The 10 best movies of 2025 — a year in stories both real and surreal

The most engaging movies of 2025 felt alert to dreams but also haunted by nightmares. In a time of algorithms and anxiety, filmmakers reached inward to memories, reveries and illusions, searching for meaning. Greatness arrived not in bombast but in feeling: the touch of a hand, the ache of a glance, the courage to still believe in beauty despite the ugliness of harsh reality.

My top 10 list for the Toronto Star is a collection of such moments, reminding us why moving pictures matter in the first place. Most of these films are in now in theatres or on streaming services; the rest arrive soon: https://bit.ly/4j5RtZr

— Peter Howell