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10 passion projects that stood out at the movies this year

By Bob Mondello
Published December 30, 2025 at 4:00 PM EST
Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent.
NEON
Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent.

When filmmakers are cranking out blockbusters, Tinseltown can seem like any other business — customer satisfaction measured in popcorn sales and audience smiles. But when filmmakers are passionate, movies can make audiences vibrate — with grief, with excitement, with rage. And that happened a lot this year.

These 10 films connected when they took really big swings. They hail from gratifyingly divergent perspectives, grapple differently with history and art, aim for diverse audiences, and are — without exception — passion projects worth seeking out on the biggest possible screen.

Ten best films of 2025

One Battle After Another

The Secret Agent

It Was Just an Accident

Marty Supreme

Hamnet

Sinners

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Sentimental Value

Train Dreams

Frankenstein

Among the other movies I admired, and urge you to see — ideally with an audience, when possible: A House of Dynamite, Sirat, Blue Moon, No Other Choice, Bugonia, Father Mother Sister Brother, Is This Thing On?, Grand Theft Hamlet, Architecton, Come See Me In The Good Light, Hedda, Sorry, Baby, Wake Up Dead Man, and Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore.

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Bob Mondello
Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.
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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

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All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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