London Film Festival 2025 reviews

Claire and Gavia review some highlights from the 2025 London Film Festival, ranging from big upcoming releases (the new Knives Out movie Wake Up Dead Man) to awards contenders (Chloé Zhao's Hamnet) and exciting indie titles like Kelly Reichardt's heist drama The Mastermind, and the queer BDSM romcom Pillion, starring Alexander Skarsgard.

These reviews are spoiler free! Here’s the full list of titles:

Wake Up Dead Man - Rian Johnson
Mirrors No. 3 – Christian Petzold
Pillion - Harry Lighton
A Private Life – Rebecca Zlotowski
It Was Just An Accident - Jafar Panahi
Peter Hujar’s Day – Ira Sachs
The Mastermind - Kelly Reichardt
The Testament of Ann Lee – Mona Fastvold
Hamnet - Chloé Zhao

Previously: Knives Out, Ira Sachs’ Passages, Best Films of 2020 (featuring Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow), Best Films of 2023 (featuring Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up), London and New York Film Festivals 2020 (featuring Christian Petzold’s Undine).