Editor’s Note: A version of this story also appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, a newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, retrospectives, recommendations, and more. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox.
We’re prepping for the new year by celebrating the 100th edition of the Good, the Bad, and the Elegy newsletter. Thank you to the readers who have been with us since the beginning, and to all those who have joined us along the way. After four years of covering rural media representation, we believe this analysis is more important than ever, and speaks directly to the mission, and origin story, of the Daily Yonder and Center for Rural Strategies. Examining the ways rural communities are portrayed, from idyllic utopias to ravaged hellscapes (and the more complicated, nuanced, and accurate representations in between) help us understand how our society thinks and feels about the diverse communities that 60 million Americans call home.
But even after 100 editions, there’s plenty of noteworthy rural media that we haven’t been able to write about. So before we put 2025 too firmly in our rearview mirrors, we asked the Daily Yonder staff for a final roundup of the year’s best releases. Here are some more movies, music, TV shows, and books we loved in 2025.
The Last American Road Trip
Sarah Kendzior’s latest book is a memoir tracing a series of road trips she took with her family between 2016 and 2024, often on the historic Route 66. From the journalist who studied autocracies in Central Asia before spending time covering U.S. politics for Al Jazeera English, Kendzior’s fifth book combines deeply-researched political history with prose that is profoundly personal.
Vignettes from time spent on the road with her husband and two growing children are interlaced with fierce reckonings about corruption, lawlessness, and power at all levels of government. The present is woven together with the past like a spiderweb; one that mirrors the family’s routes stretching in all directions from their home base in St. Louis, Missouri, to rural communities, national parks, and historic sites across the country.
Cover art for “The Last American Road Trip” by Sarah Kendzior. (Credit: Flatiron Books)
As the years tick on during a tumultuous time in U.S. politics, Kendzior and her family uncover secrets from America’s past and search for clues about its uncertain future. Whether you agree or disagree with Kendzior’s analysis, the picture of America that emerges from “The Last American Road Trip” is at once raw, strange, beautiful, and unwieldy. Above all, Kendzior’s love for country shines through, and it is clear that America is a place she is both proud and devastated to call home.
The Last American Road Trip is available via your public library or from booksellers big and small.
– Julia Tilton
SABLE, fABLE
Among my favorite music releases of 2025 was the latest from Eau Claire, Wisconsin’s Bon Iver. The pandemic saw singer-songwriter Justin Vernon’s profile raised considerably amid a couple collaborations with Taylor Swift, but he’s in top form in his first album since 2019. Written and produced during and after the Covid years, “SABLE, fABLE” is rife with songs about making peace with yourself and your relationships, but the spirit that carries through is largely triumphant. Vernon evokes the natural world regularly, singing about the seasons (of nature and life) in “There’s a Rhythmn,” and the “rings within rings within rings” in “THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS.” But the standout is “Everything is Peaceful Love,” which encapsulates a feeling of irrepressible joy with the act of climbing up a tree. That image and energy were a regular companion for me this past year.
SABLE, fABLE is available to stream online or to purchase from a music store near you.
– Adam B. Giorgi
The Ballad of Wallis Island
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is a charming British indie film that showcases the power of simplicity.
Tim Key and Tom Basden play Charles, an eccentric lottery winner, and Herb McGwyer, a once-famous folk musician, who meet when Charles hires Herb to perform on his remote Welsh island. What could have been a contrived setup becomes delightful as these opposites develop an unexpected friendship. Carey Mulligan rounds out the small cast as Nell Mortimer, Herb’s former bandmate and ex-lover, adding layers of romantic and artistic tension.
A promotional trailer for “The Ballad of Wallis Island” (Credit: Focus Features via YouTube).
Tim Key’s Charles is one of the great characters on film this year. He’s eccentric, funny, earnest and is a perfect counter to Tom Basden’s melancholic musician. The two also wrote the movie together and their whip-smart banter flows effortlessly.
The film is understated, and rather than forcing the drama, it allows relationships to unfold organically. The remote Welsh island backdrop is also stunning, and the isolated setting, cut off from technology and civilization, makes the characters confront issues they’ve been avoiding. A score of original folk songs add to the story and don’t feel like an unnecessary appendage.
The film was shot in just 18 days and has an intimate, almost handmade quality that accentuates its story about rediscovering authenticity. It’s a good reminder that these types of small movies – just three excellent actors, one beautiful island, and the kind of script that understands people – are valuable and should be made more often.
The Ballad of Wallace Island is currently streaming on Prime Video.
– Joel Cohen
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
There are few things as satisfying as a well-executed whodunnit, and writer-director Rian Johnson has all but perfected the form. “Wake Up Dead Man,” the third installment of the “Knives Out” trilogy, combines a star-studded ensemble cast with emotional depth and quick-witted fun. The film sees Daniel Craig return as the now-iconic detective Benoit Blanc, his Southern drawl fully intact. New to the “Knives Out” universe is Josh O’Connor, who plays Jud Duplenticy, a former boxer turned Catholic priest.
Set in a rural parish in upstate New York, Jud is sent to be assistant priest to the controversial Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Wicks preaches using shame, guilt, and anger, while Jud promotes welcoming, compassion, and mercy. Their stark differences lead to tensions in the church between priests and the congregation members. The film follows the familiar “Knives Out” formula: a murder is committed, Benoit Blanc comes to town, accusations fly, secrets are revealed, clues are dropped, and the shocking truth is eventually uncovered.
A promotional trailer for “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” (Credit: Netflix via YouTube).
However, this most recent addition to the franchise distinguishes itself with more emotional weight and moral complexity than either of the preceding films. “Wake Up Dead Man” tackles questions of radicalization, faith versus logic, greed versus selflessness, fear versus hope, and some of the intricacies of how rural faith communities function.
Packed with richly drawn characters and the franchise’s trademark twists and turns, “Wake Up Dead Man” is as gripping as it is thoughtful. If you’re looking for a mystery that’s unabashedly fun while still full of compassion and tension, the “Knives Out” franchise delivers once again.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is now streaming on Netflix.
– Susannah Broun
Monster: The Ed Gein Story
A promotional trailer for “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” (Credit: Netflix via YouTube).
Ed Gein became one of the most notorious figures in local Wisconsin history in 1957, when authorities discovered he had not only killed two women but stolen corpses from graveyards and kept the remains in his home. After his mother’s death, he reportedly made a suit of her skin that he could wear. If some of that sounds familiar, it’s because author Robert Bloch based his 1959 novel “Psycho” on Gein. That was made by director Alfred Hitchcock into the classic 1960 film of the same name, and 1974’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” also put forth a heavily fictionalized version of the story. In 2025, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” was adapted into an eight-episode series on Netflix as part of the “Monster” anthology series. The series is gruesome and disturbing and takes liberties with the story, but it’s most interesting when it follows Gein’s story to Hollywood and the films that it influenced, expanding the cast to include Hitchcock and the makers of those films.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is now streaming on Netflix.
– Keith Roysdon
Hamnet
There’s something cathartic about sitting in a dark theater and crying your eyes out with a few dozen strangers. And if you’re looking for that experience this holiday season, boy do we have a rural movie for you. “Hamnet,” an intimate film about the death of William Shakespeare’s son and his family’s all-consuming grief, is bringing on tsunamis of tears in screenings around the country.
A promotional trailer for “Hamnet” (Credit: Focus Features via YouTube).
“Hamnet” is directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and based on the best-selling novel by Maggie O’Farrell. It features phenomenal performances by Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, and some child actors who really know their Shakespeare. Jessie Buckley, as Hamnet’s mother Agnes, stands out especially for her heart-wrenching performance as a grieving parent. The movie also features a gorgeous score by Max Richter, including the striking piece “On the Nature of Daylight.”
Most of the action takes place in Stratford-upon-Avon, at that time a small town 100 miles northwest of London, and in the woods and farmland that surround the community. It is in Stratford-upon-Avon that Shakespeare and Agnes fall in love, have children, and suffer their most devastating loss. London is also featured as the site of Shakespeare’s ambitions and successes, as well as his place of exile after Hamnet’s death.
The whole movie is beautiful, from the cinematography and set design to the music and screenplay, delivered magnificently by the cast. It is also soul-crushingly sad, but ultimately it’s a movie worth crying into your popcorn over.
Hamnet is now playing in a theater near you.
– Anya Petrone Slepyan
Common Side Effects
A promotional trailer for “Common Side Effects.” (Credit: Adult Swim via YouTube)
Animation nerds are prone to point out that animation is not a genre but rather a medium, an art form that can comfortably contain any number of stories. The 2025 Adult Swim/HBO Max series “Common Side Effects” is our latest great example of that contention. This is not kid’s fare, profane comedy, or action adventure but instead a relatively grounded human drama. Its tale of corporate espionage and survival follows a kooky forager who discovers a mushroom with incredible healing powers and quickly finds himself in a dangerous tangle with the power players of big pharma. Much of the action centers on people and places on the margins, and the animated medium is used to great effect to accentuate our characters’ quirks, the paranoia and tension of the conflict, and the wild, psychedelic side effects of those aforementioned mushrooms. It’s a unique vision that is expanding viewer expectations for animation and poking at the increasingly urgent pains of our current medical establishment.
Common Side Effects is now streaming on HBO Max and Sling TV.
– Adam B. Giorgi
Sorry, Baby
I watched “Sorry, Baby” in a small movie theater in Missoula, Montana while I was on a reporting trip this past summer, alternating between crying and laughing and both at the same time for the entire 104-minute movie.
This directorial debut by Eva Victor (starring Victor as Agnes) gets at the poignancy of friendship, healing, and life itself so beautifully that it’ll be a film to rewatch time and time again. Victor has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a drama.
A promotional trailer for “Sorry, Baby” (Credit: A24 via YouTube).
The story is set in a fictional small college town in New England and follows Agnes as she heals from a sexual assault. It’s not, however, a film about sexual assault. Agnes is a literature graduate student and later a literature professor, following a timeline seemingly created for her while in a daze. Filmed primarily in Ipswich, Massachusetts, the idyllic (and consequential) small town experiences of running into people or connecting with a stranger over a really good sandwich bring the rural oceanside setting to life.
If you’ve ever been in a graduate program, had a best friend, adopted a cat, or wondered about your life path, I highly recommend watching “Sorry, Baby.”
Sorry Baby is currently streaming on HBO Max.
– Ilana Newman
Sheriff Country
A promotional trailer for “Sheriff Country” (Credit: CBS via YouTube).
“Sheriff Country” is a spin-off of the CBS series “Fire Country,” about a prison inmate firefighter. “Sheriff Country” expands on the original series by putting the spotlight on Sheriff Mickey Fox (played by Morena Baccarin of “Firefly” and the Deadpool movies), as she deals with crimes in her small town and juggles family concerns from her daughter and father. It’s a standard TV procedural following these officers’ day-to-day work, but Baccarin is a charismatic lead and capably carries the series.
You can watch Sheriff Country on CBS and Paramount+
– Keith Roysdon
This article first appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, recommendations, retrospectives, and more. Join the mailing list today to have future editions delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up
The post Rural Media in the Rearview: 2025 End-of-Year Roundup appeared first on The Daily Yonder.
