Top Films of 2025 (Plus One Perfect K-Drama)

It’s already almost three months into 2026 (whoops), but before I move on, I wanted to look back at the films that stuck with me through 2025 — the ones that made everything else fade away for a few hours.

I logged a lot of movies on Letterboxd this year, but these are the ones that clung to my brain long after the credits: No Other Choice, Chainsawman: Reze Arc, Hamnet, Sinners, and, as a bonus, the K-drama that somehow forced its way into my Letterboxd top four, When Life Gives You Tangerines. No rankings here, but if we’re being honest, No Other Choice sits comfortably at the top of the pile.

No Other Choice (2025)

Chainsawman - The Movie: Reze Arc

Hamnet (2025)

Sinners (2025)

When Life Gives You Tangerines (2025)

No Other Choice

Park Chan-wook could film paint drying, and it’d still look like divine choreography — that was my first thought walking out of No Other Choice, and it’s still true. The film lingers on slow moments like they’re sacred, giving you room to both think and miss half the brilliance while you’re thinking. On the surface, it’s a story about humans fighting for relevance in an automated world; beneath that, it’s a heartbreakingly ironic elegy for humanity’s own need to feel useful. My top film of 2025, hands down. If this is the future, we might as well enjoy it through Park’s perfect framing.

Chainsawman: Reze Arc

People talked about the explosions, the chaos, the fan service — but what stuck with me was the stillness. Chainsawman: Reze Arc isn’t really about blood and blades; it’s about Denji brushing up against love for maybe the first time, only to lose it before he even understands it. The quiet moments ache more than the fights ever could. MAPPA didn’t just adapt the manga — they broke it open. (Special mention to Beam, who deserves his own medal.) Five stars for the ache it leaves behind.

Hamnet

Hamnet doesn’t shout about grief; it sits with it. It’s patient, soft, and unbearably human — the kind of movie that feels like living inside a memory you don’t want to leave but can’t bear to stay in. Every frame feels dreamlike, fragile. It’s beautiful in that cruel way where you recognize yourself in the sorrow. I left the theater quietly shaken and still haven’t stopped thinking about it.

Sinners

There are movies that seduce you, and then there’s Sinners. Stylish, shadowy, and dangerously self-assured, it draws you in like a secret you weren’t supposed to hear. Every choice — from lighting to pacing — feels deliberate, like the director’s whispering something just for you. I loved the unpredictability of the story and the cast’s magnetism. It isn’t flawless, maybe because I didn’t want it to end, but it came close.

Bonus Pick: When Life Gives You Tangerines (K-Drama)

This isn’t a film, but it absolutely earned a spot in my Letterboxd top four. When Life Gives You Tangerines is a lifetime condensed into sixteen episodes — laughter, longing, and heartbreak woven together into something resembling a love song. Ae-sun dreams of being a poet, and Gwan-sik becomes the poem itself: loyal, gentle, and endlessly giving. He’s the kind of character who cleans up every hurt just by existing near it. Their story reminds me that love isn’t about the grand gestures — it’s about showing up when the light starts to fade and staying, quietly, anyway.

If you want the star ratings, scattered thoughts, and things I was too delirious to type into this post, they’re all living over on my Letterboxd — but these are the ones that defined my 2025.