Culture
Cannes 2025: Best Of The Fest
From Spike Lee to Wes Anderson and Jennifer Lawrence to Joaquin Phoenix, the 2025 Cannes festival is bringing the goods – Victoria Luxford reports on the top films to catch
If you want to know what films everyone will be talking about for the rest of the year, Cannes is the first place to start. Last year’s edition of the star-studded Cannes Film Festival saw the premieres of The Substance, Emilia Pérez and Anora, all of which went on to fight it out for Oscar glory.
So, what titles will be on our lips when discussing the must-see movies of 2025? Here’s our pick of the best…
Die, My Love
Scottish director Lynne Ramsay has never been afraid to tackle tough issues. Her last two films were 2011’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, following Tilda Swinton as a conflicted mother dealing with a highly disturbed son, and 2017’s You Were Never Really Here, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a relentless mercenary rescuing a child. While the eight-year gap between projects may have been agonising for fans of the filmmaker’s work, Die, My Love is certainly worth waiting for.
Ramsay teams up with Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence for this adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s 2017 novel about a woman who enters psychosis while suffering from postpartum depression. Robert Pattinson (The Batman) co-stars alongside screen legend Sissy Spacek. Those familiar with either Ramsay or Lawrence’s best work will know neither holds back, and this is precisely the sort of project to showcase both their talents. Likely to be a front runner come awards season, this will be an irresistible film for any cinephile.
Eddington
Even if the name Ari Aster doesn’t sound familiar, you’ve likely been scared senseless by his stories before. The New York native directed the terrifying Hereditary (2018) and made Florence Pugh cry (in character) as the star of twisted folk fable Midsommar (2019). While his newest film, Eddington, is described as a contemporary Western, Aster still has a few tricks to unsettle you in your seat.
Joaquin Phoenix leads the enviable cast as the no-nonsense sheriff of a small American town during the 2020 pandemic. His disagreements with the mayor, played by Pedro Pascal, create a rift that divides the community, goaded on by a country watching the chaos unfold via social media.
There are stars everywhere you look, with the leads joined by Emma Stone (La La Land) and Austin Butler (Elvis) as locals fuelling the fire of unrest. While Westerns were once the superhero movies of Hollywood’s golden age, the genre has moved into a more cerebral space in recent years, marked by characters who slowly unravel and feuds that are settled by methods more sinister than saloon brawls. With this in mind, Aster is the ideal candidate to offer a taut twist on a classic style that could make him a legend in yet another genre.
Highest 2 Lowest
Two of Hollywood’s best combine forces to adapt a movie from a Japanese film giant: Spike Lee collaborates with Denzel Washington for a fifth time in their illustrious careers to produce this American remake of High and Low, the 1963 film by director Akira Kurosawa. The action moves to present-day New York City, where a global music mogul (Washington) accustomed to taking big risks for big rewards suddenly finds himself in a moral dilemma, caught up in a ransom plot.
A historically solid director-star combo adds to their string of hits, which includes Inside Man and Malcolm X, with Lee once again drawing inspiration from the city with which he is synonymous. If nothing else, it’s worth the ticket price to see the imperious Washington wax lyrical about how to make it in life, before turning those skills towards saving his own skin.
One standout speech in particular – in which Washington asks: “Can you handle the mayhem? Can you handle the money? Can you handle the success? Can you handle the failure? Can you handle the lovers? Can you handle the memes? Can you handle everything that there is in between?” – is sure to be quoted in aspirational Instagram posts for years to come.
The History of Sound
Two fantastic stars anchor this new film from Oliver Hermanus, who made the terrific historical drama Living in 2022. Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor play Lionel and David, two men who form a relationship while documenting New England folk songs in the late 1910s.
Cannes has always been at the forefront of queer cinema, championing films such as Carol (2015), Pride (2014) and Portrait of a Lady On Fire (2019). It’s a testament to how far the industry has come that LGBTQ+ cinema premiering at the festival is no longer as controversial as it might have been in the past, and is instead embraced as part of the diverse language of moviemaking. This beautiful, tender and heartbreaking story has the benefit of two exceptional actors bringing it to life, particularly highlighting Mescal’s ability to enhance any story he is a part of.
The Phoenician Scheme
Wes Anderson is fast becoming a Cannes institution – The Phoenician Scheme is the fourth film he has taken to the festival after Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The French Dispatch (2021) and Asteroid City (2023). The director’s quirky aesthetic, itself inspired by 1960s French culture and filmmaking, just seems to be at home here.
The Phoenician Scheme, Anderson’s twelfth film, sees him reunite with a number of his regular acting ensemble, including Scarlett Johansson, Willem Dafoe and Tom Hanks. Benicio del Toro takes the lead here as wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda, who appoints his only daughter (Mia Threapleton) as sole heir to his estate before he embarks on a new enterprise. This latest endeavour, however, soon becomes fraught with danger involving terrorists, assassins and financial rivals.
This most recent movie, made with all his usual flair, will delight anyone who enjoys leaping into the off-kilter, but visually symmetrical world of Anderson’s stories. With themes of family, loss and love buried beneath the chaos, it’s a film worthy of the director’s rich legacy.
[Image at the top: plb06/Flickr]
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