25 Best Films of 2025 You Can Watch Right Now
2025 in cinema is the year when quiet films spoke louder than blockbusters. We’ve gathered 25 movies that are already available to watch: from Ukrainian documentary filmmaking to auteur genre cinema that shows reality without embellishment.
«2000 Meters to Andriivka»
«2000 Meters to Andriivka» is the second feature-length work by director and AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov, honored with an Oscar, a Pulitzer Prize, and a BAFTA. The camera captures the path of the Third Assault Brigade toward the liberation of the village of Andriivka near Bakhmut, separated from Ukrainian positions by two kilometers of mined forest belt. Former civilians turned soldiers traverse this deadly space, fighting for every meter of land.
«28 Years Later: The Bone Temple»
More than two decades after the release of «28 Days Later», Danny Boyle and Alex Garland return to their story — without trying to modernize the genre or make it larger in scale. Instead, the film focuses on human closeness, coming of age, and moral compromises in a world where civilization has long since disappeared.
The events unfold in a Britain cut off from the rest of the world. Twelve-year-old Spike ventures beyond the safety of the island for the first time and encounters the reality of the mainland.
«Black Bag»
Steven Soderbergh’s spy thriller focuses less on special operations and more on relationships within the system. The main characters are a married couple of British intelligence agents, George and Catherine (Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett), whose professional and personal lives begin to dangerously intersect.
George receives a list of suspected traitors after the disappearance of a secret MacGuffin called Severus. Among the suspects is his wife, who embarks on a mission codenamed «black bag» — one that requires asking no questions, even of those closest to you.
«Mickey 17»
The new science fiction film by Bong Joon Ho combines a space adventure with the director’s trademark satire. The main character is colonizer Mickey (Robert Pattinson), an “expendable worker” of the expedition who is recreated after each death along with the memories of previous lives. The system works until it malfunctions — and it’s from that moment that the film truly begins to unfold.
«Mickey 17» was released at the beginning of 2025 and quickly got lost in the flood of premieres, but this is exactly the kind of film worth returning to without haste.
«You Are — Cosmos»
In recent years, Ukrainian cinema has been most convincing in two formats — documentary and intimate narrative filmmaking. The science-fiction tragicomedy «You Are — Cosmos» belongs precisely to the latter: minimal space, a limited cast of characters, and maximum focus on human emotions.
The film became the feature-length debut of Pavlo Ostrikov. At the center of the story is space trucker Andrii Melnyk, who, after the destruction of Earth by a nuclear explosion, believes himself to be the last living person in the Universe. His solitude is broken when a French scientist, Catherine, makes contact from another space station.
«Knives Out: Wake Up, Dead Man»
The third installment of the «Knives Out» franchise once again brings detective Benoit Blanc to the screen, portrayed by Daniel Craig — the only character who remains unchanged throughout Rian Johnson’s series. After the triumphant debut in 2019 and the less convincing «Glass Onion», the franchise returns to a classic detective structure.
This time, the investigation leads Blanc to a religious community headed by the charismatic Monsignor Jefferson Vicks. After his mysterious death, the detective finds himself in an environment where faith, power, and personal interests are tightly intertwined, and everyone has something to hide.
«Weapons»
The film begins with a detective mystery: in a small town, students from the same class disappear without a trace on the very same night. The investigation quickly reaches a dead end, and the community looks for someone to blame where it’s easiest to find one.
«Weapons» works as a multi-genre horror film with a slow-burn atmosphere and an emphasis on collective fear rather than jump scares.
«Honeymoon»
This is the feature-length debut of Zhanna Ozirna, presented in the program of the Venice Biennale. The film tells the story of a couple who find themselves under occupation and focuses not on the surrounding events, but on how extreme circumstances expose fears, intimacy, and cracks in a relationship.
«Sinners»
The new film by Ryan Coogler combines Southern Gothic, horror, and the musical energy of the blues. At the center of the story are twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who return to 1930s Mississippi and open a blues bar for the Black community. On the very first night, the celebration turns into a confrontation with supernatural evil.
The lead role in the film is played by American actor Michael B. Jordan, who was also the central star of the «Creed» franchise and portrayed Erik Killmonger in «Black Panther».
«Militantropos»
«Militantropos» is a contemplative documentary film by Yelyzaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, and Semen Mozhovyi about how war transforms individuals and society. The film has no single protagonist — it consists of fragments of collective experience: escape, loss, adaptation, life among ruins and alongside the front line. It is an attentive, hypnotic work that captures the state of a country that has learned to exist in war, not by explaining, but by watching and listening.
«F1: The Movie»
Sports dramas rarely go beyond a tried-and-true formula, but Joseph Kosinski’s «F1: The Movie» proves that what matters most here is not the originality of the plot, but the level of execution. And on that front, the film delivers.
At the center of the story is Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a former Formula One star of the 1990s who, after a serious crash, returns to top-level racing as a mentor to young driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris).
«Cuba & Alaska»
«Cuba & Alaska» is a documentary film about paramedic friends Yuliia “Cuba” Sidorova and Oleksandra “Alaska” Lysytska, who save lives on the front lines of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The film shows the war from a female perspective — without embellishment, but with close attention to everyday life, friendship, love, loss, and moments of light within the darkness. This is not a film about heroization, but about daily resilience and being present where every minute matters.
«One Battle After Another»
The new film by Paul Thomas Anderson is a rare example of large-scale auteur cinema that a studio dared to finance without simplification. «One Battle After Another» is a political allegory in the spirit of 1970s American cinema, with a paranoid mood, dark humor, and a constant sense of threat from the state.
At the center of the story is Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a former radical and failure who is forced back into the game when his daughter is kidnapped by the fanatical Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn).
«The Life of Chuck»
An adaptation of the short story of the same name by Stephen King — atypical even for him. At the heart of the film is an ordinary man, Chuck Krantz, whose name suddenly appears everywhere: on billboards, on radio broadcasts, on the walls of buildings. No one knows who he is, but a disturbing rumor spreads through the city: if Chuck dies, the world will disappear with him.
«Sentimental Value»
This is a focused and attentive story about family, memory, and the attempt to restore lost closeness. The events unfold in Oslo around the Berg family: theater actress Nora (Renate Reinsve), her sister Agnes, and their father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), a once-renowned director who suddenly returns to his daughters’ lives after a long absence.
An attempt to mend the relationship becomes Gustav’s new film project — a movie he wants to shoot in the family home. Nora’s refusal forces him to invite another actress, and this gesture only sharpens old resentments.
«Gray Bees»
«Gray Bees» is an adaptation of Andrey Kurkov’s novel about life in the “gray zone” of the Russian-Ukrainian war. In a half-ruined village, two elderly men remain — at odds with each other since childhood, yet forced to coexist amid silence, fear, and routine.
«No Choice»
The new film by Park Chan-wook is a sharp and caustic social satire about a labor market pushed to absurdity. The main character, Man-su, loses his job at a company to which he devoted his entire life, and after months of unsuccessful searching decides to “create” the perfect position for himself by physically eliminating the competition.
«Avatar: Fire and Ash»
The third installment of James Cameron’s saga continues the story of Pandora and the Na’vi people — with new conflicts, characters, and the visual scale the film is built around. «Fire and Ash» introduces a new Na’vi clan, the Mangkwans, who inhabit the planet’s volcanic regions and become allies of Colonel Quaritch.
«Second Wind»
This is a documentary story about five Ukrainian veterans with amputations who, after sustaining severe war injuries, climb Mount Kilimanjaro. The film captures not only the physically demanding ascent but also the protagonists’ inner journey — processing trauma, working through pain, and the power of mutual support. It is an attentive, unpretentious film about recovery and the ability to move forward, even when it feels like there is no air left.
«The Phoenician Scheme»
At the center of Wes Anderson’s new film is wealthy European entrepreneur Zsa-Zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), who makes his only daughter, the nun Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton), the heir to his entire fortune. When Korda launches a new high-risk venture, he and his daughter find themselves at the center of a dangerous game: pursued by competitors, foreign radicals, and hired assassins.
«Fragments of Ice»
«Fragments of Ice» is a documentary film by Mariia Stoianova, edited from VHS archives of her family and recordings of her father’s performances as a figure skater in the Ice Ballet ensemble. Through personal memories, the film captures a historical rupture — the late 1980s and 1990s, the collapse of the USSR, and the birth of independent Ukraine. It is a quiet, deeply personal film about memory, time, and how major historical changes are reflected in a family archive.
«Frankenstein»
Guillermo del Toro’s new «Frankenstein» returns to Mary Shelley’s original source not as Gothic horror, but as a story about a creator’s responsibility for his own choices. By relocating the events to Victorian England, the director focuses on Victor Frankenstein’s inner transformation — from scientific curiosity to obsession.
«One Summer in Ukraine»
«One Summer in Ukraine» is a documentary film about American volunteers from the International Legion of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) who are fighting on Ukraine’s side. The film shows their path from training to combat operations, as well as how genuine friendship forms among them over years of war. It is a calm, attentive film about motivation, choice, and the experience of war through the eyes of those who came to defend another country as their own.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=g3xORCFhWp4
«Bugonia»
This is a remake of the Korean film «Save the Green Planet!», in which Yorgos Lanthimos turns conspiracy culture into an unsettling yet strangely convincing reality. Jesse Plemons’ character kidnaps the CEO of a megacorporation (Emma Stone), convinced that she is an alien, and this absurd premise gradually develops its own internal logic. «Bugonia» is disorienting, but that is precisely its strength: not a film for mass audiences, yet one with an aftertaste that either repels or pulls you in for a long time.
«Antarctica»
The new documentary film by Anton Ptushkin is dedicated to Ukraine’s Antarctic research station Akademik Vernadsky and the people who work there. The film shows the daily lives of polar researchers: scientific work, life in isolation, and operating in a harsh climate. It is an observant, unhurried film about Ukraine’s presence even in the most remote corners of the world.
If you’d like to look more broadly — not only at 2025, but at cinema that helps better understand Ukraine, its history, and its cultural context — we recommend revisiting our selection «Top 10 Films About Ukraine».
