The Ballad of Wallis Island

10 Best Films of 2025

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Ellen looking to the heavens

In a year packed with 1990s revivalism, noir resuscitation and franchise exhaustion, these are the films I liked the most in 2025. I’ve attempted to avoid the obvious but not be wilfully obscure and have probably succeeded at neither. Without further ado, with links to full reviews, here goes – in 1-10 order. Dying (dir: Matthias Glasner) A German black comedy so bleak you might laugh out of desperation, following a pair of oldsters as they reach the end of the road, and their two appalling adult children. Superbly underplayed by a top-notch cast, it’s a novelistic, dense, all-enveloping wallow in human misery, three hours long and worth every minute of the grief. … Read more

The Ballad of Wallis Island

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Charles, Herb and Nell smile to camera

Looking like an instant classic, The Ballad of Wallis Island is that rare thing: a beautifully crafted feelgood Britcom with no Richard Curtis involvement whatsoever. Though, while we’re about it, Curtis himself has called it “one of the greatest British films of all time.” On the face of it, it could not have come from a more unlikely corner. Writers/stars Tom Basden and Tim Key are probably best known (if at all) for their collaboration on Tim Key’s Late Night Poetry Programme, a BBC Radio 4 show mixing larky verse (Key), quirky music (Basden), and painful/funny interaction between the pair in linking material that has a loose, Larry David meta-ness to it. They … Read more