Favorite Films I Watched This Winter
Winter has come and gone, but I keep thinking about these movies.
It’s been around 90 degrees for weeks, but rain cooled us back down into the 70s and the breeze has me thinking about the winter behind us and reflecting on the first quarter of this year. But being me, I’m going to reflect through the refracted lens of films. Here are my favorite movies I watched for the first time in the first three months of 2025.
Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
I’ve long been a fan of Studio Ghibli, ever since my siblings and I were introduced to the movies in the mid-2000s and watched Ponyo at least a hundred times. Kiki’s Delivery Service is about a thirteen-year-old witch who moves from the idyllic countryside to a European-inspired city to complete her training by helping people and learning her own niche. Over time, burned out from focusing on work rather than enjoyment and education, she finds herself unable to fly. She is helped by an older artist girl, a young mother, and two elderly grandmothers, and finds her way back to doing what she loves. It’s a beautiful film in every way.
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
A classic I can’t believe I waited so long to watch. There’s a reason so many musicals still try to be Singin’ in the Rain, but the commentary and the splendor was all already there, nearly 75 years ago. A film of pure joy, full of earnestness as well as cynicism, but above all, love for the beauty and escapism of Hollywood, even in its duplicity and idiocy. I was left with a goofy smile and having laughed a lot.
Stopmotion (2023)
A film about art and creation as a destructive force. As an artist, it resonated and delighted in a dark way. It’s also pretty gross and actually scary, which is something I can’t say about many horror movies. The journey from felt to flesh, to mining one’s own mind for inspiration and feeling inadequate and out of control, is portrayed brilliantly. It’s a real journey into the darkest parts of the mind through art and the sacrifices of relationships, commerce, and here, sanity.
Nickel Boys (2024)
Nickel Boys feels in conversation with American culture, history, and cinema itself. It forces the audience to really look, both at itself and through the eyes of its protagonist. The film follows two incarcerated Black teenagers at a school modeled after a real Florida reform school notorious for abuse, forced labor, and murder. It blends elements of fiction and documentary and first-person perspective in a really interesting, unique way. The contrasting ideologies of Elwood and Turner leave a lot on the viewer’s mind, too, and it’s a film I plan to return to and write about at greater length soon.
Decision to Leave (2022)
This was my introduction to Park Chan-Wook, and I can’t wait to dive into his unique world. The film feels at once gorgeously classic and immediately modern. A twisted romantic noir with a darkly comedic edge. It’s beautifully filmed, edited, and performed, and I can’t stop thinking about it, a few months later. I don’t want to say too much, because I feel it’s a film best experienced as blindly as possible.
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
An all-star expansive domestic drama that has real heart and gives immediate insight into the struggles of men returning home from fighting in World War II, and finding returning home as nerve-racking as going off to war. It doesn’t shy from highlighting economic differences and the inequality back home, faced by the men in terms of jobs, of bank executives throwing vets under the bus, and of women who are forced back into more domestic roles after stepping into roles once reserved for men. It’s also got a great little romance storyline, and each reunion hit me hard, in a different way.
The Wall (2011)
Contemplative, existential, and original. A bleak but clear-headed investigation of humanity, self-sufficiency, and philosophy. It feels literary without feeling overwritten. A visceral viewing experience about isolation and the human and the animal.
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
A postwar poem and fascinating French New Wave blend of past and present, personal and worldwide tragedies, grappling with the past and present on one night with a stranger. A film with urgency about nuclear war and its aftermath. Its beginnings as a documentary turned into a pensive yet immediate docu-fiction piece make it more interesting.
Dinner in America (2020)
A punk rock love story, indeed. A dramatic loser rocker (who is who? Who’s to say) rom-com, complete with mistaken identity, revenge a-la-Heathers, and plenty of good music to spare. The chemistry is wild, the original song is memorable, and the performances are very good in their contrast and cohesion. Also: the arcade scene.
Love & Basketball (2000)
A really interesting exploration of family and romantic/friendship dynamics and how our relationships with our parents can impact our lives, self-image, and other relationships so deeply. This film is so distinctly and beautifully from a female perspective and showcases so many little moments in Monica and Quincy’s lifelong relationship that speak volumes about their care and love for each other. Sports!
O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (1985)
Existential, odd, engaging, bleakly humorous. The end of the world and yet we’re still here, somehow. A biting look at religion and nuclear fallout. Hating and fearing the void and filling it with nonsense, or worse. An under-seen Polish film that I appreciate in light of… the world.
A few extra favorites:
Scream (1996) — I’d waited until I felt I’d seen enough horror to “get” the references, and boy did I have a fun time. Can’t wait to continue with the series.
Smiley Face (2007) — a fantastic stoner wild goose chase comedy.
My Man Godfrey (1936) — screwball comedy gold. Genuinely laugh-out-loud funny.
My Neighbor Totoro (1987) — a beautiful Ghibli film about coming to terms with life as well as escaping it and finding joy.
The Celluloid Closet (1995) — a documentary about queer history in the movies, from Pre-Code to queer-coding to New Queer Cinema.
Jimi Hendrix (1973) — a documentary made shortly after his death and featuring interviews with people who knew him or knew of him. What an incredible musician and person. Truly one of a kind.
What are some of your favorite recent watches?
Stills via Film-Grab, IMDb, and movie-screencaps.com.