4 days ago
From Weapons to Materialists: dis na di 16 best films of 2025 so far
BBC film critics Caryn James and Nicholas Barber pick dia cinema highlights of di year so far, from "unique" new horror Weapons to "delightful almost romcom" Materialists.
1. Weapons
Weapons start at 02:17, in di night for one unnamed suburb, wen 17 young children from di same primary school class comot from dia beds, leave dia houses, and run into di darkness.
From dat time, di locals dey try to question wetin happun and why. Di solution to di supernatural mystery dey straightforward, but Zach Cregger, di writer-director of Barbarian (2022), take usual way to shockingly end di finale, as several characters in succession dey experience di events as dem dey show am: di children bitter teacher (Julia Garner), dia stressed headteacher (Benedict Wong) angry parent (Josh Brolin), troubled policeman (Alden Ehrenreich), and more.
Along di way, Cregger demonstrate im masterly control of countless horror elements, from nerve-frazzling silences to gasp-out-loud gore, from creepy surrealism to surprising humour. But na di bright mosaic of ordinary American life na im make Weapons unique. Na Paul Thomas Anderson Magnolia and Robert Altman Raymond Carver influence di adaptation, Short Cuts, e feel like one whole new kind of horror film. (NB)
2. Highest 2 Lowest
Dis ogbonge, thriller dey inspired by Akira Kurosawa 1963 High and Low, but na pure Spike Lee, wey be high praise. Denzel Washington dey play as music-industry boss, David King, wey dem hold im teenage son for ransom, e turn out say di kidnapper don mistakenly take di son of King assistant (Jeffrey Wright). Shey di cash-strapped King go pay for anoda pesin pikin? Dat moral problem give shape to Lee usual tropes, wey turn into one smooth film.
E get deeply rooted awareness of race and class as common social issues. E get glowing visuals, including King luxurious Brooklyn penthouse, wey dey filled wit work by black artists. E get vibrant music from rap, salsa to full orchestral soundtrack. And as King engage wit di kidnapper, e get dis inspiring chase though New York subways during di crowded Puerto Rican Day celebration.
Washington play im best (no scenery chomping here) and A$AP Rocky give one fantastic performance in di supporting role. E get few lines of dialogue, but wen we go into di territory of Spike Lee film. Gripping and virtuosic, Highest 2 Lowest fit no come from no one else. (CJ)
3. Bring Her Back
Danny and Michael Philippou make one suprising switch from YouTubers to feature-feem directors wit dia ghostly chiller Talk to Me in 2022 – and di Australian twin brothers' follow-up dey even better.
Bring Her Back na di carefully constructed, stickily atmospheric tale of one orphaned brother and sister, wey Billy Barratt and Sora Wong play, dem send to go live wit one welcoming – may be too welcoming – foster mother, wey Sally Hawkins play. Di tin be say Philippous take di feem horror and drama seriously. Rather dan make im do cheap jump scares or artificial twists, im tell one powerful emotional story about three-dimensional pipo for one believably live-in setting; e just happun say dis particular story involve demonic possession and flesh-eating zombies.
E dey instense and different enough to establish di brothers as two of today finest horror film-makers. And if Oscar voters pay more attention to di genre, den Hawkins fit be one of di contender for di best actress prize. (NB)
4. Materialists
Jane Austen know say money and marriage dey go togeda, and Celine Song don smartly take dat idea, along wit one great deal of irony, into di 21st Century for dis delightful almost-romcom. Materialists fit look like one traditional romantic comedy, but e don break from any stock notion of di genre and offer one clear-eye view of relationships in our material world.
Song get one way of bringing out light-handed performances from her glittering cast, wit Dakota Johnson as Lucy, one professional matchmaker wey gatz choose between two men in her own life.
Make we face am, dia no be bad choice here. Chris Evans na di ex wey still love her, but fit only offer di life of a struggling actor – and Lucy no want to be poor. Pedro Pascal na di billionaire wey actually dey listen to her. Pascal, as usual, na di perfect blend of charm and sincerity.
Yet for all Song practical, non-judgemental view of how money dey factor into relationships, she no dey feel bad about love. Following Song first feem, Past Lives, dis na anoda gem from one of today most original film-makers. (CJ)
5. The Ballad of Wallis Island
Dis lovely British comedy stars dia two writers, Tom Basden and Tim Key, alongside one bright Carey Mulligan. Key dey play Charles, one funny lottery winner wey di favourite folks play, Herb McGwyer (Basden) and (Mulligan), dem put on live show on di small island wia e dey live. Di trouble na say di two of dem don break up years ago, both professionally and personally, and Charles neva tell any of dem say di oda pesin go dey on di island.
Sensitively directed by James Griffiths, The Ballad of Wallis Island na big victory. E dey big-hearted, sincere and picturesque, wit characters you care about, but e also dey consistently funny from start to finish. Charles dialogue, in particular, dey so tightly pack with intention funny catchphrases wey be say you go want to rewatch di feem as soon as e finish to catch any punchlines you miss di first time round. (NB)
6. Lurker
Of di many feems wey don deal wit fame in di age of social media, wit di seemingly close but unreal bond between fan and celebrity, few dey as accomplished or up-to-di-minute as dis piercing psychological thriller.
For im first film, writer and director Alex Russell (a writer and producer on The Bear and Beef) expertly control di story trajectory as di central character cross di line from superfandom to a toxic parasocial relationship.
Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) dey work as a shop assistant wen pop music star Oliver (a charismatic Archie Madekwe) waka come. Di enthusiastic Matthew come join Oliver entourage, but although di film give us im point of view, e no make am a hero. As an audience we squirm at di way im allow imsef to dey ridiculed and treated as a mascot. And wen Oliver come freeze am out, Matthew go over di edge.
Wia most films about fandom head straight into horror, dis savvy, chilling portrait dey more effective becos e only eventually arrive at stalkery suspense. Along di way e expose di all-too-common roots of delusions about fame. (CJ)
7. Companion
Di sharpest American indie film of di year so far, Companion dey star Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher as a devoted young couple wey go stay with some friends for one Russian tycoon remote forest getaway. (Rupert Friend get a hilarious cameo as di mulleted oligarch.)
As a drunken evening of confessions, suspicions and disagreements unfold, at first, e be like say di film na romantic comedy, or maybe a noirish thriller about a robbery gone wrong. In fact, Companion na a science-fiction comedy thriller – but beyond dat, di less you know about di film in advance, di more enjoyable di many ingenious twists and turns go be.
Even though say di big-screen debut of writer-director Drew Hancock na sparklingly entertaining satire on modern technology and di never-more-relevant topic of how entitled and misogynistic certain insecure young men fit be. And e pack all of di ideas into 97 minutes. (NB)
8. Sinners
As stunning as Ryan Coogler Black Panther bin be, im don outdo himself with Sinners. Michael B Jordan dey slyly convincing as twins named Smoke and Stack, wey return from Chicago to dia home town in Mississippi, for di Jim Crow South in 1932, to open a juke joint.
With huge ambition and imagination, Coogler build familiar genres and tropes into a wholly original film wey blur di real and di supernatural. Sinners na a period piece as well as a vampire film. Na drama about racism, family, superstition and spirituality, and e come with passionate sex and excitong blues music.
Coogler direct am with vibrant style, at times creating a phantasmagoria wey robe African musicians to appear next to rappers. Di first hour dey so full of texture e fit stand alone as a period film, but di supernatural eventually enter, leading to a finale of action, blood and vengeance.
Jordan dey surrounded by a superb supporting cast, including Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Musaku and Hailee Steinfeld. Sex, blues and vampires at di door? Wetin pesin want again from a film? (CJ)
9. Art for Everybody
Miranda Yousef interesting documentary dey tell di stranger-than-fiction story of Thomas Kinkade, one of di biggest-selling artists in history.
Critics dismiss im work say e dey very sickly, but in di 1990s and 2000s, e get some shops all around di US wey bin dey devote to Kinkade sentimental pictures of cosy country cottages.
Art for Everybody dey ask fascinating questions about who get to decide wetin fit count as legitimate art, and weda some paintings fit dey more moral than odas – questions wey still dey resonate today, in light of di continuing culture wars in di US. But Yousef delicately balanced and sensitive film dey just as fascinating on personal issues as e dey on sociopolitical ones.
A key part of Kinkade marketing na im carefully constructed public image as a devoutly Christian, all-American family man, and yet di so-called "Painter of Light" get a dark side, too. Abi di pressures of being a squeaky-clean Dr Jekyll push am into becoming a self-destructive Mr Hyde? (NB)
10. Warfare
Alex Garland, di writer and director of Civil War, and Ray Mendoza, a veteran wey bin be di film military advisor, create a harrowing, visceral, real-time drama wey recreate an actual battle between Navy Seals and al-Qaeda jihadists.
Garland virtuoso technique and Mendoza first-hand experience of war blend in a film of uncompromising focus, wey push us into di intensity of combat without explanation or backstory. Yet di faces of Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis and D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai dey enof to capture di fear and determination of being under siege.
Creating characters far from di bravado of typical Hollywood war films, di actors display courage in battle as a terror-filled endurance test. Di film dip us inside dat feeling. E dey loud and intense, relentless in di barrage of grenades and gunfire, and wen di cries of pain from di injured men start, dem never stop. Warfare na a dazzling technical achievement but much more.
Focusing on di personal cost of combat and violence itself rather than di politics of di Iraq conflict, e reinvent di war film with freshness and immediacy. (CJ)
11. Bring Them Down
Barry Keoghan, Christopher Abbott and Colm Meaney star for dis dark and bloody western-style thriller about a gbege between sheep farmers for remote rural Ireland.
Meaney and Abbott (wey speak dia dialogue in Irish) play a laconic father and son wey loose dia two prize rams, only to discover say dem dey stolen by dia neighbour lazy son (Keoghan). Accusations run left and right, resentments reach boiling point, and violence breakout – but then Christopher Andrews, di film debut writer-director, rewind di story and replay am from a revelatory new perspective. Suddenly, a hard-boiled story of crime and retribution don become an aching tragedy about desperate economic hardship, youthful stupidity, male pride, and di traumas wey dey passed down from stubborn fathers to stubborn sons.
Bring Them Down dey tough to watch but e also dey beautifully shot, cleverly plotted and stunningly powerful. (NB)
12. Misericordia
Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) engaging feem dey full of surprises. E start as drama about Jeremie, one young man wey dey return to im small village for di lush French countryside for one funeral, den e become one quietly comic take on desire along with a thriller about covering up a murder.
Di film skillfully carry di audience with am through all dis turns. Jeremie na opportunist but also an enigma. E be like say e get a passion for his former boss and mentor, di village baker, wey die. Di baker widow definitely dey interested in Jeremie, wey grow up as di best friend of her son, Vincent; he now angrily dey suspect Jeremie of wanting to sleep with im mother.
Jeremie no want dat wan bute find imself in a reluctant affair with di local priest. Di joke be say so many pipo dey lust after di unremarkable Jeremie, and di suspense dey come from di small-town eyes and local police wey dey wonder wetin happen wen Vincent mysteriously disappear. Misericordia (Latin for mercy) dey nominated for eight Cesar awards, dat na di French equivalent of di Oscars, including film and director, but di human comedy land easily with audiences evriwia. (CJ)
13. Holy Cow
Deep in di leafy French countryside, one lazy and messy teenage Totone (Clément Faveau) get to look afta im younger sister Claire (Luna Garret) afta dia papa suddenly die. Di papa answer to dia financial problems? Making award-winning luxury cheese.
Louise Courvoisier debut film na heart-tugging coming-of-age drama, e dey rooted in di soil of di Jura region wia she grow up. She offer one earthy insider view of how tough life fit be for agricultural workers, and how painful e be wen carefree youth turn to relentless, responsible adulthood.
But she also create one warm, romantic, gorgeously scenic and ultimately hopeful tale of underdogs working togeda inside sunshine to improve dia lives. Blessed na di cheesemakers, as Monty Python put am one time. (NB)
14. The Friend
One giant, slow Great Dane dey drag Naomi Watts around di streets of Manhattan, but by di end of dis lovely feem wey dey about affection and grief di physical comedy wit di dog be like small tin.
Watts play Iris smoothly, one creative writing teacher wey her best friend, Walter, one famous womanising author, kill imself. E give her im dog, Apollo, even though she dey live for one one-room apartment inside one pet-free building. Dealing wit Apollo come become a way for Iris to struggle wit her feelings of love and loss for Walter, na Bill Murray play di flashback scenes filled wit such wit and tenderness, wey get one big impact even though e get small screen time.
Base di on Sigrid Nunez revealing, 2018 novel, di feem wey Scott McGehee and David Siegel direct, im feem include di underrated Montana Story (2021) wit Haley Lu Richardson and Owen Teague.
Avoiding mawkish clichés, dem create di best feem wey dey funny and touching weda you be pet lover or not.
Come for di lively Great Dane, stay for di beautifully rendered emotions. (CJ)
15. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Aardman two greatest heroes don come back – and wit dia dishonest rivary, one demonic penguin wey dem name Feathers McGraw.
Na Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham direct am, di Oscar-nominated Vengeance Most Fowl na chock-full of di qualities wey make Wallace & Gromit dramatic adventures so cherished: di painstaking stop-motion claymation, di Heath Robinson-style gadgetry, di winking homages to classic cinema, di gleefully silly British humour, and di deep affection for di characters and dia world.
Above all, na treat to see Feathers McGraw, more dan 30 years afta dem introduce am in The Wrong Trousers. But more dey to di Bristol-based studio new feem than di old quality you fit dey expect.
Wen Wallace invent robotic garden dwarf wey dey do all of Gromit favourite gardening jobs (and dat wan na even bifor e turn evil), di story take canalboat trip into Mission: Impossible territory by addressing di fears about artificial intelligence. (NB)
16. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Di talented director Rungano Nyoni, wit di feem I Am Not a Witch (2017) win di Bafta for outstanding British debut, e dey make artful, accessible feem of great visual style.
Her latest na clear-eyed drama about cultural and generational fight.
Di heroine, Shula, na city woman wey recently return from di city to her village for Zambia. Nyoni convey dis dissonance at once, as Shula drive home from a costume party dressed in a glittery silver helmet and dark glasses (an homage to a Missy Elliott video) and find her Uncle Fred dead on a dirt road.
As di story take us into di family traditional funeral rituals, e slowly show say Shula and two cousins oda don suffer sexual abuse from Fred as children, dia mothers don put aside di reality as dem dey mourn dia broda.
Nyoni style dey realistic even as she dey drop striking images. Di narrative about secrecy and di trauma of sexual assault dey build powerfully right to di end, wen Shula remember one children television programme and di title of dis feem finally make sense. (CJ)
Di numbers for dis piece no represent rankings, but e dey go make di separate entries as clear as possible.
