123. The Best Movies of 2025, according to Deep Cut (with discussions on Sinners, Wake Up Dead Man, Left Handed Girl, Sirat, Magellan, It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value, Black Bag, and MORE!)
Deep Cut: A Film PodcastShow Notes
Sorry Baby, but it’s One Battle After Another, as we clash and debate our favorite films of 2025! We’re covering obligatory mentions of the biggest films of the year and picking up our Weapons to dunk on some that we’re Regretting You watched. Which of these films will we look back on with strong Sentimental Value, 28 Years Later? Which are winners, which are Sinners? I’m afraid you’re going to have to Wake Up Dead Man from your Dreams (Sex Love), some might even call that a Resurrection, because you’ve got No Other Choice but to listen and find out. Links Wilson's Reviews: News from Home, Eat Drink Man Woman Ben's Reviews: Avatar: Fire and Ash, What Does That Nature Say to You Eli’s Sinners Review Ben’s Kinetoscope Piece: The Spirits in the Medium List: Full List of films discussed on Letterboxd List: Deep Cut’s Top 12 of 2025 Tell us your faves at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps: 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:58 General 2025 thoughts 00:12:08 Non-2025 gems 00:16:22 2025 on Deep Cut 00:20:16 Eli's fave Letterboxd reviews from Wilson and Ben 00:21:46 Obligatory Mentions 00:22:06 Marty Supreme dir. Josh Safdie 00:24:08 The Secret Agent dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho 00:25:44 Frankenstein dir. Guillermo del Toro 00:28:38 Sentimental Value dir. Joachim Trier 00:30:59 Hamnet dir. Chloé Zhao 00:38:36 Hamnet spoiler 00:40:27 If I Had Legs I'd Kick You dir. Mary Bronstein 00:42:27 Bugonia dir. Yorgos Lanthimos 00:44:13 Kpop Demon Hunters dir. Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans 00:46:55 Train Dreams dir. Clint Bentley 00:48:49 Avatar: Fire and Ash dir. James Cameron 00:54:30 Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning dir. Christopher McQuarrie 00:56:48 Eddington dir. Ari Aster 00:57:14 Wicked For Good dir. Jon M. Chu 00:58:16 No Other Choice dir. Park Chan-wook 00:59:48 Magellan and Phantosmia dir. Lav Diaz 01:01:54 The Phoenician Scheme dir. Wes Anderson 01:05:34 Weapons dir. Zach Cregger 01:12:28 Materialists dir. Celine Song 01:13:40 Materialists Spoiler 01:18:02 Regretting You dir. Josh Boone 01:19:38 Sirat dir. Oliver Laxe 01:22:27 Sirat Spoiler 01:25:41 Sirat Spoiler 2 01:26:19 Deep Cut Upkeep Overview 01:28:35 Honorable Mentions 01:28:40 Viet and Nam dir. Truong Minh Quy 01:29:14 Blue Moon dir. Richard Linklater 01:30:25 Boys Go to Jupiter dir. Julian Glander 01:31:04 Baby dir. Marcelo Caetano 01:31:33 Nouvelle Vague dir. Richard Linklater 01:32:48 Black Bag dir. Steven Soderbergh 01:34:36 Cactus Pears dir. Rohan Kanawade 01:35:35 Seaside Serendipity dir. Satoko Yokohama 01:36:33 Sorry Baby dir. Eva Victor 01:37:58 Misericordia dir. Alain Guiraudie 01:39:06 Silent Friend dir. Ildikó Enyedi 01:41:20 Caught by the Tides dir. Jia Zhangke 01:42:48 Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk dir. Sepideh Farsi 01:44:51 My Sunshine dir. Hiroshi Okuyama 01:46:56 Superman dir. James Gunn 01:48:52 100 METERS dir. Kenji Iwaisawa 01:53:31 Reflection in a Dead Diamond dir. Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani 01:54:28 Afternoons of Solitude dir. Albert Serra 01:57:05 The Wedding Banquet dir. Andrew Ahn 01:57:19 Top 5 01:57:30 One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson 02:05:57 Resurrection dir. Bi Gan 02:07:51 Peter Hujar's Day dir. Ira Sachs 02:12:19 Christmas Eve in Miller's Point dir. Tyler Taormina 02:17:10 I'm Still Here dir. Walter Salles 02:19:14 28 Years Later dir. Danny Boyle 02:21:06 Dreams (Sex Love) dir. Dag Johan Haugerud 02:25:37 Resurrection dir. Bi Gan 02:26:29 Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery dir. Rian Johnson 02:28:07 It Was Just an Accident dir. Jafar Panahi 02:32:05 Cloud dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa 02:33:32 Left-Handed Girl dir. Tsou Shih-Ching 02:37:29 One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson 02:40:04 Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler 02:45:41 Outro
More from Deep Cut: A Film Podcast
Eli sits down with friend of the podcast Russell Goldman (013. Zack Snyder's Justice League; 058. Sundance 2023 Dispatch) to discuss the making of his upcoming feature debut, Sender, starring Britt Lower, Rhea Seehorn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anna Baryshnikov, and David Dastmalchian. Russell tells Eli about overcoming obstacles during production, the movie’s journey at festivals, and the creative collaborators Russell worked with to bring Sender to life. Visit sendermovie.com to learn more about the film and find festival screenings near you before its Dark Sky Films release in Spring 2027! Place a Smirk order in our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 06:31 The Journey to making Sender 12:30 Assembling the team 23:04 Overcoming obstacles on set 28:39 Sender’s relationship to evolving technology 40:53 How audiences may encounter Sender 44:06 Closing
Following his interview with Mary Stephen at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival, Wilson has invited the storied director to return to Deep Cut to discuss her new hybrid documentary feature and her work editing the films of Éric Rohmer. As Palimpsest: Story of a Name garners praise around the international film festival circuit for its sensitive, witty exploration of her family’s history, Stephen dives into a different side of her personal history with the French auteur. Listen in as we ask Stephen’s thoughts on Rohmer’s process with actors on set, the authority Stephen had over the edit, and how parents tell–– or, don’t tell–– stories to their children. Tells us about your family history in our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps 00:00 Intro 03:51 Melvil Poupad: Hot or Not 05:21 Rohmer’s personal and professional life 08:42 Working as a Rohmer collaborator 11:10 A Summer's Tale preproduction 13:02 The Rohmerian Type of Woman 14:40 Blocking and editing in A Summer's Tale 21:06 Creative input as an editor 25:10 Mary’s sense of time 27:52 An Autumn’s Tale 35:55 The themes of Palimpsest 38:19 The Ending of Palimpsest 45:29 Mary's Relationship with her father 51:11 Mary as a director 54:34 Advice for younger filmmakers and personal deep cut
Fall in love with three beautiful podcast hosts; fumble the bag with all three. To prepare for our upcoming interview with director Mary Stephen, we study her work editing Éric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale. Almost five years following our initial series on the French auteur, have our thoughts changed on his calm naturalism? We compare his work to more recent Deep Cut director Hong Sang-soo, discuss the structure of his scenes, and wonder about how Stephen helped sculpt time in this film. Most importantly: do we really find that pouty French twink hot? Spend your summer break in our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps: 00:00:00 Intro 00:06:00 A Summer Tale context 00:10:38 General reactions 00:20:02 Film structure and opening 00:24:47 Gaspard’s conundrum 00:30:48 Margot 00:36:08 What is the film trying to say? 00:38:15 Naturalism and conversations 00:44:05 The passage of time 00:46:15 The audience’s trust 00:50:17 Hong v Rohmer, closing tangents
Eli flies in from his foray into his favorite film fest, the 64th installation of the New York Film Festival. It’s a year full of delicate, considerate, humanistic films: Sandra Wollner’s Everytime, Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, and Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care. Ben and Wilson share their thoughts on two more films in the lineup, Hong Sang-soo’s The Day She Returns, and William Greaves’ Once Upon a Time in Harlem. Also, just for the heck of it, hear what Wilson thinks about Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest, Look Back. Join the club, kid: find our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Keep walking in our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 06:40 Everytime (2026) dir. Sandra Wollner 13:05 The Man I Love (2026) dir. Ira Sachs 23:17 Club Kid (2026) dir. Jordan Firstman 27:31 Tender Loving Care (2026) dir. Mike Leigh 32:37 For The Moon (2026) dir. Eric Baudelaire 38:44 The Day She Returns (2026) dir. Hong Sang-soo 44:07 Once Upon a Time in Harlem (2026) dir. William Greaves, David Greaves 47:25 Look Back (2026) dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda 50:59: Upcoming festival coverage
Before Paul Verhoeven was Hollywood’s pervert-auteur of choice, he was making massive hits in Dutch cinema like this episode’s focus, Katie Tippel. Ben’s main question for this episode: what is Paul Verhoeven’s worldview? To answer, the Deep Cut trio explores the economic and sexual exploitation of Tippel’s world, the surprisingly modern-feeling period filmmaking, and lots of nudity. Links: Adam Nayman on Katie Tippel Ben’s review of Mahjong Jump rope double dutch style in our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps: 00:00:00 Intro 00:03:51 Summary, context, and general reactions 00:19:08 Verhoeven's worldview 00:33:43 Prostitution and sexuality 00:48:47 Historical films and the feeling of modernity 01:04:00 Exploitation?