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2025 was not the year many of us expected. In Jakarta and beyond, political unease, economic strain and recurring natural disasters made being an optimist more of a challenge.
That’s often when we turn to movies for a brief escape.
In the United States, studios traditionally release their biggest titles, like Avatar and Hamnet, at the end of the year, banking on holiday downtime and spending powers. In Indonesia, that collective viewing habit usually peaks during Idul Fitri. The year-end break, by comparison, is quieter, a chance to catch up and reflect.
As 2026 begins, it’s natural to ask: How did we move through 2025? What do we want to carry forward or leave behind?
These curated films below don’t promise answers, but they offer perspective and a gentler way to start 2026.
1. For those who value friendship: The Holdovers (2023)
Set in the 1970s, an insufferable history teacher, Paul (Paul Giamatti), stays behind at a New England boarding school during Christmas break to supervise students who can’t go home, including Angus (Dominic Sessa). He’s joined by Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a school cook grieving her son, who died in Vietnam. What begins as mutual irritation slowly transforms into an unlikely, tender alliance.
Written and directed by Alexander Payne (Nebraska, Downsizing), the film earned five Oscar nominations at the 96th Academy Awards in 2024, including Best Picture and won Best Supporting Actress for Randolph’s performance.
Watching it, I was struck by how naturally enduring it feels. Set entirely during the holidays, The Holdovers suggests that companionship can matter just as much as ambition, a useful reminder when New Year’s resolutions tend to prioritize achievement over connection.
Beyond the usual big milestones, nurturing meaningful friendship deserves a place on the list, too.
The film is available on Netflix. You can also rent or buy it on YouTube Movies.
2. For those who want to be in love: When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Among the many romantic comedies made over the decades, When Harry Met Sally remains a benchmark.
Written by the late Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner, who passed away last year, the film follows Sally (Meg Ryan) and Harry (Billy Crystal) as they circle a deceptively simple question: Can men and women truly be friends when sex inevitably complicates things?
Rather than rushing its lead toward romance, the film allows their relationship to unfold across years and chance encounters. Notably, they don’t become friends until their third meeting: older, wearier and more guarded.
It captures preciseness about falling in love in your thirties: the hesitation, baggage and timing. Made in the 1980s, critics have long praised the film for redefining the rom-com formula, and it’s still surprisingly relevant today.
You can stream the film on Prime Video.
Can’t get enough of Meg Ryan? Sleepless in Seattle is available on Netflix and You’ve Got Mail is on HBO Max.
3. For those learning to forgive: Sorry, Baby (2025)
This isn’t your typical holiday viewing. Written, directed by, and starring Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby follows Agnes, a college student who was sexually harassed by her professor. Now a literature lecturer herself, she continues to live on the same campus where the assault occurred.
Told nonlinearly, the film makes a striking choice: the assault is never shown. Instead, we listen as Agnes recounts what happened, sharing the slow, painful realization of what she endured.
What lingers isn’t devastation, but restraint. Throughout the film, Agnes is trying to forgive herself. As the year turns, that inward look, learning compassion for one’s own past, can be harder than reaching new goals. How do we move forward if we remain anchored to guilt, especially guilt we don’t deserve?
Sorry, Baby had a limited theatrical run last July and is now streaming on KlikFilm.
4. For those trying to reconnect: Susah Sinyal (2017)
Written and directed by Ernest Prakasa, Susah Sinyal stars Adinia Wirasti as a single mother struggling to repair her strained relationship with her teenage daughter (Aurora Ribero, in her feature debut).
Released during the year-end holiday season, the film sold more than 2 million tickets. But its staying power lies elsewhere. In his third feature, Ernest channels a fear many parents carry: the possibility of emotional distance hardening into permanence.
Families are never free from conflict. The question is whether we allow that distance to widen or choose the difficult work of repair. Few films articulate that choice as plainly.
Susah Sinyal is available to stream on Netflix, Prime Video and Vidio.
5. For those ready to begin again: Julie & Julia (2009)
If any film mirrors the spirit of the New Year, it’s Julie & Julia. The film moves between two women, separated by decades but united by love of food, and perseverance.
In postwar Paris, Julia Child (Meryl Streep), before she became a Hollywood icon, enrolls at Le Cordon Bleu while accompanying her husband, Paul (Stanley Tucci), working in Paris.
Decades later, Julie Powell (Amy Adams), a government worker with a restless streak, commits to cooking all 524 recipes from Child’s cookbook in one year and to write about it online. The project becomes a hit, earns her a book deal, and eventually inspires this film.
Both stories hinge on a decision to try something new. After an unsettling year, that impulse feels especially resonant.
If you ever wanted to do something but lacked the courage, this film can give you the push and optimism to start.
For Julie and Julia, it was cooking. What will it be for you?
Julie & Julia is available to stream on Netflix.
