Its a Wrap: 2025 in Film

Emily Maskell

Five personal favourite films of2025

Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)

Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)

April (Dea Kulumbegashvili)

Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)

On Falling (Laura Carreira)

Cinematographer of theyear

Darius Khondji (Mickey 17)

Below theline

Léo Silly-Pélissier (Animation director, Flow)

Old guard

Stellan Skarsgård

New school

Chase Infiniti

It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it

Bridget Jones: Mad About theBoy

Great picture… Ihated it!

KPop Demon Hunters

Physical media release of2025

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Criterion Collection)

A wish for the cinema of2026…

For women directors behind fantastic debuts to get backing for their second films!

Josh Slater-Williams

Five personal favourite films of2025

One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Super Happy Forever (Kohei Igarashi)

The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)

Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)

Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Cinematographer of theyear

Michael Bauman (One Battle After Another)

Below theline

Lloyd and Rose Buck (Hawk trainers for His for Hawk)

Old guard

Delroy Lindo

New school

Lily Collias (Good One, Roofman)

Best non-fiction

The Encampments

It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it

I don’t really subscribe to this notion, but… Final Destination: Bloodlines?

Great picture… Ihated it!

Anemone is pretty good for the first 25minutes or so. Afterthat…

Physical media release of2025

Takashi Ishii: 4Tales of Nami (Third Window Films)

A wish for the cinema of2026…

No more studio mergers. Hell, break up some of the existing mergers.

Willow Maclay

Five personal favourite films of2025

Eephus (Carson Lund)

The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)

Castration Movie Anthology II: The Best of Both Worlds (Louise Weard)

If IHad Legs I’d Kick You (Mary Bronstein)

One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Cinematography

Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Sinners)

Below theline

Ruth ECarter (Costume designer, Sinners)

Old guard

Sissy Spacek and NickNolte

New school

Alexandria Walton and IvyWolk

Best non-fiction

Mutineer (Scout Tafoya)

It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it

Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay)

Great picture… Ihated it!

Weapons (Zach Cregger)

Physical media release of2025

A New Leaf 4K (OCN)

A wish for the cinema of2026…

A total rejection of generative AI.

Tom Huddleston

Five personal favourite films of2025

One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)

The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)

28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)

Sirat (Oliver Laxe)

It Was Just An Accident (Jafar Panahi)

Cinematographer of theyear

Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Sinners)

Below theline

Paul Katte and Nick Nicolaou (Special makeup effects designers, Bring Her Back), that shit was fucking gnarly.

Old guard

Benicio del Toro – just adorable inOBAA.

New school

Harry Melling, inevitably.

Best non-fiction

The Voice of HindRajab

It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it

I reject the premise of the category, but Iguess Wake Up Dead Man?

Great picture… Ihated it!

The Phoenician Scheme

Physical media release of2025

The Conversation StudioCanal boxset.

A wish for the cinema of2026…

One decent tentpole blockbuster, for the love ofGod.

Esmé Holden

Five personal favourite films of2025

Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)

28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)

Youth (Homecoming) (WangBing)

Cent mille milliards (Virgil Vernier)

Cinematographer of theyear

Nothing from this year comes close to Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985), which got abeautiful new 4K restoration and re-release this year, and so technically counts.

Below theline

Every Union organiser, especially those fighting the slop wave ofAI.

Old guard

Ralph Fiennes (28 Years Later)

New school

Despite nepo-baby credentials, Mia Threapleton proves she’s the genuine article in The Phoenician Scheme.

Best non-fiction

Being John Smith (John Smith), amediation on the avant-garde directors boring name and the imminence of death; very true of the British psyche in its constant self-deprecation and introverted disappointment atlife.

It’s f***kin’ trash but Iloved it

Baby Invasion (Harmony Korine) embraces the slop world we live in, mostly for the worse, but Icouldn’t look away. Like anight lost to Instagram Reels; addictively bleak and pointless.

Great picture… Ihated it!

One Battle After Another, for as accomplished and thrilling as it often is, PTA pushes up against the limits of his own ideas and comes out looking comfortably self-defeating and alittle petite bourgeois.

A wish for the cinema of2026…

If movies can look just alittle more beautiful next year, and then that trend continues every year, then in afew decades we might be able to get back to the standard we used to beat.