealing with the jealousy of her peers, the absence of her best friends, and the day she was sexually assaulted by another professor of that same college when she was a student there. She was never given the chance to properly deal with the pain of what happened, and instead the ghost of lingers as career take her to even occupy the office of the man who attacked her. But Victor addresses the elephant in the room with such assuredness. Everyone deal with distress differently, and that’s ok.

3. Sinners

What a year this was, where that one of the biggest box-office success is an original story that starts as a gangster-blues-drama set in the American South during the prohibition, and halfway through becomes a vampire story. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is the kind of American classic that will hold the test of time. Intelligent, bloody, sexy, so connected to the roots of the African-American experience, it’s almost improbable that it was released without producers notes. Halfway through there’s a scene that celebrates how cultures merge through time and space, and I almost got up and applauded halfway through. Blockbusters were made to be like this.

2. The Brutalist

For some it was a release from last year but I, like most Australians, only saw this film when it was released here in January. A lot has been said this film but for me, as an immigrant myself, is the best representation of the immigrant experience, when you don’t feel like you belong anywhere, and the powers that control you are also the powers that exploit you and spit you out. The ending, for me, is a depressing one, where Lazlo Toth, played by Adrien Brody, gives in to become all he ever stood against. It’s not growth, it’s survival. And nothing is sadder.

1. One Battle After Another

What else could it be? Paul Thomas Anderson’s anti-fascist epic about the generations of people who have been trying to stand up against the treachery of capitalism and white supremacy. Like all his films it’s a complex web of ideas and philosophies that many have accused of misrepresenting and fetichising African-American women, a conversation I’m unfortunately ill-equipped to have. For me it’s a cry to rally a new generation, not specific on who we’re fighting for, but aware of the importance to fight anyway. Sean Penn plays the villain with much disgust, but for me the women stand out on their representation of womanhood across three ideas: the young idealist (Chase Inifiniti as the big revelation of the film), the old idealist who refused to back down (Teyana Taylor) and the level-headed who is ready to rise up when the call to action comes (Regina Hall). And then there’s Anderson, forever an enfant terrible, here openly mocking conservative outdated ideas, attacking the established for its connections to white supremacy, and then finishing the film with a car chase so well shot he does things I’ve never seen on film before. This is the film this year that perfectly addresses our collective concerns by reminding us that, like Gil Scott-Heron said, the revolution will not be televised.

Ticket giveaway – Sentimental Value

LSJ and Madman Entertainment have seven double passes for the upcoming film SENTIMENTAL VALUE.

Directed by Joachim Trier (The Worst Person In the World). Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he’s given her part to an eager young Hollywood star. Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their complicated relationship with their father and deal with an American star dropped right into the middle of their complex family dynamics. Starring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleass, Elle Fanning. In cinemas on Christmas Day. Watch the trailer here.

For a chance to win one of the double passes, email your LawId and postal address to journal@lawsociety.com.au with the subject line SENTIMENTAL VALUE before 9am Monday 22 December.