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Review
Содержание статьи:
‘Raising questions’ isn’t enough. The best films of the year took a stance December 29, 20256:00 AM ET
Clockwise from top left: stills from Eddington, Bugonia, Sinners, It Was Just an Accident, Good Fortune, One Battle After Another, Richard Foreman/A24; Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features; Warner Bros. Pictures; NEON; Eddy Chen/Lionsgate; Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption
toggle caption Richard Foreman/A24; Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features; Warner Bros. Pictures; NEON; Eddy Chen/Lionsgate; Warner Bros. Pictures
In 2025, a time of intense political turmoil and division, James L. Brooks released his first film in 15 years, a political rom-dramedy looking back on the year 2008 through wistful, Obamacore-clouded eyes. Despite a stacked ensemble that includes Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Brooks, Ella McCay is easily one of the worst movies of the year for many reasons, not least of which is a line in which a character proclaims 2008 as “a better time, when we all still liked each other.” (Obvious follow-up question: Who is “we”?) Even more glaring is the fact that its protagonist, played by Emma Mackey, becomes the de facto Anyparty governor of Anytown, USA — her political party is never identified, the state she lives and serves in is never named.
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The revisionist non-specificity demonstrates zero interest in meeting The Moment, though plenty of other films released this year have at least attempted to engage with it more directly. This isn’t to say all of them pulled off their aims. But before seeing Ella McCay, I’d been mulling what it even means for a film to be “successful” in tackling sociopolitical issues in this climate, when each new day conjures up utterly ridiculous and dystopian realities just as bizarre as any screenwriter might possibly imagine, if not more so. Brooks’ film at least makes clear what definitely doesn’t work in this space: nostalgia, and a posturing of neutrality.
Jackie Lay/NPR 
Jackie Lay/NPR
