THE BEST PERFORMANCES OF 2025

A visual graphic of fireworks, stars, and lights, with the year 2025 written in the center of it.

“I am your way out. This world already left you for dead. Won't let you build. Won't let you fellowship. We will do just that. Together. Forever.” - Jack O’Connell (as Remmick) in Sinners.

Through that bleak depiction of what is offered by folk-singing vampire Remmick in Ryan Coogler’s genre-defying Sinners, we find ourselves in a familiar place: one where the art we consume and the world we exist in are often moving in vastly different directions.

In music for example, escape has rarely seemed easier. And while Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show made direct, pointed political statements about ongoing inequities, his December 2024 album GNX may be best remembered for a moment of manic comedy - Lamar bellowing his producer’s name. “Mustaaaaaaaarrrrrdddd” not only become a meme and joke for the first few months of 2025, but the album’s biggest hit is a tender ballad featuring SZA, inspired by a classic Luther Vandross/Cheryl Lynn song from the 1980s.

If Bad Bunny can educate us on the history of Puerto Rico, Lady Gaga can pull us into a magical world of MAYHEM and “Abracadabra,” and everyone can form an opinion on Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, then what did movies offer us in 2025?

As it turns out: quite a lot.

Movies have always reflected the times we live in. When we look at the most impactful films and performances of the past year, we see recurring themes of gentrification, racial inequality, immigration, radicalization and violence, sexual assault and recovery, institutional racism, police brutality, income disparity, desperation, hopelessness, a longing for what once was. There is a shared anxiety across countless films we watched in 2025, a persistent worry that no matter how much we offer the world, we may not matter and we may go unseen.

Fun! Pass the popcorn!

For those who believe movies should exist as a form of escapism, 2025 did offer plenty of opportunities to shut the world off and be entertained for a while. But increasingly, we find ourselves struggling to separate reality from fiction. Not just because of the onset of AI, but because of the stories we choose to tell and those we choose to consume.

I am often asked why there are so many horror movies in the marketplace right now. Once we move past the fact that they are relatively inexpensive to produce, can often turn an easy profit, and follow predictable formulas, the truth is that horror, when done well, reflects the world back at us. Not every slasher flick accomplishes this. However, in 2025, movies like Weapons, Sinners, Together, The Long Walk, 28 Years Later, The Ugly Stepsister, and even the horror-through-the-viewpoint-of-a-dog storytelling in Good Boy forces us see the world in a way that makes us confront uncomfortable truths. Horror movies thrive when people are trying to make sense of the world they find themselves in. That’s true for moviegoers and the talent behind the camera producing those stories. When life feels unkind, unjust, and indifferent to people’s struggles, movies and television, to a lesser extent, show us those truths.

The annual Best Performance List at Should I See It exists to shine a spotlight on those moments, in front of or behind the camera, that mattered most. This is work that cut through the noise. That found a way to be seen and heard amid stressful times, fear, and an uncertainty of the reality surrounding us. These artists take risks. They are bold, vulnerable, and deeply human. Their work deserves attention, not just because it exists on a “Best Of” list, but because it helps us understand ourselves and those around us just a little bit better.

As a reviewer, I know I seek connection with this particular art form. The older I get, the more I push back against spoon-fed emotion or heavy-handed dialogue. Movies should make us feel something. The good ones should challenge us. And at their best, movies offer a glimpse into discoveries we otherwise would not understand or be ready to face on our own.

With that in mind, here is our annual look at 20 performances that left a lasting impression on not just me, but audiences from all walks of life in 2025. Fifteen Honorable Mentions follow, each worth exploring. As expansive as this list is, I think it only scratches the surface. They are so many performances worthy of recognition. Here’s hoping you find this an invitation to seek out more stories, listen to new voices, and make moments of connection with these films.

Below are the Top 20 Performances of 2025 (in alphabetical order), presented with the words of the artists themselves, or those who helped bring them to life.

Let’s begin…

**1. A$AP ROCKY | as Yung Felon | HIGHEST 2 LOWEST**
In addition to his supporting turn in Mary Bronstein’s *If I Had Legs I’d Kick You*, rapper A$AP Rocky emerged as an impressive acting talent, dominating his screen time in Spike Lee’s music industry thriller *Highest 2 Lowest*. As aspiring hip-hop star Yung Felon, Rocky finds his character squarely in the crosshairs of Denzel Washington’s aging music mogul David King.

When an attempted kidnapping and ransom of King’s son leads to a case of mistaken identity and fractured friendships and emotions result from King’s decisions around how to respond to the request for $17.5 million and a Cartier bracelet, Lee brings his film to a powerful moment where King and Felon square off in a music studio, engaging in an impromptu confrontation/rap battle for the ages. Rocky more than holds his own opposite Washington and asserts himself with one of 2025’s most impressive movie moments.
**(Spike Lee**): “Don’t sleep on A$AP. I’ve done five films with Denzel, and a lot of times when he’s in a scene with somebody, they just get overwhelmed. He’s one of the greatest living actors today, but A$AP wasn’t having that. Toe-to-toe, I mean, they were going at it.” - *Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, July 31, 2025*
(**A$AP Rocky):** “As a New Yorker, it was a dream come true to be between Denzel and Spike Lee. Their dynamic alone is just historical. So I’m honoured (sic) to be an honorary member of their legacy. (Lee) let me develop my character full throttle. They put me in the right environment that was familiar with a little nostalgia, and it allowed me to take the character to different places, and borrow stories from the people I was around growing up, and their circumstances. I appreciate that he was receptive to all my changes for my personal character.” - *Perfect Magazine, October 29, 2025*
*Highest 2 Lowest* is available for streaming on Apple TV+.

**2. JESSIE BUCKLEY | Agnes | HAMNET**
For a film indirectly focused on William Shakespeare’s dedication to creating art from traumatic loss, *Hamnet* does not work without the stunning, grounded performance from Jessie Buckley, who portrays the Bard’s wife, Agnes, as a woman of strength and resilience.
When we first meet her, she is deeply connected to nature and soon thereafter she falls for William and raises their two children while William becomes enamored with writing and theater. When their son Hamnet falls ill, Buckley’s performance hits extraordinary depth, and power, delivering a range of emotional responses that takes your breath away.
**(Buckley):** "She was the full story of what I understand a woman to be. And their capacity as women, and as mothers, and as lovers, and as people who have a language unto their own beside gigantic men of literature like Shakespeare.

Having not been a mother at the time, and having not lost a child … I know love, I know great love. And I think like with anything and with any of the women that I play or in any of the roles and the worlds that I enter I'm just trying to get a little bit more human in what I understand of being alive." - *BBC, January 2, 2026*
(**Director Chloé Zhao, on casting Buckley):** “I’m never looking for the actor, I’m looking for the humanity underneath the acting. Fearlessness, and a lack of vanity, and a person willing to take off their mask. Plus, when I went to Jessie’s house, she has a kitchen just like Agnes.” - *The Hollywood Reporter, December 15, 2025*
*Hamnet* is currently playing in theaters.

**3. ROSE BYRNE | Linda | IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU**
Rose Byrne’s talent is unmistakable, but the places she goes in Mary Bronstein’s *If I Had Legs I’d Kick You* is unlike anything we have seen from her previously. Brilliant comedic timing and an ability to cut people down with one dismissive line, Byrne’s performance as Linda is a searing, visceral response to a woman constantly being silenced, while facing insurmountable challenges as a mother of a child with a mysterious illness that requires a feeding tube and near round-the-clock care.
As a therapist, Linda advises patients while seeking advice herself from a colleague, played by Conan O’Brien. Her unraveling is difficult and mesmerizing to watch, creating a sort of anti-hero that we root for, admire, am shocked by, and hope can find a way out of the expanding hole that she feels stuck in.
**(Byrne, on Mary Bronstein’s insistence on extreme close-ups for most of the film):** “(The movie) stretched me, technically, to a place that I’ve never been before. It really has sort of changed me as an actor, because of that language with the camera and how I had to adjust and figure out what Mary needed. But really, more importantly, what she didn’t need in certain close-ups, because it was so, so, so, so close to my face.” - *Backstage, December 12, 2025*

**(Bronstein on casting Rose Byrne):** “Rose was actually always at the top of my list because she has this innate comedic understanding and ability and can understand how to play even the most subtle comedy beats that are in my script. And the tone of my script is really, and the film itself as it came out is really a tightrope. If you fall too much into the comedy, you can lose the serious themes. And then if you fall too over to the other side, it can’t sustain itself. It’s too dark. And so I needed somebody who could walk that tightrope, the very smallest of actresses.
And then I also wanted somebody who people would look at when her face comes on the screen, would have a kindness towards just innately because that would allow me as a tool, to take the audience further. And Rose has all those things. And so I was lucky enough that she wanted to do it because it was a very big ask.” - *AwardsWatch, November 6, 2025*
*If I Had Legs I’d Kick You* is available for purchase on VOD.

**4. THE CAST OF “SENTIMENTAL VALUE” | (From L-R): Elle Fanning (Rachel), Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Agnes), Renate Reinsve (Nora), and Stellan Skarsgård (Gustav)**
Family dynamics are explored deeply in Joachim Trier’s drama *Sentimental Value*, exploring the complicated relationship between a movie director father and his two adult daughters. When patriarch Gustav decides to make a movie documenting his mother’s life during World War II, and offers it to his daughter Nora, she bristles and declines. American actress Rachel Kemp then steps in to portray the character, exploring and learning about Gustav’s strained connection to his daughters.
This moving story explores the notion of art as a healing mechanism and digs into the tenuous relationships that can fray when one eschews responsibility for personal gain. Centered around a house that serves almost as a character in its own right, Trier and screenwriter Eskil Vogt explore the unspoken and suppressed emotions that build up over time. Trier’s film soars with an ensemble cast who draw us into a complicated world and allow us to explore our own relationships and family connections.
**(Director Joachim Trier):** “I tried to be clear. I dared to be clear. We shot on 35mm, and the colors — if you use that as a metaphor — are more saturated, clear and well-balanced. It’s risky to balance colors on this level; it’s hard. That’s a metaphor for the emotions we wanted.
I knew I had great actors; I’m very privileged. The challenge of the film for me was how do we let that clarity and honesty come through when the film talks about the opposite: Our avoidance, our family’s inability to speak, the roles we give each other unconsciously. So much of the movie is about things that are unclear. So how does one tell that story in a straightforward way?” - *The Hollywood Reporter, September 9, 2025.*
**(Reinsve, on exploring her character):** “I really love the launch of the character in *Sentimental Value* because you see her core problem through this very comedic setup that is very physical. You also see all the emotional weight that she’s carrying, unable to process, unable to communicate with the people around her in her real life. And she runs away panicking… because to be a good performer, you have to access everything inside of you. Also, on the subconscious level, you kind of have to have a contact with that and let anything come up. And she physically tries to run away, but when in the end she’s pushed on stage, you can also see where she gets her force as an actor. And you also see the similarity with Gustav, her father, that they are kind of the same, that the only place they can be really sensitive and present with other people is on stage because he also lacks that ability in his life with his daughters.” - *Deadline, December 7, 2025*
*Sentimental Value* is available for purchase on VOD.

**5. TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET | as Marty Mauser | MARTY SUPREME**
In what may not only the performance of the year, but a career-defining milestone for the just-turned 30-year-old Chalamet, *Marty Supreme* finds the gifted actor as narcissist - diabolical, hilarious, insufferable, and unrelenting in his push to achieve a dream he believes people think he will never see come to reality.
That drive, that determination is embodied in a wild, careening 160-minute whirlwind of a film that sees Marty pursue his desires in becoming the most famous table tennis star in the world, while also rubbing up alongside mobsters, having affairs with a married Hollywood starlet (Gwyneth Paltrow), a married friend from his hometown (Odessa A’zion), and playing every angle he can to make himself famous.
**What Chalamet creates on screen is unforgettable - a manchild we love to hate (and kind of love), unable to get out of his own way, annoying and exhausting, but with a hustle unlike any other.**
**(Chalamet):** “The confidence in the character, that ebbs and flows … and certainly within the scope of the film, too, you see Marty doubt (himself). But he has no one believing in him. He’s his only supporter. He’s his only dreamer. Rachel, played beautifully, played wonderfully, by Odessa (A’zion), is in his corner. But otherwise, it’s him against the world, and that does something to a man, which is one of the lines in the movie. So, I could relate to that deeply, and I tried to bring that spirit to the movie.” - *Forbes, December 16, 2025*
**(director Josh Safdie, on casting Chalamet):** “This young man and his youth were going to be very important, too. You have very little knowledge of consequence when you’re young, because the world is so big and there are so many opportunities. I think youth is quite romantic and him chasing love, adoration is also a great grounding agent. They never were worried about it, and never asked me to dull the edges because they knew that was going to be an interesting thing for audiences. I don’t believe in anti-heroes. That’s the only way you can write a character like that.” - *ScreenDaily, January 6, 2026*
*Marty Supreme* is currently playing in theaters.

**6. RYAN COOGLER | as Writer, Director, and Producer | SINNERS**
*Sinners* defies categorization. If you haven’t seen it, buckle up:

Yes, it’s a horror film where vampires descend on a group of unsuspecting people. It’s a gangster epic, as twin brothers run from mob ties and try to create a new life in Clarksdale, Mississippi in the 1930s. The movie is also a drama, where past tragedies are revisited and the desire to run from life’s obstacles becomes a complicated, but very real emotional response. *Sinners* is also a cultural essay on the history of Black culture - how influential it has been to mainstream culture, the ease with which others appropriate Black innovation and creativity and call it their own, and the ways with which Black contributions are marginalized, ignored, snuffed out, or ripped away from those who create it.
Managing and navigating all of this feels daunting and impossible, but the incredible talents of Ryan Coogler makes *Sinners* a mesmerizing, one-of-a-kind viewing experience. Sure, it is bloody and does not skirt away from violence as a means with which people react to one another. But, there is a tenderness and respect that hangs around even the most shocking of moments.
Coogler’s film, before it becomes a horror-adjacent survival story, builds around community. Twin brothers “Smoke” and “Stack,” played by a fantastic Michael B. Jordan have returned home to open a juke joint where they hastily arrange a celebration. In a day’s time, they bring community together and unbeknownst to them, a vampire named Remmick has arrived in town, looking for a way to be let in. Seeing it four times as of this writing, *Sinners* continues to amaze me and provide details I missed in previous viewings. This is cinema at its most alive and Coogler’s film is one we will be talking about for decades.
**(Coogler on the vision for the film):** “I mean … to me, allegory, metaphor, all these things, I'm not going to tell you that they're not present in my work - right? - but I was not - in this case, with this project, I was not being conscious of it. You know, like, I was trying to - you know, I was trying to communicate a feeling through cinematic language. And the reality is, as I've gotten older in this business and in this craft, you know, I realized that if I can make something true, it's up to the viewer to draw those parallels. You take the thing, and you analyze it. And with - and in your analysis, you might project your own experiences, your own knowledge. You know what I'm saying? And you might draw certain parallels that weren't the parallels I always intend, you know?”

**(Why he chose vampires):** “When the idea came to me for this movie, I thought about other supernatural creatures as the thing that they confront at the juke joint. I went down the line. You know, like, I thought about werewolves. I thought about zombies. You know, I thought about shape-shifters, which, in some Indigenous cultures, might be referred to as skinwalkers. I went through the whole Rolodex, you know, and I kept coming back to vampires because of everything that the vampire implies in public consciousness. Vampires are expected to be sexy, usually expected to be fashionable, usually expected to be knowledgeable, usually expected to be very powerful. It's not thought of as wrong if a vampire is converted to vampirism, but they maintain their human personality - you know, their human memories. It's a fascinating premise. If I'm trying to have a conversation about our common humanity … what better to contrast, you know? The other piece that the vampire evolved (to) is the Faustian deal. I was very interested in that.”
*Sinners* is streaming on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, the Roku Channel and for purchase on VOD.

**7. JOEL EDGERTON | Robert Grainier | TRAIN DREAMS**
As a laborer in the Pacific Northwest, at the turn of the 20th century, Joel Edgerton moves from well-respected and recognizable character actor to a full-fledged leading man, carrying the somber, beautiful, and meditative *Train Dreams* into an immersive and memorable movie experience.
Covering the span of 80 years in the life of Grainier, director Clint Bentley clearly trusts the veteran actor to hold our gaze and connect to his journey. We see Robert as a dedicated worker and family man, determined to make things better for those around him. Everything he does is in the best interests of his family. When tragedy strikes, Edgerton’s most powerful moments in the film are showing us how Robert seeks to find a reason to keep living, working, and maximizing what he can with the one life he has been given.
In addition to being one of the most beautifully shot films of the year, Bentley’s detail-driven emphasis on placing the viewer in the time period of the film, and having Robert be our guide through simple and unforgiving moments, makes Edgerton’s performance even more haunting, authentic, and powerful.
**(Edgerton, on how a small film like this can exist within the Netflix platform):** “An artist could make something in their bedroom with one or two instruments, and it can sit alongside the most highly produced, expensive album. Movies are the same because the one ingredient that a big or small budget movie can have that will make it resound is story and character, and those are cheap. They’re not easy to craft, but they’re the common thing between any story on film that’s successful. *Train Dreams* trades in a good story and good character in a way that it can still sit alongside movies that seem bigger and louder. The success of the film on a business level struck me at Sundance when Netflix became so deeply interested in taking it on and their plan for rolling it out and putting a lot of care and attention into a campaign. The thing about Netflix, it’s like plugging into a louder amplifier. But again, none of that would matter if it wasn’t for the fact that (writer/director) Clint (Bentley) had crafted something that was a good story with good character.” - *Interview, December 18, 2025*
*Train Dreams* is now available on Netflix.

**8. ETHAN HAWKE | Lorenz Hart | BLUE MOON**
Perhaps it can be a cliche to say that “you’ve never seen (actor) quite like this!” - but I am not sure how else to describe the ferocity and anxious enthusiasm that Ethan Hawke brings to his portrayal of legendary Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart. Working for a ninth time with director Richard Linklater, Hawke transforms into the diminutive firebrand, landing at a local watering hole ahead of his former composing partner Richard Rodgers, who is set to celebrate his new Broadway play, “Oklahoma!” written, for the first time, by someone other than Hart.
Hawke talks a mile a minute, seemingly full of boundless energy and endless things to discuss. However, we soon see a fear within Hart - a slow, growing realization that perhaps his work will be supplanted by someone else. In this instance, Rodgers, played by Andrew Scott, tore the house down with his new production, collaborating with Oscar Hammerstein. Even as Hart acknowledges that its Rodgers’ best work, he clings to a hopeless crush on a young actor (Margaret Qualley), desperately tries to stay at the center of everyone’s conversation, and wrestles with the reality that the spotlight he has grown accustomed to, may be pivoting and shining on someone else.
As the dialogue-heavy film goes on, Hawke becomes less of an annoyance and more of a desperately sympathetic figure. We study him. His small stature, increasingly raspy voice, and receding hairline provide the shell with which Hart seeks connection anywhere and everywhere he can find it. Hawke has arguably never been better and the awards buzz he is receiving is absolutely well earned and deserved.
**(Linklater, on who Lorenz Hart truly was):** “People loved Larry Hart. You don’t hear bad things about him. The Mabel Mercer quote is getting one aspect of him: ‘He was the saddest man I ever knew.’ I’m sure she saw the exuberant side, too. He was sitting on this bedrock of forlorn sadness. His sexuality was against the law. He was such an unusual physical specimen. We came to the conclusion that he never had the adult relationship that he dreamed of. It was never his to have – a loving, supportive relationship. He didn’t have that, and yet he wrote about it. It’s tragic. But he’s so witty, so smart, so biting. That’s what gives those songs their heft forever. Even if you’ve had the best life, you remember the ones that got away. You remember the rejections and the sadness. Those stay with you emotionally.
**(Hawke, discussing Hart facing rejection from several individuals in the film):** “That’s where the writing gets really excellent. It’s really complicated and messy, like real life. On a very simple level, yeah, this is a breakup film between Rodgers and Hart, but the pain of that breakup is so intense that he’s distracting himself with a new pain. He’s creating a pain that is lesser, so that it can be managed at all. There was something about it that just feels deeply human and strange to me.”
**( Linklater)**: “We have this young co-ed, this Yale 20-year-old who has her own life. She has her own passions, her own dreams. It’s the only time Larry shuts up. He gives her a lot of space. He’s truly intrigued by this young woman. He’s infatuated. It’s fun to feel like what it must have felt like to be her in that moment.”
**(Hawke)**: It’s funny, structurally, as a film, that the biggest, most difficult scene I have in the movie is when he finally stops talking, and he’s forced to listen. That’s when he gets shattered.” - *Dazed, December 2, 2025*
*Blue Moon* is available for purchase on VOD.

**9. INDY | as Indy | GOOD BOY**
Yes, an animal has made the list of the Best Performances. And also yes, I wish *Good Boy* was a better overall movie. However, what cannot be denied is how Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Trolling Retriever, has earned nearly a dozen awards, special citations, and recognition for his performance in Ben Leonberg’s debut film. Indy, as it turns out, is a really good boy, indeed.
**For Leonberg, his casting search was easy. Indy is his own dog.**
It might be the expressiveness. It might be his presence. Or the way the camera loves filming his loving, curious demeanor. Perhaps, better than some human actors, Indy might somehow understand precisely what his director needs and wants in each scene. No matter the “why” of it all, you simply cannot take your eyes off of him. The premise of a horror film, told from the standpoint of an observant dog, is clever. Then, when you find a dog like Indy, who can convey authentic fear and anxiety or seem genuine as he reacts to seeing ghostly apparitions, hearing strange noises, and peering into darkened hallways and corners, make no mistake … we must protect Indy at all costs.
**(Leonberg on Indy not dying in the movie):** “Well, I knew I wasn’t going to kill the dog. I started with the idea that in the first act of every horror movie, there’s this dog who knows what’s going on before anybody else does. Usually, he ends up in pieces in front of the family at the break into Act Two. See: *The Conjuring*, any number of films. What if you just told the story of the dog who doesn’t end up dying but experiences the haunting? He’s the only one who really knows what’s going on thanks to his canine senses. How far could you push that?”
**(Leonberg, on challenges with Indy):** “Pretty consistently, the things that seemed like they should have been hard were pretty easy, and the things that should have been easy were incredibly hard. This is part of the reason why all the sets were closed sets, because they needed to be as distraction-free as possible. We’d be so close to getting the shot. He’d walk in, you’d have the right eyeline, and then he’d be like, ‘Look, a butterfly.’ Mitigating little distractions was, if not the biggest challenge, a constant challenge.”
*Good Boy* is available for streaming on AMC+, Shudder, Roku, Philo, and DirectTV Stream and available for purchase on VOD.

**10. ANDREW JARECKI and CHARLOTTE KAUFMAN | as Directors and Co-Writers | THE ALABAMA SOLUTION**
Other, more showier documentaries may have garnered a ton of attention, but one of the most powerful, haunting, and important films of 2025 is *The Alabama Solution*, a devastating look at the abuse, suffering, and, in some instances, murder which inmates experienced in Alabama’s state prison systems. Sympathies and empathy for inmates can vary for a variety of reasons, but since 2019, nearly 1,400 inmates have died or been killed while in state custody.
Near the beginning of filming, one inmate - Stephen Davis - was found dead. Davis’ story serves as a centerpiece for the film, exploring how, despite an investigation and lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department, the neglect, harm, and death of incarcerated individuals seemingly goes unpunished in Alabama’s prisons.
Jarecki and Kaufman utilize cell phone footage shot secretly by inmates, documenting the awful conditions and treatment they experience. And even if you are someone with little empathy for the incarcerated in this country, you cannot help but become upset when you see instances of inmates abiding by the rules, trying to better themselves for a potential return home, and being abused or seeing their deaths covered up and elected officials and those in charge seemingly without any remorse, concern, or care over the conditions within the prison system.

(Jarecki): “Because of the secrecy of prisons and because the public is sort of willing to drive by that little sign on the road that says, you know, ‘XYZ Correctional Facility’ and think, ‘Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on back there but it is probably all right,’ I think that the system actors very often just don’t go visit the prisons. They don’t ask the questions even though they’re in charge. You want people, and also I think it’s a non-partisan issue, when people get to the end of the film, they say, ‘Hey, that’s not what I meant when I said tough on crime.’ This is a whole other dimension. I just didn’t know what it meant when those guys went behind bars.” - *IndieWire, November 12, 2025*
**(Kaufman):** “When you’re taking on subject matter like this and people are giving you the responsibility for telling their stories, the stakes are really high. And I think Andrew and I both feel we thus have to be experts on the subject material; and not just in a solely story-driven away, but to really understand all the ins and outs. We have to speak to as many people as possible, take as much time as needed. It’s a sacred responsibility, especially when it’s a story that is being withheld from the public.
In many ways we’re following a civil rights history of the (prison reform) movement that we don’t usually get to see. There was this tear in the fabric of secrecy that usually exists throughout prisons, and we got access to it. We didn’t want to rush the process because it has to be right, because the stakes are so high.” - *Filmmaker, November 12, 2025*
*The Alabama Solution* is currently streaming on HBO Max.

**13. JOMO FRAY | as Cinematographer | NICKEL BOYS**
After being forced to attend Nickel Academy, teenager Elwood Curtis adjusts to life in a brutal reformatory school located in the Jim Crow South. Forming a friendship with another teenager, Turner, the two stick together, balancing survival and optimism as the Civil Rights Movement gains traction in the United States.
While director RaMell Ross certainly belongs on this list, you literally cannot look at *Nickel Boys* without seeing Jomo Fray’s groundbreaking work. In a cinematic world where it feels like everything has been attempted, Fray’s ability to present the entire film through the point-of-view of its main character is a bold and risky obstacle to overcome. Ross’ approach to this material admittedly takes a few minutes to adjust to, but Fray’s unprecedented talent captures the little details most films miss, while placing us in a challenging, at times uncomfortable, but wholly immersive cinematic viewing experience.
**(on his approach and technique):** “if I wanted to do handheld, that felt more connected to the spine of a body, a full body movement, then maybe shoulder handheld would work. Other times, … I wanted the perspective to feel like it was coming from the neck, so a body was stationary, but a neck can move quickly in a way that holding a camera on the shoulder doesn’t often articulate. It was separating the camera block from the camera brain with an umbilical cord so that the grip would be holding a backpack with the brain of the camera to an umbilical cord, so I could just hold the camera block and then be able to quickly maneuver the perspective of that because I was holding it and it was moving from my wrist.
It’s a funny thing in this movie where ideally it feels organic. Ideally it feels obvious that it just feels like, ‘oh, well, this is the only way you would see this.’ And it must’ve been somewhat simple to do. But the funny thing is just the level of orchestration any given shot took from my entire team having to be in harmony with each other about what we were about to do with any scene.
On the beginning of every day, Nora Mendes, the production designer, would take RaMell and I and walk us through the room and she would say, okay, here are 10 hero items in the room. You can interact with any of these. These are really interesting. These are telling aspects of the story. And so over the course of the take, you can hit them in any order. You can hit eight of them. You can hit two of them. You can hit none of them. But here they all are as almost these miniature base camps in any given set.” -
*Film Independent, November 27, 2024*
**Nickel Boys is currently playing in select theaters, expanding to wider release in January 2025.**

**14. MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE | Pansy | HARD TRUTHS**
Reuniting with writer/director Mike Leigh, Marianne Jean-Baptiste is extraordinary in *Hard Truths*, a salty, viscous, but also at times charming film about the tempestuous nature of relationships and the ways fear and anxiety can debilitate people. Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman perpetually lashing out from a sense of fear, mental health struggles and anger management issues. When forced to spend time with her younger sister (Michelle Austin), a person completely different than Pansy in virtually every way, unconditional love and the strength and support of family are significantly tested.
**(on working with Mike Leigh):** “The initial conversation is usually ‘Should we work together again? I don’t know what it’s going to be about. I don’t know what you’ll be playing in it, but we’ll have a great time.’
He always asks that you come in with a list of people that you know, real people, and you go through that list and it gets smaller and smaller and smaller until you land on a few people. And then you start creating a whole new character inspired by little bits and pieces and characteristics of that person from their first memory to the age they’re going to be playing in the film. And all of the characters in the film are created in that way, by really just doing very, very in depth work on creating them.”
**(on creating Pansy):** “I had to find the school in London that Pansy went to, I’d have to find the house so that you start building a parallel universe for those characters, but in finite detail. So we created the school, the friends at school, their neighbors, their grandparents, aunts, uncles, mother. Even though you don’t see them in the film, they’re what make up the character and their experiences. So when you actually go to improvise, there’s so much information in your brain that you are able to do it.” - *Deadline, November 16, 2024*
**Hard Truths is playing in select theaters and expands in wider theatrical release on January 10, 2025.**

**15. MIKEY MADISON | as Ani | ANORA**
**Bold. Fearless. Defiant. Fierce. Charming. Endearing. Flawed. Vulnerable.**
All these words and more describe Mikey Madison’s breathtaking performance in Sean Baker’s extraordinary *Anora*, a movie that continues the filmmaker’s tradition of telling truly American stories about individuals in our society who are so often discarded and cast aside.
Madison gives the performance of the year as Ani, a 23-year-old sex worker from Brooklyn whose life takes an unexpected turn when she meets and impulsively marries Vanya (a/k/a Ivan) (Mark Eydelshteyn), the reckless, spoiled son of a Russian billionaire. However, when her new husband’s parents learn of the wedding, they send fixers to take care of the situation and Ani is forced to mature rapidly as she demands to be seen as a responsible, mature adult by everyone she encounters.
**(on preparing for the role of Ani):** “I’ve seen his (Sean Baker’s) films. I know he’s told stories about sex workers. I trusted him immediately. When I read the script in its entirety [and realised] she’s a sex worker and there’s nudity, it seemed natural to me. I was excited to explore that character and dive into the research.
I committed more to the preparation process and dedicated more time than anything I’ve ever done before. I started small, working on her backstory, to create this character from the ground up. I sat down at my computer early on and wrote a hundred or so questions. What kind of cigarettes does she smoke? How did she like school? What were her grades? I filled in all the blanks.
On set, the first day, I was, ‘I know exactly who this person is. I am her. I’m wearing her clothes. I have her nails on.’ There’s no question someone could ask me about her life (and) I wouldn’t have an answer to. I avoid conflict like the plague, but she’s so sure of her place in the world and fights tooth and nail for the life she feels she deserves. She will not back down. I liked that about her.” - *ScreenDaily, December 29, 2024*
**Anora is playing in select theaters and available to purchase on VOD.**

16. DEMI MOORE | Elisabeth Sparkle | THE SUBSTANCE

In what is likely becoming the most buzzworthy movie of 2024, Coralie Fargeat’s award-winning horror satire *The Substance* has bee,n dismissed in some circles as little more than grotesquerie or an on-the-nose satire/body horror freakshow that is too obnoxious to mean much. As more and more people, those thoughts largely dissipate. Once you experience the film and ponder a very pointed commentary Fargeat is making, you realize that this is a sadistically smart film, slicing through tried-and-true narratives in Hollywood and calling out the insane double standards which exist for men and women in the entertainment business.
In the leading role, Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a fitness icon who is fired by her boss (Dennis Quaid) on her 50th birthday. Desperate to hold on to everything she has amassed in her career, she accepts an offer from a laboratory to take an experimental serum that promises to transform her into an enhanced version of herself.
Not for the squeamish, *The Substance* is a searing, visceral, and gory takedown of objectification and unreal expectations placed upon women in society. With a great supporting performance by Margaret Qualley, The Substance may give some people pause for its grotesque makeup effects and blood-soaked sequences. But Moore’s approach to the role of Elisabeth demands the film be taken seriously, as it proves to be a far more meaningful and powerful statement than some wish (or want) to give it credit for.
**(director Coralie Fargeat on the concept and casting Demi Moore):** “The theme of the movie is something I’ve been working around for a long time. I felt strong enough to kind of cope with the disturbance that digging into this is going to create.
I knew (a lot of) actresses would obviously be frightened jumping into something that confronts them with a phobia that I think as women we all have, but is especially heightened for actresses. I hadn’t even put (Demi Moore) on my list because I said, ‘She will never do it.’ (After reading her memoir) I really discovered someone that was at a stage of her life where she had already confronted all the fears and all the phobias, all that violence. I really discovered someone who was so ahead of her time.” -
*The Hollywood Reporter, September 5, 2024*
**(Moore on accepting the role):** “It really captivated me, the way in which it was exploring this subject of aging and, in particular, that violence that we can have against ourselves, the way in which we all — men and women alike — can dissect and criticize our own reflection. It just felt so relatable, on a human level. The other part of it was new territory for me — a body horror film. But as an actor, there were so many interesting challenges, not just the physical side of it, with the prosthetics, but the emotional rawness needing to be conveyed with very little dialogue.” - *The Hollywood Reporter, December 2, 2024*

The Substance is available for streaming on MUBI
and for purchase on VOD.

**17. JULIAN BRAVE NOISECAT and EMILY KASSIE | as Directors (NoiseCat and Kassie) and Cinematographer and Co-Editor (Kassie) | SUGARCANE**
As powerful a debut film as you will find, *Sugarcane*, directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, looks at the discovery, in 2021, of unmarked graves on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. Through ample research, discussion with family members and Indigenous leaders, countless stories of separation, assimilation and abuse of children come to light as the reality of segregated boarding schools for Native and Indigenous peoples are discovered to have severly harmed the very people they were intended to serve.
Haunting, chilling, maddening, but necessary and vitally important in showcasing resilience and the efforts to heal long-standing wounds, *Sugarcane* is one of this decade’s most impressive documentaries and a film that deserves to find a wider audience.
**(NoiseCat):** “Our background is in journalism, and in our prior work, you go somewhere for a few days – you know, a week was a long time to get to work on something like this – and you have to get answers to the questions that you’re looking for, and that sort of thing. One of the big things that we discovered in the field was that pacing of allowing silence to linger after things had really been discussed. So that was something that we learned and discovered in the field, and was also something that was really true, as I’ve said in other interviews, to the way in which this history is lingering and processed in this community.”
**(Kassie):** “Something that was really special about the collaboration with Julian was that we would talk about something, and we would talk about these silences that had permeated his family, that his *kyé7e* [grandmother] wasn’t able to talk about yet. In the room, when I was filming with them, I could feel her, and I could feel where her breath would catch. I could see when her thumbs would start to … twiddle. There’s a moment, for example, where she says, ‘There’s stuff I should have talked about.’ And Julian says, ‘What kind of stuff?’ You can feel in that moment that he’s pushing just a little bit. And I could feel from spending time with her, spending time with Julian, that that was going to be it for her. That she was probably going to reach a wall there, and knew to stay on her so that that silence could speak louder than whatever she could possibly say.” - *Rough Draft Atlanta, December 6, 2024*
**Sugarcane is available for streaming on Disney+, Hulu, and Fubo.**

**7. LILY COLLIAS | Sam | GOOD ONE**
As Sam, Lily Collias gives a breakthrough performance as a 17-year-old heading out for a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills with her father and his oldest friend. As the two men wrestle with struggles in life and try to navigate their ongoing friendship, Sam is faced with a front-row seat to the arguments, debates, and clashes which ensue before being placed in a position of making a most difficult decision.
Wise beyond her years, Collias commands the screen opposite co-stars James Le Gros and Danny McCarthy, and hits every emotional peak and valley that director India Donaldson presents to her characters and audience.
**(Collias, on seeing the film with her father):** “The first time he saw it was at Sundance at the premiere, and he sat next to me, and I remember that being a very specific moment for me. I would turn and see him kind of emotional. There’s a scene where I’m crying, and I saw he just started shuddering, and he said something to me that I’ll remember forever: ‘I just don’t know if I’ll ever get used to seeing my daughter cry.’ Because what dad can look at their daughter crying and not feel the same? I think it gave my dad an awareness.”
**(on a pivotal moment near the end of the film):** “All of my guy friends are like, ‘I feel really badly, but I don’t think I noticed something was wrong for the longest time,' and I was like, ‘Yeah, take note of that.'“
Collias also adds that her girlfriends pick up on things significantly faster, even as early as the film’s first 10 minutes, recognizing something seems off before the trio even leave for the camping trip. - *Indiewire, August 7, 2024*
**Good One is available to purchase on VOD.**

**18. JANE SCHOENBRUN | as Writer and Director | I SAW THE TV GLOW**
As haunting as it is complicated and as brave as it is revealing, *I Saw the TV Glow* is a film that addresses gender identity and the way people not only suppress themselves but also hide from an increasingly dangerous world.
Using the entry point of a late-night television show that teenagers enjoy, one teenager in particular, Owen (Justice Smith), becomes obsessed with watching the show alongside classmate Maddy (Brigitte Lundy-Paine). The more Owen watches the show, the more a reality begins to fracture. Once the show ends, and as years pass by, Owen continues to struggle with suffocating emotional pain and turmoil, as well as an escalating fear that with each passing day Owen loses the chance to experience an authentic life.
**(on the autobiographical elements of the film):** “I've pushed back a little on the narrative of it being a cautionary tale. I do so because I wrote this film after two months on hormones. Culturally, that's the part of a "gender transition" that we tend to think of as the beginning. To me, it was very much not a beginning. In many ways, it was the catharsis of half of my life, but that moment of un-repression, that moment of the egg cracking - when you finally see yourself clearly in a way that makes it hard to unsee - was (a) very hard one for me, because I really do think that repression is a survival mechanism. If I had transitioned in my own youth in the '90s - Well, first of all, I just didn't have the language to understand what that was, because the language of transness that was being fed to me was created by cis people who were making movies about trans people being monsters or being disgusting, and I didn't want to be either of those things. But to have come out to myself and started the process of transitioning would've been deeply unsafe. You always give up privilege when it happens, but doing that at 14 as opposed to 31, in the '90s as opposed to 2019 would have been a lot. I don't think I would be here if I had done that.”
**(on finding distribution with studio A24):** “I knew that if I got to work with A24, I'd be working with a company where the expectation is that you're going to see something a little bit different. Getting that opportunity … the chance to make something that was this personal, this visceral, this much speaking from inside (the) trans experience that hasn't really been done, at least on this level - Every part of the process was completely surreal. I felt like I was pulling off some kind of existential bank heist.” - *The Academy A.Frame, May 16, 2024*
**I Saw the TV Glow is available for streaming on MAX.**

19. HARPER STEELE and WILL FERRELL | WILL & HARPER

While filming a movie, Will Ferrell received an email from a close friend of almost 30 years. The message, from former “Saturday Night Live” writer Harper Steele, shared that Will’s long-time friend was coming out as a trans woman. Having not spoken in some time, Will asks Harper to join him on a road trip, hoping to reconnect and have the opportunity to get to know Harper as she lives her life as her authentic self. Over a cross-country road trip spanning 16 days, this charming, emotional, and honest documentary addresses new realities, wonderful memories, and a deeper understanding of what it means to live a life on your own terms.
**(Ferrell):** “You get an email from a friend announcing this kind of dramatic news and I didn't really stop to think how much pain, how much anguish there was to get to that point, how much thought it took to write that email. ... This was something that obviously was a part of her this whole time, and the sadness of her kind of putting it aside, kind of squashing it down, but then (having) the courage that it took to get to that point where she was like, "Enough, I'm going to give up the fight." I just learned how incredibly strong she is, how articulate she is. She's always made me laugh. … And a lot of people have come up to us just saying, ‘It's just nice to see friends stick up for each other.’ I think that's what we're most proud of about this whole thing.”
**(Steele):** “It wasn't a decision about right timing. It was a decision about living in misery and not wanting to do that anymore. So it just took me a long time to finally give up — and I do think of it as a giving up. I just collapsed into myself and found the other side and it's been so much better. I've discovered that vulnerability is truly a really powerful superpower. I'm not calling that a feminine trait. For me personally, to walk out of my house in a dress was a very vulnerable and raw moment, and what became of that moment was pure joy. So trusting vulnerability more has been something that truly has been helpful to me.” - *NPR Fresh Air, October 7, 2024*
**Will & Harper is now available for streaming on Netflix.**

**20. GINTS ZILBALODIS | as Co-Writer, Director, Co-Producer, Co-Composer, Cinematographer, Art Director, and Editor | FLOW**
One of 2024’s best discoveries is the Latvian film *Flow*, an animated, dialogue-free story of a cat who tries to survive after its home is destroyed by a catastrophic flood. Along the way, Cat creates a makeshift community consisting of a lemur, bird, capybara, and a dog. Together, traveling on floodwaters in an abandoned boat, the animals seek dry land, while learning about and relying on each other, to hopefully reach their next destination.
**(Zilbalodis, on creating his story and making his film dialogue-free):** “I wanted to tell the story without dialogue, and having these animals act like animals allowed me to do that. So at no point did I ever consider having any human characters in the film because then they would need to speak and that would kind of break this concept. But I did want to leave some clues about what might have happened to the humans and let the audience try to figure it out themselves by watching the environment. And so there are multiple layers of storytelling. There’s the journey that the characters go through, and then you can try and piece together the history of this world or what happened to the humans. But that wasn’t the most interesting part for me. I’m fine if people don’t think about it or catch it on the first watch, but if they decide to watch it again, there’s something in the film that will offer a different experience and they can look for different stories in the background, as well.”
**(on trusting his audience…and his sound designer):** “… There are certain scenes with no music, where it’s just the sounds for sometimes five minutes, which is quite rare in animation, where music often spoon-feeds the information to the audience. And I wanted to trust the audience that they will figure out the intention and the meaning without having the music constantly telling you exactly how to feel. I thought the sound designer (Gurwal Coïc-Gallas) would be excited to have this opportunity, but he actually said that he felt a lot of pressure because he couldn’t hide behind the dialogue or the music, and he had to be able to carry everything for a pretty prolonged period. But I think he really did an amazing job doing that.” - *Hammer to Nail, December 12, 2024*
**Flow is currently playing in theaters.**
*Composite photo courtesy of Loud and Clear Reviews*

AND 15 MORE PERFORMANCES
WORTH SEEING FROM 2025

The Cast of “Black Bag” | Marisa Abela (Clarissa), Cate Blanchett (Kathryn), Pierce Brosnan (Arthur), Tom Burke (Freddie), Michael Fassbender (George), Naomie Harris (Zoe), Regé-Jean Page (James)
Mystyslav Chernov | as Director | 2000 Meters to Andriivka
Tom Cruise | Ethan Hunt | Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Barbie Ferreira, John Leguizamo | Lily (Ferreira) and Bob (Leguizamo) | Bob Trevino Likes It
Geeta Gandbhir | as Director and Producer | The Perfect Neighbor
Ariana Grande | Glinda | Wicked: For Good
Chase Infiniti | Willa/Charlene | One Battle After Another
Jennifer Lawrence | Grace | Die My Love
Carson Lund | as Director, Co-Writer, Co-Producer, Editor, Sound Designer, and Casting Director | Eephus
Liam Neeson | Lt. Frank Drebin, Jr. | The Naked Gun
Josh O’Connor | Jud Duplenticy | Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons | Michelle (Stone) and Teddy (Plemons) | Bugnonia
Kelsey Taylor | as Director, Writer, and Co-Producer | To Kill A Wolf
Tessa Thompson | Hedda Gabler | Hedda
Naomi Watts, Bing | Iris (Watts) and Bing