Nirris Nagendrarajah's Best 10 Movies of 2025

      Following The Film Stage's collective top 50 films of 2025 as part of our year-end review, our contributors are presenting their individual top 10 lists.

      While it has its critics (including Lav Diaz), I view list-making as a beneficial and enjoyable practice for critics. After screening nearly 200 films, it's essential to reflect on what resonated with you and what didn't; to assess where you may have focused too much or too little attention; to recognize which images linger in your memory and where you might venture next to keep things interesting. Such a list presents an opportunity to highlight films that may not have received significant exposure since much gets overlooked, while also deliberately setting aside those that have garnered excessive attention.

      I observed, for instance, that I was drawn to films adapted from or about writers; those featuring women on the brink of a breakdown or young women coming-of-age; and those that are formally daring enough to push cinema forward. In the upcoming year, I aim to explore more films from various parts of the globe, to seek out more experimental works that challenge me in a meaningful, inspiring, and intriguing way. I desire to be surprised.

      I imposed a limitation on myself while carefully assembling this list: not to discuss any film I have previously reviewed or summarized, as often, as a freelance critic, you're unable to write about the films you truly love. These ten films created a constellation of similar sensibilities and approaches that, as I reflected on them, also chronicled my year.

      Favorite First-Time Watches of 2025: Millennium Actress, A Woman is A Woman, The Watermelon Woman, Up Down Fragile, Batang West Side, Easter Parade, Late August Early September, Who Do We See When We Look At The Sky?, and Panic Bodies.

      Honorable Mentions: On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, April, BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, Việt and Nam, By the Stream, Caught by the Tides, Black Bag & Presence, Misericordia, and Happyend.

      10. What Does That Nature Say To You (Hong Sangsoo)

      Delving into themes of fame, familial obligations, artistic calling, and romantic compatibility, What Does That Nature Say To You neither glorifies nor denigrates its main character, Donghwa, an aspiring poet who seeks to resist the current of a conventional life, desiring to slow down and immerse himself in the present moment—an experience that unfolds not amidst society but in solitude with nature. He writes, sketches, and captures fleeting moments in the air. Hong’s films feel like those rare stretches where you find yourself enveloped by a few distinct personalities and their motivations, revealing parts of your soul to them, facing a moment of tension, and then privately casting your verdict. Will Donghwa evade his father's influence? Only time will reveal the answer: for now, he is savoring the joys of a simple, independent existence.

      9. The Virgin of Quarry Lake (Laura Casabé)

      Hell hath no wrath like a woman wronged! The struggles of desire in a woman’s youth have inspired countless films, but none are as fierce and punk as Laura Casabé’s The Virgin of Quarry Lake, adapted from Mariana Enríquez's short fiction. The lead, Natalia (portrayed by Dolores Oliverio in a breakout role), possesses Carrie-like abilities that cause harm to a harasser and unleash violence upon those who reject her love. The magical realism embedded within the many violent scenes—against a lover who has moved on—feels wholly justified. A refreshing, entertaining magic-realist escape from conventional storytelling. I left the theater laughing, which is rare for me.

      8. Peter Hujar’s Day (Ira Sachs)

      In an intriguing way, the nostalgic aura of Peter Hujar’s Day, alongside Bernadette Meyer’s Midwinter Day, evoked Catherine Breillat’s Anatomy of Hell, a film exploring the fag-hag dynamic, the joy of self-expression, and the shared neuroses of creative minds. Here, Sachs, who is currently in a prolific phase, maximizes the material available, allowing Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall to showcase their effortless star power once again. The small visual surprises—like blurring Hall’s face and shifting to Whishaw, the overexposed frames, and the grand photographic inserts—enhance the dialogue's texture and immerse us further into these characters’ conversations. It’s a film one could imagine Fassbinder or Duras creating.

      7. The Chronology of Water (Kirsten Stewart)

      What is the expected behavior of a film? With The Chronology of Water, adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir, director and screenwriter Kirsten Stewart confidently provides an answer: jagged, frenzied, and as chaotic as the mind of its protagonist, played by the fierce Imogen Poots, whose distinct beauty and extensive range have never been utilized in this way before. The