Despite a seemingly unending wave of bad news about the industry, 2025 managed to serve up more than a few phenomenal movies.
From historical biopics to animated outings to a water polo camp from hell, here are some of our favourite releases from the past year.
25. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Like an anxiety attack by proxy, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You plumbs the depths of parental panic while questioning how much sacrifice we can (and do) expect from mothers. The film looks at one falling apart under the needs of her ill child, led by an award-worthy performance from Rose Byrne. Just have a cup of warm tea nearby.
24. Boxcutter
Reza Dahya’s Boxcutter is something like a low-key masterpiece: the almost lackadaisical plot of an aspiring rapper searching the city for his lost laptop full of music sets the stage for a wonderful portrait of Toronto’s various neighbourhoods. Tack on phenomenal performances by lead Ashton James and supporting actress Zoe Lewis and you have a bit of magic on your hands.
23. Sorry, Baby
It’s almost impossible to accept that Sorry, Baby is writer, director and star Eva Victor’s first feature. But the heartbreakingly tragic (and lightly comic) tale of a woman healing after a traumatic event has already pulled in debut awards from critics groups across the continent. Each one of them is more than deserved.
22. Sinners
If you haven’t heard of Sinners, well, where have you been? Representing Ryan Coogler’s triumphant return to original storytelling post-Marvel Cinematic Universe, this destined-for-the-Oscars flick utilizes vampires to explore the generational harm caused by racism and colonialism. Also, it’s (kind of) a musical. Enough said.
21. Weapons
Another surprise smash from the original content bin, Weapons — like Sinners — uses a horror trope to talk about something serious. This time, it’s the horrifying vulnerability experienced by children — and the parents tasked with keeping them alive. From the mind of one-time “Whitest Kids U Know” comedian and now horror auteur Zach Cregger, this terrifying tale of a third-grade class that suddenly goes missing is more than worth your time.
20. Rental Family
Brendan Fraser’s return to the spotlight has been a somewhat charmed race to the top. After earning Canada its first best actor award for his turn in 2022’s The Whale, his new film examines similar themes of loneliness. Rental Family follows an out-of-work American actor in Japan who finds self-worth in a bizarre (but real) industry that pairs actors with clients who want a fake relationship. It’ll make you cry.
19. Montreal, My Beautiful
In Canadian director Xiaodan He’s Montreal, My Beautiful, Joan Chen plays Feng Xia, a Chinese immigrant who finally decides to date a woman, as she’s always wanted. The only problem is the 53-year-old already has a family and children. The result is a delicately frustrating evocation of yearning, love and the pangs and pains of responsibility. (Having seen a limited release already, Montreal, My Beautiful will get a wide Canadian release on Feb. 13, 2026.)
18. It Was Just An Accident
With a place on the Oscar’s short list for best international feature, this likely won’t be the last time you hear about It Was Just An Accident. The French film charts the sad story of Vahid, an Iranian man who believes he has stumbled on the jailhouse captor who tortured him years ago. Less a comedy and more a tragedy of errors follows, as Vahid attempts to convince himself, then a cadre of others that they have the right man — and should therefore exact revenge in the tiny window of time where they hold power over anything at all.
17. Boys Go to Jupiter
“Life hack,” reads Julian Glander’s Letterboxd review of his own film, “u can make a movie with ur friends on ur laptop and that movie can go on to screen at 30+ festivals and open in 40+ theaters across the US.”
That’s exactly what he did. The kaleidoscopic, psychedelic neo-fable about a teen delivery driver beset by friendly monsters and a predatory juice company is nothing if not fun. Add on the fact that it’s stuffed with a veritable who’s-who of indie comedy voices (including Eva Victor) and Boys Go to Jupiter becomes one of the oddest and most enjoyable titles out this year.
16. Blue Moon
We’ve all heard of Rodgers and Hammerstein. But what about Rodgers and Hart?
That’s the question Richard Linklater asks with Blue Moon, a one-night window into the life of Lorenz Hart, the lyricist who drank away a successful Broadway pairing with composer Richard Rodgers. Ethan Hawke gives an unbelievably vulnerable performance as Hart on the night that Rodgers (Andrew Scott) experiences one of the biggest triumphs of his professional life, and Linklater does a phenomenal job mining it all for artistic tragedy.
15. Hamnet
Speaking of tragedy, anyone seen Hamlet?
In Hamnet, director Chloé Zhao’s argues you haven’t — not really. This pseudo-historical tale of woe liberally reimagines the Shakespeare story, while grappling with how the playwright may have been influenced by the death of his son Hamnet to write the similarly titled play. If you want to be well-versed in the coming Oscars conversations, this is one you’ll want to see.
14. The Love That Remains
Hlynur Pálmason is a name inextricably linked to spare, detailed and beautiful filmmaking. The Love That Remains is no exception: enlisting the help of his own children, he paints a picture of a marriage on the rocks, a family adrift — and a father literally out to sea. Headed for wider release in early 2026, Iceland’s one-time hope for the upcoming Oscars may leave you scratching your head, but it still offers something gorgeous to think over.
13. Ne Zha 2
Despite bombing in North America, Ne Zha 2 is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time for a reason. The Chinese mythology-inspired tale of a demon child taking his destiny into his own hands is equal parts awe-inspiring and tear-inducing. Just make sure you watch the first movie beforehand.
12. Hedda
Devilishly devious, Nia DaCosta’s Hedda reimagines the classic Henrik Ibsen play. Following a kept woman in the 1950s — with a dangerous compulsion to control anyone in her path — Hedda’s slapdash plans quickly unravel around her. Come for the set dressing, stay for the beautifully unhinged performances by star Tessa Thompson and supporting phenom Nina Hoss.
11. Elio
Clinically underrated, Elio making it to theatres at all was a feat — but the end result is leagues better than its dismal box office results indicate. A gorgeously animated story of a boy so desperate to feel wanted he yearns for an alien abduction, Pixar’s latest is definitely one to watch.
10. Arco
The Natalie Portman-produced Arco is a story about climate change, time travel and general hopefulness — and all the ways we just might save ourselves. Following a boy in the far future travelling to the near future, it’s also a hand-drawn, Ghibli-inspired 2D work of art, featuring the voices of Portman, Will Ferrell, Andy Samberg and Mark Ruffalo. After a limited release this fall, it’s slated for a wider release in early 2026.
9. Souleymane’s Story
As an asylum seeker, Souleymane cannot work in France. But he needs money to live — and to pay the coaches who promise to teach him how to ace his residence permit interview. The solution of paying another immigrant to let him (illegally) use his ID to deliver meals only introduces a migraine-inducing series of new obstacles — ones we watch Souleymane confront and surmount, only to find more.
The stunningly acted feature is currently only available to stream in French via TV5Unis in Canada, though it’s also available on Blu Ray.
8. Marty Supreme
Already declared a career-defining performance by, well, Timothée Chalamet, the Chalamet-led Marty Supreme is everything you’ve heard it is. A bum-rush of emotion, the film follows a 1950s-era Ping-Pong athlete convinced of his destiny as a generational talent. However delusional Marty — and Chalamet — may seem, Marty Supreme (which hits theatres this Christmas) just might be as great as he says it is.
7. Train Dreams
Netflix threw its hat into the awards ring this year with the stunning Train Dreams, a story simultaneously about the pointlessness of life and the interconnectedness of it all. Joel Edgerton leads the film as Robert Grainier, a logger in the Pacific Northwest of the early 1900s, beset on all sides by sorrow. But somehow, like a magic trick, the film leaves you smiling. And no, I don’t know how they do it, either.
6. Twinless
A bizarrely kitschy tale of a Talented Mr. Ripley-type if he had Instagram, Twinless tells the story of love, loss and lies. Without giving too much away, two young men meet in a peer support group for those whose identical twins have died. The secrets in their respective pasts, though, build to something more than the sum of its parts.
5. A New Kind of Wilderness
Continuing something of a trend, A New Kind of Wilderness is a documentary about loss. Like a real-life version of Captain Fantastic, an off-grid Norwegian family tries to shepherd itself through an earth-shattering trauma. And having landed on PBS’s POV series earlier this year, it’s easily one of the most affecting films of 2025.
4. Sovereign
Sovereign was sadly missed by most critics this year — likely due to the overwhelmingly dour tone it sets while charting the tale of a “sovereign citizen” and his son waging a war against the government. The emotionally spare atmosphere is a feature, not a bug — as is the incredible, staggering acting by co-stars Nick Offerman and Canadian Jacob Tremblay.
3. The Plague
The Plague could maybe be best described as if The Sandlot took a page out of Mean Girls — and several dozen more out of Lord of the Flies. Following a tween boy at a water polo camp in 2003, it stars Joel Edgerton (in his second entry on this list) and Everett Blunck (also in this year’s underseen wonder Griffin in Summer) in the lead role.
Getting a limited U.S. release on Christmas Eve, this macabre masterpiece will open Jan. 2 in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary and Jan. 9 in Vancouver.
2. The Testament of Ann Lee
Another Christmas Day release, The Testament of Ann Lee is as odd as it is moving. It charts the early days of the Shaker religious movement: a group of sex-hating, music-loving Pilgrims led here by the eponymous Anne Lee (Amanda Seyfried). Almost clinical in its refusal to either denigrate or exalt its central figure, Ann Lee is also unerringly beautiful.
Also, it’s a musical.
1. Lurker
A haunting portrait of obsession, control and the sacrifices we make for greatness, Lurker is infinitely interesting. Boasting a spellbinding lead performance by Canadian Théodore Pellerin — and easily some of the best songs of the year — it follows a young man worming his way into the coterie of a rising pop star.
Taught, thrilling, disturbing and insightful, there is almost nothing Lurker fails to excel at. Do yourself a favour and check it out.
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