The 2025 New York Film Festival came to a close on October 13, but not before screening 34 features in its “Main Slate” program, showcasing 26 countries and including 13 U.S. premieres. While I was unable to access a few of the most celebrated titles (Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, Christian Petzold’s Mirrors No. 3, Lav Diaz’s Magellan, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, and No Other Choice by Park Chan-wook), here are eight spoiler-free reviews of my absolute favorites among those I did catch. Write them down in your upcoming movie diary for 2026—and check out my Fick’s Picks from the festival’s experimental program here.
It Was Just an Accident (یک تصادف ساده, Un simple accident, Iran/France/Luxembourg)
The biggest excitement at this year’s NYFF63 was the sudden in-person appearance of Jafar Panahi, after having missed his North American premiere due to issues with his U.S. visa during the federal government’s current shutdown. Winner of the top prize (Palme d’Or) at this year’s 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident is a gripping thriller that follows a devoted son and mechanic named Vahid (devastatingly performed by Vahid Mobasseri) who suddenly believes that he may or may not have randomly reencountered the government intelligence officer who had brutally tortured him years prior. What ensues is an unstoppable (and borderline overwhelming) spiral that sends Vahid to consult numerous other victims, exploring the dangers of “unresolved devastation and the dangerous thirst for relentless revenge.”
The fact that Panahi himself has been arrested, imprisoned, and officially banned from making movies by the Iranian government for nearly two decades—since his provocative film Offside (2006)—makes the whole endeavor that much more powerful. The film was released by Neon in select theaters, and you can also seek out Panahi’s brave last five feature films, which he made illegally and had to keep secret from the Iranian government: This is Not a Film (2011), Closed Curtain (2013), Taxi (2015), 3 Faces (2018), and No Bears (2022).
Kontinental ’25 (Romania)
Like Richard Linklater, Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude had two films screening at NYFF63. While his other work, a 170-minute maniacal misadventure entitled Dracula, was allocated to the “Currents” experimental category, his 109-minute manifesto Kontinental ’25 was assigned to the “Main Slate” tier after winning the Silver Bear for best screenplay at this year’s Berlinale.
The plot takes place within the unofficial capital of Romania’s historical province Transylvania, with a bailiff named Orsolya (played to perfection by Eszter Tompa, who also pops up in Dracula) struggling with the moral dimensions of evicting a homeless man from an unused cellar to make way for the construction of a new “boutique hotel”. Gut-wrenching and unstoppably hilarious, I found this to be one of the most thought-provoking films at the festival, and of 2025.
Like his decade-defining 163-minute achievement Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (2023), Jude proves that one can still elicit the purest form of cinema. Upon returning home from NYFF, I was inspired to watch the film’s main inspiration: Roberto Rossellini’s neo-realist Europa ’51 (1952), which also happens to have been one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s major influences for his most recent masterpiece One Battle After Another (2025). If you are feeling frustrated by an inability to create meaningful change, seek out all these films, immediately. U.S. distribution was acquired by 1-2 Special, a newly launched distribution company founded by Jason Hellerstein, ex-co-founder of Sideshow, who was responsible for releasing Drive My Car, All That Breathes, All We Imagine as Light, and Flow. In Romanian with English subtitles.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (US)
Brace yourself for Mary Bronstein’s unstoppable anxiety-core debut masterpiece, presented by A24 and produced by Josh Safdie of Uncut Gems. The film is an exhausting, delirious masterclass in chaos parenting by Rose Byrne, who plays a therapist attempting to care for her mysteriously ill child, her absent husband, a missing mental patient, and a curious neighbor (played by A$AP Rocky), all while navigating an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist (Conan O’Brien). The film is also a spot-on counterbalance to the frenetic Frownland (2007) by Ronald Bronstein, who is Mary’s longtime creative partner and husband. A24 released the film in select theaters earlier this month.
What Does That Nature Say to You (그자연이네게뭐라고하니, South Korea)
The latest from South Korean director Hong Sang-soo is yet another cinematic gem, following a well-meaning poet who spends a full day meeting his girlfriend’s family for the first time. If you’ve seen any of Hong’s 33 films over the past 30 years, you might know that he can softly transform what seems to be a mundane everyday situation into a hilarious-yet-uncomfortably-profound experience.
Hong was also the cinematographer on this film, using a low-grade digital camera to shoot. Mirroring his favorite artist, French impressionist painter Paul Cézanne, its simple and modest resolution of 480p (which I noticed slipped just out of focus during a couple of very particular sequences) is poetically practicing what his characters are preaching. If you stick with Hong’s sly and twisting style, you may find yourself gradually unearthing (and even confronting) some of your innermost anxieties. With U.S. distribution by Hong’s reliable Cinema Guild, it’s in Korean with English subtitles.
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Nouvelle Vague (New Wave, France)
Here’s one of Richard Linklater’s two new films at this year’s NYFF, an unbelievably on-point passion project that reconstructs the late 1950s Left Bank film movement in Paris that was entitled The French New Wave. Effortlessly capturing a whimsical Wes Anderson vibe, this step-by-step account of the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1959) brought back in me all the earnest excitement that emerged in my high school years when first encountering the cinematic rebels of Francois Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, and Agnes Varda. (Personal thank you to my own movie mentor, Mr. Mark E. Johnson for the weekly after-hours screenings at the Tower Theater in Salt Lake City, Utah.)
The insatiable Luc-Godard (RIP) is probably fogging up his sunglasses knowing that his biopic is being released online by Netflix. But Linklater has taken all steps toward making sure that every element of the production is as authentic as possible, from shooting locations to lived-in costumes to believably flawed hairstyle—no wonky wigs or off-centered moustaches in sight! Shot on black-and-white 35mm film, framed in a 4:3 aspect ratio, and employing the same Cameflex model used by cinematographer Raoul Coutard, the film also features newcomer Zoey Deutch, who is just as bewitching as Jean Seberg was in the original Breathless. Aubry Dullin is also quite charming as he manifests Jean-Paul Belmondo, as opposed to simply impersonating. Guillaume Marbeck not only inhabits Godard’s iconic look, but channels his pioneering “edgelord” spirit to such a degree that I forgot I was watching a biopic.
Linklater’s career has consisted of steadily making mid-level masterpieces for the past 35 years, and we might want to start comparing the unique importance that he has had on cinema, respective to Godard. The film will be released in select theaters on October 31 before it hits streaming on Netflix on November 14. In French with English subtitles.
Jay Kelly (UK/US/Italy)
Speaking of the French New Wave, Noah Baumbach has made his Day For Night (1973) by Francois Truffaut combined with Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ (1963), coupled with his usual flurry of Peter Bogdanovich-inspired antics. This unstoppably charming screwball comedy is also a straight-up tribute to George Clooney, who gives a wonderfully meta performance as Jay Kelly, an aging movie star forced to confront his compartmentalized personal and professional regrets. I was fully immersed in Baumbach’s non-stop gear-shifting between Hollywood satire and cinematic sentimentality. Sporting an all-star cast led by Adam Sandler as Kelly’s devoted manager, Laura Dern as his supportive ex-wife, Billy Crudup as his scorned former classmate, and Riley Keough as his coming-of-age daughter, and written by Emily Mortimer, this is a movie to make the entire family happy. It will be released in select theaters on November 14, followed by its streaming release on Netflix on December 5.
A House of Dynamite (US)
Kathryn Bigelow’s latest is an absolute stunner, another film that brings anxiety-core to the highest level. At a remote military outpost, an unidentified incoming missile is detected, setting in motion an escalating series of actions and reactions across the U.S. government. Taking deep breathes is key to this frighteningly plausible scenario, which includes some powerful moments and understated performances by Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Idris Elba, and Tracy Letts.
Noah Oppenheim’s breathtaking screenplay was constructed in collaboration with Bigelow, a three-star general, and a four-star general, bringing a level of authenticity that perhaps audiences aren’t fully prepared for. Taking its cues from Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1963) and Sidney Lumet’s Fail Safe (1964)—which I quickly watched upon arriving home—there will be no film with better editing this year. A longtime collaborator of David Fincher, Kirk Baxter (who won Oscars in 2010 and 2011 for The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), weaves together this “three-dimensional chess game” by balancing the non-stop verité camerawork of Barry Ackroyd (The Hurt Locker) and constantly shifting perspectives.
Production designer extraordinaire Jeremey Hindle (Zero Dark Thirty and Top Gun Maverick) revealed in the post-film NYFF Q&A that the movie’s sets were built for interaction, and every background screen and extra truly help to tell the tale. Its haunting musical score by Volker Bertelmann (who was nominated for Conclave and won the Oscar in 2022 for All Quiet on the Western Front) is at the top of my favorites for the year. Do your best to seek it out on a big screen—it hit theaters earlier this month ahead of its global streaming release on Netflix.
After the Hunt (US)
Luca Guadagnino seems to be having quite a Hollywood moment, enthusiastically tackling just about every passion project on his unquenchable list with Call Me by Your Name (2017), Suspiria (2018), Bones and All (2022), Challengers (2024), and Queer (2024). With After the Hunt (2025), Julia Roberts leads an A-list cast in one of her most taut performances as a Yale philosophy professor whose career is upended after her protégée (Ayo Edebiri) accuses the professor’s longtime colleague and friend (Andrew Garfield) of sexual assault. Special mentions are necessary for the always beguiling Michael Stuhlberg, who steals every scene he’s in as Roberts’ hilariously “cucked” husband as well as Chloë Sevigny, who brings some much needed levity to the whole affair.
Nora Garrett’s purposefully icy script explores the complexities of cancel culture and intersectional academia, from the use of Woody Allen’s “Windsor font” for the film’s opening credits (complete with a Tony Bennett jazz song playing over them), to the very first shot of the film. The opener focuses on a character at a party who is staring at a piece of African art to the sounds of The Smiths emanating from a jukebox. Culture-vulture dilemmas instantly force audiences to confront their own baggage. While some seem to have difficulty relating to these “unlikable” anti-heroes, I found myself pushing past their on-point archetypes to uncover some deeply uncomfortable truths.
Similar to Todd Field’s anti-hero masterclass Tár (2022), After the Hunt is ripe for some truly fascinating post-film discussions—if there are any viewers who dare to genuinely focus on its plot. In fact, the star-studded Q&A press conference kicked things off with bang when co-star Ayo Edebiri stated that this 139-minute film “is like a Rorschach test for the viewer” and even revealed that both she and Andrew Garfield have completely different theories of what happened between their characters in the film. Amazon MGM Studios released the film in select theaters on October 10, followed by a wide release on October 17.
