Two Brazilian films chosen by The Economist magazine among the best films of 2025; See list

• “See as soon as possible”: What did American magazines say about “The Secret Agent”
• New York Times: “The Secret Agent” is “delightful” and Wagner Moura’s interpretation is “beautiful.”

The second production, which won the Academy Award for Best International Film of the year, makes the list because it only arrived in the UK this year. “I’m Still Here” was the first Brazilian feature film to win a statuette.

“The Secret Agent” received praise. Last week, the New York Times described the Brazilian film, which is seeking an Oscar nomination next year, as “exhilarating.” The American newspaper’s main film critic described Wagner Moura’s performance as “beautiful.”

See The Economist’s full list of the best films of 2025:

A new film from director Kleber Mendonça Filho, starring Wagner and Moura – both Cannes winners – and a strong contender for Oscar nominations. The thriller about a professor who flees from São Paulo to Pernambuco, deals with themes of memory preservation, the search for truth, and life under paranoia and repression, themes connected to the director’s previous works.

When Rep. Rubens Paiva (Selton Melo) is taken from home by agents of the military dictatorship and ends up disappearing, his wife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) must take care of their five children alone, as well as seek justice for her husband’s disappearance. The award-winning film is directed by Walter Salles (“Central do Brasil”), and also features Fernanda Montenegro in the cast.

In Brady Corbett’s film – which won a Golden Globe and was nominated in ten categories at the Academy Awards, including Best Picture – Hungarian architect Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody) settles in 1940s Philadelphia, USA, fleeing Nazism. In his first job in a foreign land, he is given the task of rebuilding the library of a wealthy man, industrialist Harrison Van Buren (Guy Pearce). But his brutal design infuriates the brilliant client.

Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s new film centers around a fictional nuclear attack on the United States, and in the 18 minutes that follow the event, it shows how the authorities respond to this problem and what they do to identify the perpetrators.

• exit: Iran sentences Palme d’Or winner at Cannes Film Festival Jaafar Panahi to one year in prison

“Annihilation: Evolution”

In the third installment of Danny Boyle’s film series, 28 years have passed since most humans were turned into zombies, leaving the survivors in quarantine. In this context, teenager Spike (Alfie Williams), who has just learned self-defense techniques from his father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), leaves his sheltered community to take his ailing mother (Jodie Comer) to an exceptional doctor (Ralph Fiennes).

After his home is destroyed by a flood, a cat joins a capybara, a lemur, a bird and a dog to sail on a boat in search of dry land. During the journey, the animals will have to review concepts and accept differences, because only in this way will they be able to survive and face the dangers of the new reality in what looks like Noah’s Ark. The film, written and directed by Latvia’s Gints Zilbaludis, won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award, both in the “Best Animation” category.

In the new Iranian film Jafar Panahi, a group of citizens orchestrate a plan to take revenge on a man they believe is their executioner. The idea came from mechanic Vanid, who was imprisoned by Iranian authorities, interrogated blindfolded, and tortured. Years later, a man named Iqbal enters his workshop, a free man, and Vanid believes he is his executioner based on the sound of his prosthetic leg that he still hears in his nightmares. Other former prisoners gather to try to find out if the man is the former executioner.

Hamnet: Life Before Hamlet

Chloé Zhao’s new film is one of the main bets for the 2026 Oscars. The plot follows the relationship between William Shakespeare and Agnes after the death of the couple’s son, Hamnet, at the age of 11, and links the tragedy to the classic play “Hamlet.”

Starring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the horror follows the mysterious disappearance of all the children in the class – except one – who left their homes in the early hours of the morning, at the same time. Now everyone is looking for answers. Directed by Zach Krieger.

As their marriage quietly disintegrates, Alex (Will Arnett) faces middle age and impending divorce, searching for new purpose in the New York comedy scene, while Tess (Laura Dern) confronts the sacrifices she’s made for her family, forcing them to grapple with co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form. The film is directed by Bradley Cooper.

After Black Panther and Creed, director Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan return to work together in this supernatural horror thriller. Set in Mississippi in 1932, the film revolves around twin brothers Elias and Elijah Smoak (played by Jordan), who return to their hometown to start their lives over, but they face a threat from vampires that puts everyone in danger.

“Battle after battle”

Paul Thomas Anderson delivers a dystopian mix of action, drama, comedy, and western to illustrate current American domestic politics. The director’s screenplay includes a group of gangsters, a conflicted hard-line colonel (Sean Penn), a failed drug revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio), and his free-spirited daughter (Chase Infinity).

The Norwegian drama won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, directed by Joachim Trier, is one of the bets for the 2026 Oscars.

“Dead or Alive: The Knives Mystery”

Benoit Blanc returns to solve his most dangerous case, a seemingly unsolvable murder in a small town.