Bogatyrs are you: Izvestia has selected the top 10 films of 2025
Paul Thomas Anderson, Jafar Panahi, Park Chang-wook, Richard Linklater and many others have released their best films of the last few years this year. Critics are foaming at the mouth about each of these paintings, and each one boasts a trail of awards and nominations. Some people will have an Oscar and a Golden Globe. From the beginning to the end of the year, the repertoire in Russian cinema was divided between two great poets, Pushkin and Lermontov. And in this you can see not only drama, but also drama. Izvestia summed up the results of cinematography for 2025 and found that all these films are connected by at least one thing: they are all addressed to the widest audience and tell stories that will be understandable anywhere in the world.
"Battle after battle"
It has long been clear to everyone that "Battle after Battle" is the most likely contender for both the Golden Globe (nine nominations) and the Oscar. It's really the perfect combination of spectacle (and it's not just the famous hill chase) and substance. The latter handles Thomas Pynchon's novel very freely, as well as our ideas about how the plot should develop, the characters evolve, and what exactly should not be in the film.
A shot from the movie "Battle after Battle"
There is a lot of debate about what the film is about. Should we consider it a postmodern joke of the highest standard, or should we find in it some kind of quite serious idea, which is clothed in the form of an absurdist crime road movie? The most likely idea seems to be that the theme of the film is the confrontation between the individual and the state. Or freedom and the system. To escalate this conflict, we just need this absurdist separation of the poles, when DiCaprio's character in the image of the Dude from "Lebowski" immediately confronts the government, the police, the army, and aviation — the entire conditional America, the entire civilization. And he resists by the very fact of his existence, remaining an eternal outcast, victim, marginal. But perhaps the idea is not that you should be free anyway, but that you won't be alone. There are more like them, they will help. And sometimes one of the executioners will have a conscience, and he will also stand next to you. In general, it's a naive, romantic film, but for some reason you get infected with this belief and get charged, so "Battle after Battle" will be reviewed more than once, including after a well-deserved Oscar.
"The Prophet. The story of Alexander Pushkin"
The hooligan musical about Pushkin is the main surprise of Russian cinema in 2025. And for a reason, this is the most successful domestic release, except for New Year's fantasy blockbusters. It seemed that the image of "our everything" was already so battered after all the anniversaries and other serious trials that nothing fresh would appear here. It turned out that it was enough to take Yura Borisov, the tradition of the Broadway musical, a debutant director who knows how to make catchy video clips, and add music, good actors and bright decorations. And Pushkin returned in a new incarnation, sang, danced, and once again wiped Benkendorf's nose (a perfect match for Sergei Gilev).
A frame from the movie "The Prophet. The story of Alexander Pushkin"
It makes no sense to scold this film for distorting the facts, disappearing from Pushkin's biography of Odessa, Crimea, the Caucasus, Arina Rodionovna and a million other important elements of it. For the authors of The Prophet, Pushkin is a brilliant bully and a ladies' man, the soul of the company, eternally young, eternally drunk. Where the film language would have stalled, trying to convey Pushkin's thought, they put pure emotions. This is Pushkin, who overcame his inaccessibility, who does not hang sadly over everyone who waits in vain for a date next to his monument near the subway. You want to be friends with this Pushkin, feast and even quarrel sometimes. As long as there are no duels. It turned out that the people just didn't have enough of such a Pushkin, now they have one.
"Lermontov"
Just as Pushkin and Lermontov are different poets and people, so are the films about them different from each other. And both are events. It is clear that the 65 million that Lermontov has collected at the box office is partly due to the fact that the general public has little interest in auteur cinema, otherwise they would know who Bakur Bakuradze is, one of the most refined aesthetes in our cinema over the past 20 years. This time it played into the hands of the rental of the picture. And only then did people grumble that nothing was happening in the film, that it was impossible to make out what the characters were saying, and that it would be necessary to present the biography of the unfortunate poet in a simpler, "normal" way.
A shot from the movie "Lermontov"
It shouldn't be "normal" and simpler. On the contrary, Bakuradze did everything right. On the one hand, his Lermontov has the same nightmarish character that is described in the memoirs of the poet's contemporaries. This is Lermontov, as he could be in reality, a man whose poems are charged with genuine romantic anguish and often irreconcilable anger for a reason. And who succeeded in the image of Pechorin for a reason. On the other hand, the narrative is reduced so as to turn into a story about us, about our time, our feelings, reactions, and our friends. All this is very recognizable, and therefore it's okay if we sometimes don't hear the characters' speech. We could say a lot for them ourselves.
"I'm sorry, baby."
Eva Victor is a name you'll have to remember. The director is a debutant and at the same time the performer of the main and, by the way, the most difficult role, for which Victor is now nominated for the Golden Globe precisely as an actress. "Sorry, baby" could be considered as a local story of a girl who was seduced, actually raped, and who could not come to her senses after that. But Eva Victor fills this, in fact, short story, more suitable for a novel than for a full meter, with the content that made the film an event, it has been triumphantly marching through festivals and prestigious awards for almost a year, getting close to the Oscar.
A shot from the movie "Sorry, baby"
To begin with, this film is about a generation. Such types on the screen had never been written out so prominently before, we were just getting used to these yesterday's children in shapeless clothes, with a disdainful attitude towards their own appearance, fear of prejudice and stereotypes. Representatives of a new sincerity, which includes a strange combination of vulnerability with a willingness to defend their right to independence. Here, each type manifests itself too shamelessly, by the old standards. And at the same time, when the climax of the film takes place (solved very ingeniously), it is the representatives of this generation who speak: what would have been put on the brakes earlier cannot be left like this, that this is a crime, this is psychological trauma, this is violence, and not an affair between a handsome teacher and a fully grown graduate student. This is a film of new optics and new conflicts, one of the most important this year.
The "Method of exclusion"
Park Chang-wook is least associated with comedies. Of course, there is a dark irony in his individual films, but in general he has always been gloomy, tough, and merciless. Imagine the surprise of all his fans when the "Method of exclusion" appeared, as if the answer to the famous "Parasites", only more radical and, despite all the wildness of what is happening, completely understandable, close, as if we dreamed all this while looking for another job.
A frame from the movie "Method of Elimination"
There's nothing special about the plot. The main character gets laid off along with dozens, if not hundreds, of workers at a large paper mill. He is a narrow specialist, but one of the best in his field, knows everything about paper processing, plans production with his eyes closed — but all of a sudden it turned out to be unnecessary. And when, after months of rejections and "ignoring", the desired position is found, the hero realizes that several more specialists of the same level from his field are applying for it. And the only way to get a place for sure is to find all the rivals and get rid of them before the interview. This is a hilariously funny movie, because almost every viewer has been in a similar situation at least once, and many are experiencing it now. So Park Chang-wook suddenly discovered a social director in himself — and, by the way, turned out to be one of the best and certainly relevant.
One Shot with Ed Sheeran: A Music Experience
It's amazing how the rush format, which is modest in its essence, can lead to phenomenal results. It all started with the fact that Phil Barantini, the author of the most important TV series of 2025, "Transition Age," decided to use the same continuous frame method to film Ed Sheeran's walk around New York during the break between the sound check and the concert. The task is supernaturally difficult, because Ed Sheeran needs to get to many places along the way, including helping one good person make a marriage proposal, as well as perform at a street concert, ride the subway, look into a bar — and that's not all. At the same time, they also performed their songs live one after another, because this is not just a documentary, but a concert film.
An image from the movie "One Shot with Ed Sheeran: A Music Experience"
You look at it and you don't understand how it could have been done at all. The camera does not leave Sheeran for a second, while she "walks" backwards, then takes off at a bird's-eye height, then dives into the subway to the shocked passengers. Netflix has already released a "film about the film" showing how the work went, and it is already being compared to Alexander Sokurov's "The Russian Ark" and even Mikhail Kalatozov's masterpiece "I am Cuba," where cameraman Sergei Urusevsky also achieved magical continuous camera movement. Yes, in some places you immediately feel that there are staged scenes here and here, and the car with Sheeran's girlfriend at the wheel is generally driving contrary to the laws of physics, so it's definitely on a platform, not a real one. And yet Sheeran's charm, the pace of the film and his beauty are absolutely captivating, this is one of the most unforgettable sights of the year, especially, by the way, contrasting in mood with the "Transition Age" itself.
The "New Wave"
Richard Linklater regularly produces films that immediately become iconic. And here it is possible even without the "Before Dawn" series, plus sequels, to name and name examples.: "High and confused", "The Awakening of life", "Clouding", "Adolescence". This year, Linklater surpassed himself and released two films at once, and both appear one way or another in all ratings of the best releases of the year. Some people prefer "Blue Moon," a somewhat theatrical benefit of Linklater's favorite actor Ethan Hawke. The sex symbol of American cinema was turned into a balding, stooping dwarf Lorenz Hart, the one who wrote a million hits for Sinatra and others like him, including the notorious Blue Moon. Hawke is currently competing for all the prestigious awards for his role in this film.
A shot from the movie "New Wave"
But "New Wave" is a more aesthetic, sophisticated and unexpected movie. A kind of foundation footage about how a young film critic, Jean-Luc Godard, once decided that since all his friends had already made a movie, it was time for him. And with completely adventurous methods, violating all the laws of filmmaking and risking being left with nothing, he suddenly made his debut "With his last Breath" with a team to match himself. And he changed cinema forever. Linklater painstakingly recreated the filming process, found characters very similar to his prototypes, and dug through all the facts, legends, and aphorisms left over from this epochal moment in French cinema. And he collided historical anecdotes with an impeccable stylization of the document. "New Wave" is a film that will be reviewed by generations of cinephiles. And what kind of Jean Seberg Zoey Deutsch turned out to be is just mysticism, the transmigration of souls, the jackpot.
Read more about the film in the review from Cannes.
"A simple accident"
I would like to joke that the impact of Jafar Panahi's new film was such that electricity went out all over the Cote d'Azur. And who knows, maybe it's true, the blackout at the Cannes Film Festival was covered right on the closing day in such a way that it advertised the work of the most famous and scandalous modern Iranian author in the best possible way.
Panahi knows how to touch a nerve. How many stories have you personally heard about Iran after the 1979 revolution? Regardless of your politicization, it's still probably a lot. But in "A simple accident", a sad humorous parable, it is not about Iran, it is only a background, an example, perhaps even "just random", since the author is from there.
A shot from the movie "A simple accident"
The main character is a victim of repression. But he did not see his executioners. I only remembered the main one by the sound of the wooden leg. And years later, he heard that knock, recognized it, grabbed its owner, tied him up and put him in a car. Now he wants to find other victims of this executioner so that they can confirm that this is exactly the monster, and then they will execute him together or release him if it is a mistake. It's a comedy, there's a lot of fuss, ridiculous situations, jokes, running around. But Panahi is increasingly asking the question: if this is really the executioner, what should we do with him? How will you punish your tormentor, and then won't you become the same? And if you don't punish, what will happen to the world's evil, do you have the right, at least in the person of a specific geek, not to reduce the level of unpunished violence around you? Panahi answered these questions and received the Palme d'Or. You can't miss this movie.
"Yes."
The title of the film in Hebrew on the poster looks very impressive and even magical, at least for those who do not speak the language. And there's really a lot of magic here. Nadav Lapid, the most influential Israeli director, author of "The Educator," "Synonyms," and "The Tribe of Ahed," uses the form of Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" here to talk about the conflict between the Artist and War. The film begins with a glamorous party, where a completely crazy couple dances for the amusement of the audience. They're the ones that help relieve stress after October 7th. But while the esteemed audience is having fun, the main character, not only a dancer, but also a talented jazz musician, is slowly losing his mind. And she moves further and further away, so that she brings her unfortunate owner to the border with smoking Gaza, then to an almost installation where quite respectable people lick the shoes of a luxurious Russian oligarch (Serebryakov).
A shot from the movie "Yes"
Probably, there are a lot of excesses here and somewhere it would be possible to do with less frontal images, but no one except Lapid made such a statement about the "Renaissance War" anymore. Especially from the point of view of an Israeli, and not a political poster, but an artistic interpretation. Lapid's view is so radical that in Cannes they were afraid to even take him into the competition, they showed him at the other end of the Croisette, and Serebryakov, by the way, did not show up there. And in Israel, this movie is not very popular, by the way.
"Emelianenko"
Back in an interview at the beginning of 2022, Valeria Guy Germanika told Izvestia in an interview: "I have the documentary film "Emelianenko" ready. I think this is my best work to date. And I would like to develop in this direction. But he's so tough, there are scenes of violence, foul language, and it's unclear how his fate will turn out." More than three years have passed, and Germanika released a picture about Alexander Emelianenko, however, she drowned out the entire mat there, which made it impossible to make out many of the dialogues.
By genre, it's either a comedy, a drama, or sometimes a thriller. Germanika, with a camera, shoots in the usual one-on-one format of a notorious athlete who is struggling with alcoholism, changes girls one by one and prepares for a duel with Magomed Ismailov, that is, the work began even before the pandemic. And it seems to some that this is another portrait film, a method of long—term observation, raw reality, naturalism - there was once a lot of this in our cinema.
Russian mixed martial artist Alexander Emelianenko
But at some point we realize that we are looking at Emelianenko, and we see Rus. Heroic and vulnerable, getting out of one binge and diving into another, unpredictable, at the same time selfless, hospitable, ready to help — and cruel, gloomy, depressed, who needs help herself, but there is no one to hold her on her shoulders. Therefore, Emelianenko as a character does not reveal himself psychologically to the end — he is an image, a metaphor, a historiosophical reflection. It took five years for the character to mature to this level of generalization, but now it is quite clear. Emelianenko, where are you going? Give me an answer. Does not give an answer.
Briefly about a few more films that are worth noting at the end of the year.
"Red Silk"
A shot from the movie "Red Silk"
The historical action detective film not only unexpectedly became a rolling hit in Russia, collecting almost 700 million rubles, but also triumphantly released in China. No wonder: the plot is closely related to China and even part of the filming took place there, and, as they say, they worked in 40-degree heat. And on Lake Baikal they were shooting at -40. All this was reflected in the visual side of the picture, especially since it was the first in Russia to be shot in 60 frames per second format, for enhanced image clarity. Starring Milos Bikovic and Gleb Kalyuzhny. Currently, work is underway on a sequel under the working title "Black Silk", while the film continues to be distributed in Asian countries.
"Fields of falling"
A frame from the movie "Fields of Falling"
An assembly film assembled from archival videos from 20 years ago. A team of scrap metal collectors, led by a Chechen, travels around the outskirts of Plesetsk and searches for fallen rocket parts and other equipment. For them, it's all scrap metal that needs to be cut up and sold quickly. The authors of the film are Igor Yelukov and Makar Tereshin.
"Burning Bitter"
A shot from the movie "Burning Gorky"
In his documentary work, Alexey Fedorchenko follows the tradition of Werner Herzog to look for the absurd in the mundane and the romantic in the trivial. His new painting, which is essentially commissioned, remains both a formal experiment, a folklore collection of jokes about Gagarin and Gorky, and a reflection on our passion to create myths, even where there is no need for it.
"House of Dynamite"
A shot from the movie "House of Dynamite"
60 years after Stanley Kubrick and four years after "Don't Look Up," Kathryn Bigelow has shot her own version of exactly how the whole world could die. A missile is flying towards the United States, it cannot be shot down, the metropolis will be destroyed. And if this happens, then it is impossible not to answer, and the answer will lead to disaster. With documentary meticulousness, Bigelow shows how this can actually happen.
"Caught red-handed"
A shot from the movie "Caught red-handed"
Darren Aronofsky suddenly released one of the funniest films of the season. For the Russian public, a special bonus is the duet of Yuri Kolokolnikov and Nikita Kukushkin, who are fooling around with their hearts, parodying the images of Russian bandits. But this is also the most harmless thing about this crime comedy, which violates more than one taboo.
"Die, my love"
A shot from the movie "Die, my love"
The best role of Jennifer Lawrence's career. In a duet with Robert Pattinson, she plays a woman in postpartum depression, which in this case led not only to aggression, but also to hallucinations, and the worst part is that it seems that some of these visions were just quite a reality.
"Eddington"
A shot from the movie "Eddington"
Ari Astaire's black comedy about a small town and the passions boiling there. Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler play out a bloody nightmare together with paranoid antics, chases, shootouts and other funny stories under the scorching sun of the southern state.
"Bugonia"
A shot from the movie "Bugonia"
Yorgos Lanthimos released two films this year — "Kinds of Kindness" and "Bugonia". Both are Emma Stone's benefit, and both are wonderful. But "Bugonia", a free-style remake of the comedy "Save the Green Planet!", is a funnier and more integral film, charged with the just feeling that ordinary people and top managers live on different planets, no matter how they try to pretend that this is not the case.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
