"it turns out, as it almost always does, that there were a lot of great movies that came out this year. My top-ten list should be a top-20 list (and if you follow me on social media, that's what you will get), and it could easily be a top-30 list. I was encouraged this year by the return of lyricism, by directors taking big swings, by the fact that all these movies were all so damned enjoyable."
"There's a tender tale here also of displacement, gentrification, privilege, as well as the desire to lash out at a system using the very means and methods of that system. And the fact that this picture then went on to have its sold-out world premiere at the struggling movie theater inside that very same mall where these men and women were once accused of trespassing is a supreme irony for our times."
Cinema in 2025 produced numerous notable films characterized by a return to lyricism, adventurous directorial choices, and strong audience enjoyment even when engaging bleak subjects. Several movies achieved catharsis by confronting child mortality and democratic collapse while remaining pleasurable to watch. Jeremy Workman’s Secret Mall Apartment documents a group of young outsider artists who occupied a neglected corner of a Providence mall from 2003 for four years, probing displacement, gentrification, privilege, and creative rebellion; the film premiered sold out at the mall’s struggling movie theater. Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner centers on former political prisoners contending with notions of revenge.
#best-films-2025 #lyricism-in-cinema #documentary-secret-mall-apartment #political-drama-jafar-panahi
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