Happy New Year!
Jan. 2 — Hello and Happy 2026! Hope everyone had a great holiday and is slowly recovering from all the New Year’s parties. In honor of that recovery, we have another short edition of Scene, but next week we will be officially BACK! 2026 is here, and I’m looking forward to making it better than ever.
A few sad notes before we move on:
📽️ Isiah Whitlock Jr., known for his frequent collaborations with Spike Lee and his work on “The Wire,” died Tuesday at the age of 71.
🇫🇷 Brigitte Bardot, the iconic French actress, died on Sunday at the age of 91. Bardot was a film and fashion icon, yes, but in her later years, she leaned heavily into right-wing politics, was blatantly Islamophobic, and dismissed women who spoke about their experiences with sexual harassment. I enjoyed this short piece from Emma Specter in Vogue ruminating on her legacy.
📺 The actor James Ransone, best known for his roles in “The Wire” and horror films like “Sinister,” died by suicide last week. Check out this incredibly lovely tribute to him from Kaiya Shunyata.
This week’s newsletter includes two interviews with filmmakers Bi Gan and Charlie Polinger. We’ve also got my list of the best films of 2025 and what’s playing at the movies this week. We’ll be back with Spotlight, reading and listening recommendations, and more movie reviews next week!
Thanks for reading!
Sammie
The 20 Best Movies of 2025
📽️ That time of year is finally here — it’s time to whittle down the list of 150 new movies I saw this year to my 20 favorites.
This is the third time I’ve done this for Rough Draft, and it might be the hardest time I’ve ever had finalizing my list. That’s not necessarily because I think the crop of movies as a whole are better than 2023 or 2024, but rather because the range of what we got this year makes comparison extra difficult. How does one compare a movie like “Sinners” to a movie like “Blue Moon,” or a movie like “Jay Kelly” to a movie like “Kiss of the Spider Woman”?
2025 gave us a lot of variety at the theater, and that always makes for a fun, if difficult, time sorting through everything at the end of the year. Alas, I did my best for all of you.
🍿 Check out my final list here. And, for Jim Farmer’s rundown of the year in queer cinema, click here.
Ready, Set, AGLOW!
SPONSORED BY FERNBANK MUSEUM
🌟 When the sun sets, the woods come alive at WildWoods: AGLOW.
This after-hours experience combines art, nature and music at Fernbank Museum, featuring scenic trails aglow with light outdoors and nighttime access to museum exhibits inside.
🌙 Select nights through Feb. 28, 2026.
Charlie Polinger talks the making of ‘The Plague’
🤽♂️ There are a plethora of movies about the horrors of being a young girl, but movies about boys tend to fall more into the nostalgia zone. Charlie Polinger’s “The Plague” is bucking that trend.
This psychological thriller follows Ben (Everett Blunck), an awkward 12-year-old boy thrust into the social blood bath of a water polo-centric sleep-away camp. The other boys, led by ringleader Jake (Kayo Martin), warn Ben to keep away from Eli (Kenny Rasmussen) because he has “the plague.” Whether the plague is real or just an invention of a group of mean preteens becomes somewhat of a preoccupation for our protagonist.
This is Polinger’s feature debut, and I recently spoke with him about the challenges that come with being a first-time filmmaker, working with child actors, and the movies that inspired him.
🤮 Check out our interview here.
Bi Gan on ‘Resurrection,’ his ode to cinema history
🇨🇳 Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan has made a meal of exploring memory and dreams in the past with movies like 2018’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night.” But with “Resurrection,” he’s made a true masterpiece of fantasia.
In a world where the majority of people have traded the ability to dream for immortal life, some creatures still can see dreams. One such creature (Jackson Yee) is hunted down by Miss Shu (Shu Qi), who enters his dreams in an attempt to find the illusion and truth within his ideas of Chinese history.
“Resurrection” is an ode to both Chinese and cinema history alike, tracing its way through the 20th century via genre. The film is broken up into chapters moving all the way from the silent era to Y2K, each chapter using a different sense — sound, sight, smell, touch, and taste — to unveil the secrets of history, both cinematic and otherwise.
“Resurrection” features little dialogue. It’s a purely visual experience in the way that too few films truly are anymore, and it ensnares you completely from its opening moments to its end. I recently spoke with Bi Gan (via a translator) about the making of the film.
😴 Check out our conversation here.
At the Movies!
If you’re planning to see a movie in a theater this week, here’s what you’ve got to look forward to!
Movies releasing this weekend:
🏊 “The Plague”
🃏 “Resurrection” (pictured)
Special Events:
🪲 “Cronos” in 4K @ The Plaza (Friday-Thursday)
🖊️ Today’s Scene was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.