YNOT at the Movies

The 48th Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) returns to Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, from October 2-12, 2025, and once again it is shaping up to be one of the most rewarding stops on the fall film circuit. MVFF is the rare festival that can feel both intimate and expansive, a place where international heavyweights and small discoveries sit comfortably side by side, and where you are just as likely to stumble into a tiny gem in a theater as you are to see a future Oscar contender on the big screen.

The festival opens with "Hamnet" (UK 2025 | 125 min.), Chloé Zhao's deeply felt adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel, a reimagining of Shakespeare's life and grief anchored by performances from Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. The centerpiece presentation is "Metallica Saved My Life" (UK 2025 | 99 min. | Documentary), Jonas Åkerlund's rousing and deeply emotional chronicle of the band's enduring cultural impact. The festival closes with "Rental Family" (Japan/USA 2025 | in Japanese/English | 103 min.), Hikari's bittersweet dramedy starring Brendan Fraser as a lonely American in Tokyo who is hired by strangers to play the roles of their loved ones.

This year's lineup features 138 films from 40 countries. The program pulls together some of the most acclaimed titles from Cannes and beyond, including Iranian director Jafar Panahi's "It Was Just an Accident" (یک تصادف ساده | Iran/France 2025 | in Persian | 101 min.), winner of the Palme d'Or, and French director Oliver Laxe's "Sirât" (Spain/France 2025 | in Spanish/French/English/Arabic | 115 min.), recipient of the Cannes Jury Prize. Korean director Park Chan-wook's "No Other Choice" (어쩔수가없다 | South Korea 2025 | in Korean | 139 min.), a razor-sharp adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel "The Ax," also makes its West Coast premiere here.

There is a rich mix of highly anticipated premieres too. Director Richard Linklater is bringing not one but two films this year: "Blue Moon" (USA/Ireland 2025 | 100 min.), a portrait of Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart unfolding over one night, and "Nouvelle Vague" (France/USA 2025 | 106 min.), a lively homage to the birth of the French New Wave. Yorgos Lanthimos returns with "Bugonia" (Ireland/South Korea/Canada/USA 2025 | 120 min.), a pitch-black satire about conspiracy and corporate control, while Joachim Trier's "Sentimental Value" (Affeksjonsverdi | Norway/France/Germany/Denmark/UK/Sweden 2025 | in Norwegian/English | 133 min.) takes a more intimate look at fractured family dynamics.

Other buzzy selections include "The Plague" (الطاعون | USA/Australia/United Arab Emirates 2025 | 95 min.), a brutal coming-of-age story set in a water polo training camp, and "Sound of Falling" (In die Sonne schauen | Germany 2025 | in German | 149 min.), an ambitious, century-spanning exploration of memory and time.

As always with Mill Valley, the biggest surprises often come from the films without the red carpets or marquee names, the ones that explore overlooked histories, personal struggles, and shifting cultural landscapes.

Here are a few other films at this year's festival.

One of the very best films at this year's festival, director Huo Meng's engrossing "Living the Land" (生息之地 | China 2025 | in Chinese | 132 min.) captures a world on the cusp of change with extraordinary warmth and beauty. Set in rural China in 1991, it tells the story of a ten-year-old boy left behind as his family departs for Shenzhen in southern China, unfolding as both a portrait of tradition and a fond remembrance of a way of life now fading into history. The film's rich, painterly cinematography lingers on landscapes, seasons, and the rituals of everyday existence, creating a sensory experience that feels both deeply affecting and universally nostalgic.

French drama "Case 137" (Dossier 137 | France 2025 | in French | 115 min.) begins as a procedural investigation into a violent incident of police misconduct but quickly grows into something more complex. As an internal affairs officer peels back layers of bureaucracy, silence, and denial, the search for truth becomes a soul-bearing confrontation with the cost of accountability. The film's refusal to deliver tidy resolutions gives it an authenticity that lingers, raising tough questions about justice and power.

Luca Guadagnino's "After the Hunt" (USA/Italy 2025 | 139 min.) centers on Julia Roberts' character, a philosophy professor whose life and beliefs are tested when an accusation sparks intense debate and fractious encounters within the philosophy department. The film is dense with philosophical arguments and moral dilemmas, and it asks uncomfortable questions about responsibility, reputation, and community. Michael Stuhlbarg stands out playing her husband, delivering a mesmerizing performance as a wonderfully attentive partner trying to hold family life together while the storm around them intensifies.

Kleber Mendonça Filho's "The Secret Agent" (O Agente Secreto | Brazil/France/Germany/Netherlands 2025 | in Portuguese | 158 min.) is a gripping political thriller set amid the paranoia and repression of 1970s Brazil. When a widowed scientist named Marcelo becomes a target of the military dictatorship's secret police, he is thrust into a dangerous world of betrayal, resistance, and survival. What makes the film compelling is not just its suspense but its attention to how ordinary people navigate extraordinary political violence and the small acts of defiance that carry enormous weight.

What starts as a documentary about baseball becomes something much larger in "Diamond Diplomacy" (USA 2025 | in English/Japanese | 86 min. | Documentary), which traces more than a century of U.S.-Japan relations through a shared love of the sport. From Babe Ruth's barnstorming tours to Shohei Ohtani's meteoric rise, the film shows how baseball has transcended politics, healed historical wounds, and built cultural bridges, a reminder that diplomacy sometimes happens not in conference rooms but on the field. It is a moving testimony to the power of a game that can build bridges in a divided world.

With its mix of heavy hitters and hidden gems, its bold visions and small, personal stories, MVFF48 once again shows why it is one of the most beloved festivals in the United States. It is a place to catch the season's most talked-about films, but just as importantly, it is a place for discovery. Some of the most affecting work here resonates not just through scale or spectacle, but through how it evokes disappearing worlds and the lives rooted in them, how it uncovers beauty and longing in the smallest of gestures, and how it probes the complicated ties that bind families together. In the end, these films reflect what makes Mill Valley special: a festival that celebrates not just the breadth of cinema, but its ability to illuminate the quiet, deeply human corners of our lives.