‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘With Hasan in Gaza’ Top Film Comment’s Best Films of 2025

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another has topped Film Comment’s annual end-of-year critics’ top films released in 2025 list, followed by Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent.

On being named the number one film released this year, Anderson said, “It’s Film Comment so it means a lot, as anybody who does this knows. There’s a special place in all of our hearts for Film Comment, there has been for a long time. It’s deeply appreciated.””

Kamal Aljafari’s With Hasan in Gaza leads the list of top 10 undistributed films of 2025, followed by Lucrecia Martel’s Nuestra Tierra (Landmarks), and Ross McElwee’s Remake.

The poll was voted on by 125 Film Comment contributors and colleagues from around the globe, including Jamsheed Akrami (scholar and filmmaker), Florence Almozini (Film at Lincoln Center), Richard Brody (The New Yorker), Radu Jude (filmmaker), Michael Koresky (Museum of the Moving Image, Reverse Shot), Beatrice Loayza (critic), Kevin B. Lee (Locarno Film Festival), Dennis Lim (Film at Lincoln Center), Guy Lodge (Variety, Observer), Dessane Lopez Cassell (critic), Matías Piñeiro (filmmaker), and more.

“This year’s top films all deal, whether directly or indirectly, with individuals in thrall to history and larger social and political forces. From the shattered family unit of Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, to the laconic criminal swept up by the times in Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, to the lone bullfighter sacrificing his body for arcane traditions in Albert Serra’s Afternoons of Solitude, so many of this year’s top films have provided us with resonant images of an unsettled world,” said Film Comment editor Clinton Krute.

“One of the privileges and tragedies of being a critic is that you often get to see breathtaking cinema that then finds no way to wider audiences,” added Film Comment editor Devika Girish. “Polling critics on the year’s best undistributed films is one of our cherished traditions at Film Comment, and the number of masters in this year’s list – Kamal Aljafari, Lucrecia Martel, Ross McElwee, and others—says something about the state of distribution in the U.S. for independent cinema. I hope to see all these titles on our list of best films released in 2026!”

Film Comment’s Top 20 Films Released in 2025

1. One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson, U.S.
2. The Mastermind, Kelly Reichardt, U.S.
3. The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany
4. It Was Just an Accident, Jafar Panahi, Iran/France/Luxembourg
5. Caught by the Tides, Jia Zhangke, China
6. Afternoons of Solitude, Albert Serra, Spain
7. Misericordia, Alain Guiraudie, France
8. Sirāt, Oliver Laxe, France/Spain
9. The Shrouds, David Cronenberg, France/Canada
10. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Mary Bronstein, U.S.
11. Sinners, Ryan Coogler, U.S.
12. Grand Tour, Miguel Gomes, Portugal/Italy/France
13. Peter Hujar’s Day, Ira Sachs, U.S.
14. Familiar Touch, Sarah Friedland, U.S.
15. By the Stream, Hong Sangsoo, South Korea
16. Henry Fonda for President, Alexander Horwath, Austria/Germany
17. Blue Moon, Richard Linklater, U.S./Ireland
18. DIRECT ACTION, Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell, France/Germany
19. Sound of Falling, Mascha Schilinski, Germany
20. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Rungano Nyoni, Zambia/U.K./Ireland

Film Comment’s Top 10 Undistributed Films of 2025

1. With Hasan in Gaza, Kamal Aljafari, Germany/Palestine/France/Qatar
2. Nuestra Tierra (Landmarks), Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/U.S./Mexico/France/Netherlands/Denmark
3. Remake, Ross McElwee, U.S.
4. Levers, Rhayne Vermette, Canada
5. I Only Rest in the Storm, Pedro Pinho, Portugal/Brazil/France/Romania
6. Escape, Masao Adachi, Japan
7. Pin de fartie, Alejo Moguillansky, Argentina
8. Bouchra, Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani, Italy/Morocco/U.S.
9. Seeds, Brittany Shyne, U.S.
10. Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes, Gabriel Azorín, Spain/Portugal