Variety has released its list of the 10 best films of 2025. The publication's film critics called 2025 the year when "cataclysms of reality pushed entertainment out of the picture." "Here are the films that made us dream, in part because they were powerful enough to wake us up."
The list was topped by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud's "Dreams," the final installment in a trilogy about the complexities of human relationships and social norms.
Boris Lozhkin's "The Story of Souleymane," which won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, came in second. Paul Thomas Anderson's "War for the Battle" came in third.
1. "Dreams" (Dag Johan Haugerud)
2. "The Story of Souleymane" (Boris Lozhkin)
3. "War for the Battle" (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. "Sound of Falling" (Masha Shilinsky)
5. "28 Years Later" (Danny Boyle)
6. "Marty Supreme" (Josh Safdie)
7. "Ordinary Coincidence" (Jafar Panahi)
8. "Train Dreams" (Clint Bentley)
9. "The President's Cake" (Hasan Hadi)
10. "Steve" (Tim Mielants)
