If I Had an Oscar Ballot: Brazils Secret, Gaza&#82...

What’s Happening

Okay so 2025 offered cinematic encounters of a rare kind.

Thunderous spectacles unfurled alongside hushed, inward-facing character studies. Some films swung wildly and missed — gloriously so — while others landed with such quiet authority, they seemed to rearrange the room. (we’re not making this up)

It was a year defined by daring, by filmmakers who trusted audiences to lean in rather [] Home Film Columns Dec 31, 2025 10:00am PT If I Had an Oscar Ballot: Brazils Secret, Gazas Voice and the Year Sin and Grief Became Cinema Awards Circuit Column: The year’s defining films, plus the television series and performances that felt just as essential.

The Details

By Clayton Davis Courtesy Images 2025 offered cinematic encounters of a rare kind. It was a year defined by daring, trusted audiences to lean in rather than sit back.

Start with the consensus triumphs — films that felt instantly canonical. Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” is a masterwork of grief rendered as poetry.

Why This Matters

Jessie Buckley delivers a performance of almost unbearable emotional clarity as a mother splintered by loss, yet somehow still breathing. Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” is something else entirely — muscular, ambitious and alive. It’s the work of a filmmaker proving, yet again, that his range knows no borders.

Entertainment industry insiders have been buzzing about this.

Key Takeaways

• Jordan’s dual performances are feats of control and intensity.
• Breakout Miles Caton and the indelible Wunmi Mosaku provide the emotional ballast that keeps the film grounded even as it soars.
• Still, the pulse of my deepest excitement beats in Brazil, for the second straight year after Oscar winner “I’m Still Here.
• ” Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent” is a slow-burning thriller that tightens its grip almost imperceptibly.

The Bottom Line

Meanwhile, Tunisian auteur Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab” is a gut punch — filmmaking that refuses comfort or distance. Saja Kalani, criminally overlooked, gives a raw performance of elemental power as an emergency call center volunteer in Gaza.

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