Five Movies in 2025

Over the last couple years I’ve gotten more into watching movies, and particularly exploring older films I’ve missed out on, as well as indie and foreign films. This year I’ve watched 165+ movies, and so many that I’ve enjoyed. I’d like to focus on some 2025 releases that have particularly wowed me.

These reviews aren’t going to be fully recounting the plot of the films, more so discussing parts of them that I enjoyed. That said, there might be some mild spoilers, so tread carefully if this is a movie you haven’t seen but want to!

Sinners (2025) dir. Ryan Coogler

Sinners is the first 2025 movie I got really excited about. I heard a lot of positive things, and took my partner to go see it on the last day of our trip to Kelowna. I didn’t know much about it, just hearing whispers of “horny vampire movie” that included great acting and music. I was also personally excited because I heard one of the lead singers of one of my favourite bands, July Talk, was in it! I saw photos of Peter Dreimanis looking absolutely freaky and knew I needed to see it.

Sinners was an instant five star film for me. I got so emotional during *that* dance sequence, and really enjoyed all the music throughout it. That dance sequence (iykyk) was so bold, unique and interesting and I really felt entranced watching it. I also found the vampires really interesting — while they’re obviously killing and stealing souls and personalities, they’re trying to create a community too, in a (misguided) resistance of their own. I cried quite a bit throughout this movie, but not more than I did during the end credits scene. I find end credit scenes to be an interesting concept, but they’re usually either very short or not wholly relevant to the movie. This one wrapped the film up perfectly, and left me so emotional.

I saw the film again a couple weeks later with a friend, and was still obsessed. This is definitely a movie I would love to watch a bunch of times, preferably with people who’d never seen it before so they didn’t know what to expect! A few months later I saw people being a bit more critical of the movie, the vampires, the storyline, but I don’t see it as anything but a great movie.

Sorry, Baby (2025) dir. Eva Victor

I know I just said Sinners made me cry a lot, but I genuinely don’t cry at movies as much as I used to. But when I do, there’s usually a big emotional beat that triggers an outpouring of emotions. With Sorry, Baby, I left the theatre with a lot of emotions and felt them hit all at once on my walk home. I ended up just having to really sit and process this movie.

In Sorry, Baby we follow Agnes, a young woman working as a professor at her alma mater, feeling very stuck in life. She had a bad thing happen to her a few years ago, and it continues to affect her, keeping her in place while her friends and the world move on. I knew what the bad thing was going to be, but found it to be done really well. It showed a real failure on the part of administrative systems in dealing with these things, and how hard they make it for survivors. The sort of anxiety and self-blame around it was portrayed realistically and I found Agnes to be such a real feeling character in general. I wanted to be her friend, but at the same time I felt she was too cool and funny for me. I loved her friendship with Lydie and her mini rivalry with Natasha.

Sorry, Baby had a lot of funny moments that could immediately veer into heartbreaking territory, but ultimately it’s hopeful. The kitten helps.

Left-Handed Girl (2025) dir. Shih-Ching Tsou

One of the first movies I saw at VIFF this year, Left-Handed Girl made me laugh so much. The theatre was very into it, and I think it’s such a different experience to watch a movie when everyone else is also laughing. I love it. Left-Handed Girl follows a mother and her two daughters who move to Taipei to start a noodle stand at the busy night market. The youngest daughter, I-Jing, loves exploring the colourful market while her mother works. This move brings them closer to her grandparents too, who spend some time watching I-Jing. When her grandfather notices her left hand is the more dominant one, he chastises her and refers to it as her “devil hand”, forcing her to use her right.

The next time I-Jing goes to the night market, she sees some items she wants to buy but can’t afford. Using her “devil hand”, she sneaks these items into her pockets and backpack. It’s cute, and funny, and very sad that I-Jing blames her hand specifically for these habits.

I thought Left-Handed Girl would be largely about I-Jing’s new shoplifting habit and the fallout from that, but it was a lot more. A lot of family drama ensues, and a huge thing is revealed with consequences for the whole family.
Overall, this was a really lovely film about difficult family dynamics! The market scenes were also filmed from the point of view of I-Jing, so you could see the setting through the eyes of a 5-year-old. Highly recommend.

Idiotka (2025) dir. Nastasya Popov

Another VIFF pick, Idiotka’s humour and tenderness landed really well for me. In West Hollywood’s Russian district, Margarita, an aspiring fashion designer barely scraping by is selected as a contestant on a reality show. With the help of her family (and to help her family), she designs a series of wacky and creative outfits to win the grand prize. I do love media about reality tv, despite rarely watching the “real” thing myself. This movie was very campy and silly, but I found a real sincerity under it all.

Margarita’s family is poor, at risk of eviction, and grappling with the effects of her father’s recent stay in prison which is affecting his ability to get a job (and his motivation to even begin looking for one). Margarita uses this to her advantage on camera behind her family’s back to garner sympathy from the viewers and judges and try to win the competition.

There’s an excellent fashion runway scene hosted at a nearby Russian restaurant that was the highlight for me, as is every scene with Margarita and her glamorous grandmother. I think this movie is criminally underseen and if you find it playing or streaming somewhere near you, check it out! It’s definitely a more easygoing, silly film than what I usually set out to watch but I enjoyed it immensely.

Late Shift (2025) dir. Petra Volpe

This movie follows an entire evening shift of an understaffed nursing ward. Flora is a caring and sympathetic nurse who tries her best for her patients despite having very little help. She wheels patients in and out of surgeries, changes their IVs, brings them beverages, and comforts an elderly woman with memory problems.

Very quickly, Flora’s shift starts to spiral out of control as patients and their families badger her with nonessential requests as she tries to be there for her more sickly patients. Late Shift shows us the gap that is left when we lack enough nurses or healthcare professionals. A patient Flora likes and is familiar with begs her to call the doctor he needs to see, only to have the doctor leave without a single visit after a long day. It’s hard to sympathize with the doctor in that moment, until you remember she was also likely working a full day with multiple patients, many of whom had their share of emergencies. All this leads to Flora’s frustration, and a surprising outburst that only leads to more panic.

This was an extremely stressful film to watch, though I found it to be paced very well. It wasn’t entertaining exactly, but it was really interesting. The ending was lovely too. Maybe skip this one if you’re a nurse — it’s probably not a movie you need to be seeing on a deserved day off.

Honourable Mentions:

Train Dreams (2025) dir. Clint Bentley
A logger in the Pacific Northwest leads a quiet life through big loves and losses as he experiences rapid changes in 20th Century America. Love a movie following an entire lifetime. Thank you for reminding me of what I hold dear.

Sentimental Value (2025) dir. Joachim Trier
I need to be like 50% less sleepy when I see this movie again and I know I’ll appreciate it even more, but the experience I had of it was already quite good. Sad family drama! Generational trauma! Surviving through it all.

It Ends (2025) dir. Alexander Ullom
A group of grads head out on a late-night drive that takes them to a never-ending two-lane road, filled with horrors at the forest’s edge. It’s absurd, it’s a metaphor, it’s what life feels like right now.

Did you have a movie stand out to you this year? I would love to hear about any of your 2025 favourites (or favourite movies in general!). Here’s to another good movie watching year in 2026 :)