Sight and Sound’s Top 50 of 2025 Critics Poll Led by ‘One Battle,’ ‘Sinners,’ ‘The Mastermind’ and ‘Sirât’

After the lukewarm National Board of Review and AFI picks for the top films of 2025, here comes BFI’s Sight and Sound to the rescue. They give us a strong batch of titles. The poll was voted on by the magazine’s international pool of more than 100 critics.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s sprawling epic “One Battle After Another” has topped Sight and Sound’s 2025 poll of the year’s best films.

“F**k yeah! It takes my breath away a bit, honestly,” Anderson said in a written statement of the honor. “I remember reading Sight and Sound, as we all do, from when I was so young, and now to have a film that they called the best film of the year… It’s amazing. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in print. My first response was “F**k yeah!”, and I stand by that!”

Sight and Sound’s Best Films of the Year poll is voted for by the magazine’s pool of more than 100 international critics, who each choose their top ten films of the year. The full list features 50 films.

Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” landed at number two on the list. Kelly Reichardt’s crime caper “The Mastermind” landed at number three, Oliver Laxe’s “Sirat” follows in fourth place, and Kleber Mendonça Filho rounds out the top five with “The Secret Agent.”

The 50 best films of 2025 | Sight and Sound

1. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
3. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
4. Sirât (Oliver Laxe)
5. The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
6. It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
7. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
8. Weapons (Zach Cregger)
9. Dry Leaf (Alexandre Koberidze)
10. Resurrection (Bi Gan)

11. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
12. Sound of Falling (Mascha Schilinski)
13. Kontinental ‘25 (Radu Jude)
14. Misericordia (Alain Guiraudie)
15. No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook)
16. Pillion (Harry Lighton)
17. Blue Heron (Sophy Romvari)
18. The Ice Tower (Lucile Hadzihalilovic)
19. The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania)
20. Blue Moon (Richard Linklater)

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