Top 10 movies of 2025: ‘Sinners,’ ‘Cloud,’ and more

“BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions” (Kahlil Joseph) Adapting the thousands of pages contained in “Africana,” an encyclopedia of the culture of Africa and its diasporas conceived by W. E. B. Du Bois and completed by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. , into a two-hour film calls for new forms. Mixing sci-fi, historical fiction and documentary and interpolating work from other directors, Kahlil Joseph accomplishes it. With the Middle Passage and the life of Du Bois as continuing threads, “BLKNEWS: Terms and Conditions” is impossibly dense yet coherent.

“Caught by the Tides” (Jia Zhangke) Edited from Jia’s earlier films “Unknown Pleasures” and “Still Life,” with newly shot footage added, “Caught by the Tides” crafts a saga of 20 years in the life of one woman, played by Zhao Tao. As much as the story belongs to her, it’s also an arc of change in modern China and film technology.

“Cloud” (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) After an uncertain 2010s, Kurosawa reasserted his command of the medium with the three films he premiered last year. “Cloud” takes another look at the Internet-driven apocalypse of his 2001 classic “Pulse.” It dives into the consequences of anonymous cruelty, as a man who sells shoddy goods online finds everyone he’s cheated out to get him. The only possible escape is a Faustian bargain.

“The Mastermind” (Kelly Reichardt) Can anyone stand outside history? The protagonist of “The Mastermind” tries, unconsciously, but finds himself failing. “The Mastermind” takes the easy thrills out of the heist film, leaving behind a pitiless look at a selfish, failed man.

“My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow” (Julia Loktev) A documentary on the last few months of Russia’s last independent media outlet, the 5 hours of “My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow:” sound daunting. Given the subject, it’s not a pleasant watch, but it’s an essential rundown on how quickly honest journalism can become impossible, as well as a prophecy of the American media’s last 11 months.

“Predators” (David Osit) Many films claim to be challenging and unsettling while simply reinforcing their audience’s beliefs. “Predators” truly is. It subverts true crime from the inside, examining the legacy of Chris Hansen’s TV show “To Catch a Predator” from several perspectives.

“Reflection in a Dead Diamond” (Heléne Cattet & Bruno Forzani) Cattet and Forzani have dedicated to their whole oeuvre to elaborate pastiches of ‘60s and ‘70s European genre films. Drifting through the memories of an old man who may have been a spy or just played one, “Reflection in a Dead Diamond” is a lush, sensual delight.

“Sinners” (Ryan Coogler) Along with “One Battle After Another,” this is 2025’s instant classic. While there’s good reason to be suspicious of such snap judgments, Coogler really accomplishes a mix of artistic ambition and thematic substance with a scope that could only be made on a large budget. His characters’ experiences during one day sum up the past, present and future of American racism.

“The Temple Woods Gang” (Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche) Currently streaming on OVID, “The Temple Woods Gang” is a working-class heist film, in which a group of friends from a close-knit Paris neighborhood decide to rob a Saudi prince. Working with a mostly non-professional cast, Ameur-Zaimeche uses this premise for an investigation upon the (in)visibility of power.

“Vulcanizadora” (Joel Potrykus) Potrykus finds a bleakly comic poetry in the lives of desperate, inarticulate American men, hiking through a Michigan forest. The exact purpose of their trip isn’t revealed for a while, but the disappointments of middle age pulse through the film. Runners-up: “Dracula” (Radu Jude), “Eephus” (Carson Lund), “Henry Fonda For President” (Alexander Horwath), “Lesbian Space Princess” (Emma Hough Hobbs & Leela Varghese), “The Long Walk” (Francis Lawrence) , “Lurker” (Alex Russell), “Misericordia” (Alain Guiraudie),  “7 Walks With Mark Brown” (Pierre Creton & Vincent Barré), “Twinless” (James Sweeney) Someone, please stream these legally in the U.S.: “Escape” (Masao Adachi), “Evil Puddle” (Charles Roxburgh), “Louis Theroux: The Settlers,” (Jason Baker), “My Sunnyside” (Matylda Kawka), “Room Temperature” (Dennis Cooper & Zac Farley) Shorts: “Being Blue” (Luke Fowler), “The Cinefile Siege” (Damon Packard), “Fragments for Venus” (Alice Diop), “Jogo Cruzado 2.0: Untitled” (Bingham Bryant),  “Morning Circle” (Basma Alsharif), “The Occupant of the Room” (Kier-la Janisse), “The Other Queen of Memphis” (Luna Mahoux), “Stellacast Transmissions” (Uel Renteria), “Typhoon Diary” (Grace Zhang) Best older films released to American theaters for the first time: “Angel’s Egg” (Mamoru Oshii), “Batch ‘81” (Mike de Leon), “Compensation” (Zeinbau Irene Davis), “The Housemaid” (Kim Ki-young), “Love Hotel” (Shinji Somai), “Nightshift” (Robina Rose), “Rose la rose, fille publique” (Paul Vecchiali), “Shanghai Blues” (Tsui Hark)