Best Films of 2025: Rediscovering Cinema’s Joy

Last Updated on 2026-01-18 by a-indie

The “Best Movies of the Year” project was launched to bring some energy to the film industry, which saw a noticeable global market contraction in 2024, a year marked by a succession of dark news.

Despite such aspirations, the film industry continued to decelerate in 2025.

Warner Brothers was sold in the U.S., and Warner Brothers Japan announced the end of its domestic theatrical distribution operations by the end of the year.

Major foreign films increasingly skipped theatrical releases in Japan.

The headline from last year—”In the near future, going to the cinema to watch movies might itself become something special”—became reality this year.

The causes are varied, and we can neither entirely deny nor affirm all of them.

This is because, while foreign films have been losing momentum and winding down, Japanese films have been achieving consecutive global and historic hits.

Looking only domestically, 『国宝』 broke the all-time box office record for live-action Japanese films for the first time in 22 years, and in animation, 『鬼滅の刃 無限城編』 Chapter 1: 猗窩座再来 recorded over 100 billion yen in worldwide box office revenue.

『劇場版 チェンソーマン レゼ篇』 also achieved the remarkable feat of approaching 30 billion yen in worldwide box office revenue.

While it is certainly joyful that domestic productions are producing unprecedented massive hits domestically, global blockbusters seem like a pipe dream.

Carrying both sad and happy news, we at BELONG Media once again summarize the year through our annual best films project.

One final unnecessary bit of advice:

If this ranking helps you discover films you love, please try to find at least one movie you like in theaters in 2026.

Watching movies in a cinema is an experience. The wonderful experiences you create through your own actions will surely enrich your life. (滝田 優樹 Yuuki Takita)

桃井かおる子’s Best 10 Films of 2025

10. 白雪姫

Director: Marc Webb

9. ナイトフラワー

Director: 内田英治

8. フロントライン

Director: 関根光才

7. 港に灯がともる

Director: 安達もじり

6. 宝島

Director: 大友啓史
This film held the answer to the sense of discomfort that had stayed with me since my school trip to Okinawa.

While it’s difficult to receive this history as my own personal matter, this work taught me that I can think about how to hold this history in my heart after learning about it. (桃井かおる子 Kaoruko Momoi)

5. 35年目のラブレター

Director: 塚本連平
Well, this too—as someone in a position to teach language, this work taught me that I must not take for granted the “ordinary” ability to write and speak words.

The words my teacher told me, “You should start by reconsidering the language you speak,” and their meaning—they were in this film. (桃井かおる子 Kaoruko Momoi)

4. Dear Stranger／ディア・ストレンジャー

Director: 真利子哲也
Perhaps because I teach Japanese, this film showed me the frustration that cannot be wiped away while struggling to live in a language that is not one’s mother tongue.

There is something invisible in this work that language and culture simply cannot overcome. How do we receive that something? There was something I must not forget as someone in a position to teach Japanese to international students. (桃井かおる子 Kaoruko Momoi)

3. ミーツ・ザ・ワールド

Director: 松居大悟
No one knows what kind of trigger will allow you to meet people you were never supposed to meet.

Taking that as a small pleasure and living each day might be good—it’s as if the drawer of my heart, or rather, the margin in my heart, has become a little wider.

This is a work that makes me feel that way. I think about how I exist within connections with people I cannot see. (桃井かおる子 Kaoruko Momoi)

2. 遠い山なみの光（A Pale View of Hills）

Director: 石川慶
Photographs depicting the lives of postwar Nagasaki citizens flowing to New Order’s opening song (「セレモニー (Ceremony)」).

My heart was grabbed from the very beginning. Beyond the protagonist’s gaze stands the present me—since watching that work, I find myself thinking such thoughts every day.

This is a work that will surely push my back forward. (桃井かおる子 Kaoruko Momoi)

1. 国宝

Director: 李相日
Ah, this was by far the best. I couldn’t make it to a third viewing, but I wanted to watch it repeatedly—the world of singing kabuki that’s not just dazzling but something you truly immerse yourself in, or rather, it flows before your eyes.

This was the first film where I felt the sensation of “bathing” in cinema! (桃井かおる子 Kaoruko Momoi)

桃井かおる子’s Personal Summary

The above are my best 10 films of 2025. Come to think of it, I didn’t watch many foreign films last year.

I’m truly embarrassed by my biased film viewing, or rather, can I even call myself a film fan with this?

I want to be able to watch films with a more neutral mindset. (桃井かおる子 Kaoruko Momoi)

まりりん’s Best 10 Films of 2025

5. 大長編 タローマン 万博大爆発

Director: 藤井亮

4. フロントライン

Director: 関根光才

3. 落下の王国4Kデジタルリマスター

Director: Tarsem Singh
While remasters and re-releases have become more common in recent years, I never thought I would be able to watch 落下の王国 in a cinema.

This is a film that teaches us that nature, human endeavors, and this world are beautiful.

I thought I knew this from the terrestrial broadcast a few years ago, but watching it in a cinema, especially at Grand Cinema Sunshine, one of Japan’s premier cinemas overflowing with love for film, I was able to once again touch the beauty of this world. (まりりん maririn)

2. ヴァージン・パンク

Director: 梅津泰臣

After falling in love with 梅津泰臣 through 『A KITE』, I watched his works one after another, only to be saddened that I couldn’t get the same excitement as 『A KITE』—but it finally came.

Elaborately crafted mecha design, beautiful background art, attractive character design, and violence that blows all of that away! 梅津泰臣 is still best with girls and violence. I look forward to the sequel. (まりりん maririn)

1. 教皇選挙

Director: Edward Berger

Just being able to see inside Vatican City and the papal conclave is irresistible for a religion enthusiast, but it was also overflowing with humanity and the story was outstandingly interesting.

I like the previous Pope Francis, who returned to heaven this past April, so I was pleased that, just like him, a person who knows human sadness and grieves with people was chosen as the head of the great religion that is Christianity. (まりりん maririn)

滝田 優樹’s Best 10 Films of 2025

10. F1®／エフワン

Director: Joseph Kosinski

9. 劇場版 チェンソーマン レゼ篇

Director: 原達矢

8. エディントンへようこそ

Director: Ari Aster

7. ファーストキス　1ST KISS

Director: 塚原あゆ子

6. 罪人たち

Director: Ryan Coogler

5. 名もなき者/A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

Director: James Mangold

4. アフター・ザ・ハント

Director: Luca Guadagnino

3. ブルータリスト

Director: Brady Corbet

I went to the theater to watch this film armed only with the advance information that it was approximately three and a half hours long with a 15-minute intermission.

The soundtrack plays during the intermission after the first 100 minutes of screening, functioning as part of the main feature’s direction.

Additionally, upon entry, a special mini-brochure was distributed to be read during the break, and its content explained the history of the protagonist, architect László Toth.

The content of this mini-brochure was exceptionally excellent, explaining the creations he designed and built in the film as if László Toth were a real architect.

Therefore, from the latter half to the end, the boundary between fiction and reality became unclear, and by the time I left, I even felt a desire to know more about László Toth. Three and a half hours wasn’t enough.

It’s a work overflowing with such immersive devices and architectural beauty.

If I had knowledge of anti-Semitism during World War II and architecture, I might have felt more depth in the story, but even without it, it was a film filled with meticulous ingenuity that didn’t bore despite its length and drew viewers in. (滝田 優樹 Yuuki Takita)

2. ワン・バトル・アフター・アナザー

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starting with a personal story: Paul Thomas Anderson is among my top five favorite active directors, so like Spielberg, I planned to watch it three times in theaters, but I had pink eye when it was released, and the aftereffects lowered my vision, so I couldn’t watch it in theaters for a while.

I was finally able to watch it at Shimotakaido Cinema at year’s end.

Nearly two months after its release, the theater with nearly 130 seats was completely sold out.

That alone demonstrates the greatness of this work and Paul Thomas Anderson.

While savoring the joy of watching a movie in a theater, especially a full one, this work delivered excitement and emotion without betraying expectations.

A chase sequence woven with Paul Thomas Anderson’s signature subtle humor while deploying ingenious shots and cuts.

Especially the car chase scene where three vehicles race along a long, undulating road with significant elevation changes is groundbreaking—only Paul Thomas Anderson could capture that. (滝田 優樹 Yuuki Takita)

1. ANORA アノーラ

Director: Sean Baker

This was the first time I laughed so hard in a cinema that my stomach twisted.

To briefly summarize the story: a slapstick romance between the protagonist Anora, a sex worker, and a Russian heir with a huge class gap.

Serious themes like social disparity, discrimination, and power lurk beneath the surface, and it’s often discussed in such contexts, but that’s not the charm of this work.

The slapstick upon slapstick is simply funny and makes you laugh. I don’t know why, but it’s too ridiculous and funny!

Without forcing serious discussion—it’s a funny movie! Isn’t that enough?

Full of outrageous characters and sequences, the highlight of this work is undoubtedly the brawl scene in the house. That alone confirmed it as this year’s best.

That said, I was captivated by every movement of Anora, and the shots to showcase it were perfect.

Despite this, finishing it all beautifully also functioned well as tension and release. Above all, the sneaky thing about this work is that after laughing so much and having so much fun, the final scene makes you gasp.

Among recent romantic comedy works, this was outstandingly funny! (滝田 優樹 Yuuki Takita)

滝田 優樹’s Personal Summary

From 2024 to this year, the period when I watched the most movies in theaters in my life.

With the number of foreign film releases decreasing, the number of times I went to the theater also decreased a bit.

However, selecting this year’s best was much more difficult than last year. This year was personally filled with films from foreign directors I love, and there were also many unexpected masterpieces domestically.

That’s why I cannot help but pick up works outside the selection as well.

First, regarding the selected best 10 films, honestly, except for the top 3, the works from 4th to 10th are almost in no particular order. If I ranked them again tomorrow, they would likely swap positions.

Therefore, I stopped considering the various aspects of screenplay, soundtrack, shots, cuts, and sequences.

If I assigned points to each and calculated, the total scores would likely end up the same.

That’s how rich the variety was, with many works possessing unique charm and skill from various angles.

Regarding 『ファーストキス　1ST KISS』 at number 7, as a time-leap story, that setting added complexity to the narrative, making it difficult to enter.

But I couldn’t help falling in love with 硯カンナ played by 松たか子, and I couldn’t help crying at every word spoken by 硯駈 played by 松村北斗.

The 9th place 『劇場版 チェンソーマン レゼ篇』 also had action scene direction that was thrilling enough to fulfill the meaning of being an animated film, and the solemnity of the last scene was so profound that it nullified the lightness of the action scenes—magnificent. Japanese animation still has a future.

From here, works outside the selection:

The works listed here, while outside the ranking, personally deserve to be in the annual best 10 and are also important works in the past and future.

『サブスタンス』 (Coralie Fargeat), 『国宝』 (李相日), 『教皇選挙』 (Edward Berger), 『ハウス・オブ・ダイナマイト』 (Kathryn Bigelow), 『片思い世界』 (土井裕泰), 『平場の月』 (土井裕泰), 『８番出口』 (川村元気), 『機動戦士Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-』 (鶴巻和哉).

Writer: 桃井　かおる子

A true analog person who doesn’t use smartphones or SNS, and uses a flip phone.

Articles written so far are here

まりりん(@Igor_Bilic)

A music lover who handles event planning and media coverage.

After working as staff at DaisyBar, hosts the personal project “SECOND SUMMER OF LOVE.”

As a writer, has published interviews with Suchmos, Ykiki Beat, Never Young Beach, and others for BELONG Media.

Additionally, with experience in discovering new talent at a record label and working at a major label, continues to follow the music scene from a multifaceted perspective.

Articles written for BELONG are here

Writer: 滝田優樹

Born in 1991, a freelance writer from Tomakomai, Hokkaido. After graduating from the same university as TEAM NACS, entered a music vocational school and majored in the writer course.

There, produced three music free papers, conducting everything from artist interviews to editing.

Leveraging that experience, joined a cross-media music company with both free papers and web media, where gained experience in review article writing, editing, and sales.

After leaving, changed careers to work at a major record shop, also writing disc review articles for their in-house media.

This led to starting activities as a freelance music writer. Currently a salaried worker and music writer dreaming of holding an outdoor music festival in hometown Tomakomai.

Enjoys cats, watching movies, and reading. 小松菜奈 and curry & biryani exploration are a lifestyle.

Articles written so far are here
Articles written for other media are here
Twitter: @takita_funky