Cinephiles have already heard from John Waters, Sight And Sound, AFI, and Cahiers du Cinéma about their annual top films of 2025 list. Now it’s Film Comment’s turn and, to the surprise of no one, a certain auteurist big send sits atop their ranking: Paul Thomas Anderson‘s “One Battle After Another.” Sight And Sound also awarded Anderson’s latest its #1 slot, with Cahiers du Cinéma placing it #2, and AFI placing it on their unranked top 10 standings.
In fact, a lot of the movies Film Comment ranks in their top 10 should be familiar to those who perused the lists mentioned above. Film Comment’s #2, Kelly Reichardt‘s “The Mastermind,” landed on Sight And Sound’s list at #3. And FC’s #3, Kleber Mendonça Filho‘s “The Secret Agent,” landed at #4 for Cahiers and #5 for Sight and Sound. Again, this should come as no surprise for movie fans; both of those films had buzzy, positive world premieres at Cannes this year, with Reichardt’s latest picking up more steam as 2025 went on.
Two more Cannes 2025 premieres made Film Comment’s list too: Jafar Panahi‘s “It Was Just An Accident” at #4 and Oliver Laxe‘s “Sirāt” at #8; Sight and Sound championed both, while Waters named “Sirāt” as #4. Film Comment and Waters also agreed on Alain Guiraudie‘s rural psychosexual thriller “Misericordia,” with both placing it at #7, while FC and Cahiers both loved Albert Serra‘s bullfighting doc “Afternoons Of Solitude“; FC ranked that #6, while Serra’s latest was Cahiers’ #1.
So what does that leave in Film Comment’s top 10? Two auteurist pictures: Jai Zhangke‘s “Caught By The Tides” came in at #5 and David Cronenberg‘s “The Shrouds” at #9, as well as Mary Bronstein‘s manic drama “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” at #10. FC was the only publication to rank those films in its top 10. Also of note: Ryan Coogler‘s “Sinners” just missed the cut, falling to #11. The rest of Film Comment’s top 20 is a little more novel. There’s some love for Ira Sachs‘ latest, as well as Richard Linklater‘s “Blue Moon,” and some other festival favorites that deserve end-of-the-year recognition, too.
But Film Comment also does another annual list, the top 10 Undistributed Films Of 2025: noteworthy movies that didn’t get a US theatrical or streaming release. Kamal Aljafari‘s “With Hasan In Gaza” takes the top spot there, with Lucrecia Martel‘s “Nuestra Terra” as the runner-up. Other noteworthy films on that list include Ross McElwee‘s “Remake,” which had a buzzy world premiere on the Lido at Venice, and Pedro Pinho‘s “I Only Rest In The Storm,” with Cahiers du Cinéma ranked #5 on their 2025 list.
Take a look at both of Film Comment’s lists below.
Film Comment’s Top 20 Films Released in 2025
- One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson, U.S.
- The Mastermind, Kelly Reichardt, U.S.
- The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany
- It Was Just an Accident, Jafar Panahi, Iran/France/Luxembourg
- Caught by the Tides, Jia Zhangke, China
- Afternoons of Solitude, Albert Serra, Spain
- Misericordia, Alain Guiraudie, France
- Sirāt, Oliver Laxe, France/Spain
- The Shrouds, David Cronenberg, France/Canada
- If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Mary Bronstein, U.S.
- Sinners, Ryan Coogler, U.S.
- Grand Tour, Miguel Gomes, Portugal/Italy/France
- Peter Hujar’s Day, Ira Sachs, U.S.
- Familiar Touch, Sarah Friedland, U.S.
- By the Stream, Hong Sangsoo, South Korea
- Henry Fonda for President, Alexander Horwath, Austria/Germany
- Blue Moon, Richard Linklater, U.S./Ireland
- DIRECT ACTION, Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell, France/Germany
- Sound of Falling, Mascha Schilinski, Germany
- On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Rungano Nyoni, Zambia/U.K./Ireland
Film Comment’s Top 10 Undistributed Films of 2025
- With Hasan in Gaza, Kamal Aljafari, Germany/Palestine/France/Qatar
- Nuestra Tierra (Landmarks), Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/U.S./Mexico/France/Netherlands/Denmark
- Remake, Ross McElwee, U.S.
- Levers, Rhayne Vermette, Canada
- I Only Rest in the Storm, Pedro Pinho, Portugal/Brazil/France/Romania
- Escape, Masao Adachi, Japan
- Pin de fartie, Alejo Moguillansky, Argentina
- Bouchra, Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani, Italy/Morocco/U.S.
- Seeds, Brittany Shyne, U.S.
- Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes, Gabriel Azorín, Spain/Portugal
