Film

Justin Chang is a film critic for The New Yorker. He reviewed Marty Supreme

Our film critic, Justin Chang, recommends "Wake Up Dead Man," the latest film in the "Knives Out" murder mystery series. Like its predecessors, it's written and directed by Rian Johnson and stars Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc. In the new film, Josh O'Connor plays a Catholic priest who teams up with Blanc to solve a whodunnit in his parish. "Wake Up Dead Man" also features Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington and Glenn Close, and is streaming now on Netflix. Here is Justin's review.

Film critic Justin Chang spent a lot of time this year watching movies at festivals and theaters and on his couch. He says that contrary to what popular opinion or gloomy box-office headlines may tell us, 2025 has been the strongest year for new movies in a long time. Here's Justin's list of the best films of the year.

The new Brazilian film "The Secret Agent" is set during that country's dictatorship, which ran from 1964 to 1985. It stars Wagner Moura as an honorable scientist who becomes a target of powerful forces. The movie, which was directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho, won two big prizes at Cannes and is Brazil's submission for this year's Academy Awards. Our critic-at-large, John Powers, says it's even better than "I'm Still Here," the Brazilian movie that won an Oscar earlier this year.

Our film critic, Justin Chang, says the best documentary he's seen this year is a 5 1/2-hour film called "My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air In Moscow." Filmed over several months in late 2021 and early 2022, it follows several independent journalists in Moscow as they deal with the fallout of Vladimir Putin's crackdown on reporters and Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine. "My Undesirable Friends" received a Gotham Award nomination for best documentary and is playing at select venues around the country.

In the new drama "Hamnet," which opens in limited release next week, Paul Mescal plays William Shakespeare as a young playwright, husband and father in the years leading up to his writing of "Hamlet." The film, which also stars Jessie Buckley as Agnes, Shakespeare's wife, was adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel. It's the latest movie from Chloe Zhao, the Oscar-winning director of "Nomadland."

Four years after their Oscar-nominated comedy "The Worst Person In The World," the Danish-born Norwegian director Joachim Trier and actor Renate Reinsve are together on a new drama, "Sentimental Value." The movie, which also features Stellan Skarsgard and Elle Fanning, won the Grand Prix at this year's Cannes Film Festival and will represent Norway in this year's Oscar race for Best International Feature. Our film critic Justin Chang has this review.

In this wickedly funny dark comedy, Emma Stone stars as a high-powered CEO who gets kidnapped by a low-ranking employee, played by Jesse Plemons, who believes she's an alien from outer space.

John Powers reviews The Mastermind starring Josh O'Connor and directed by Kelly Reichardt.

Justin Chang reviews the film It Was Just an Accident from Iranian directer Jafar Panahi.