Top 50 Films of 2023
A splendid year at the cinema
For those who missed my “Best Movies by Genre 2023” post, I started that off by noting how 2023 was the best movie year since 2019.
Sure, 2023 may not be as top heavy as some other recent years, but the depth is utterly insane.
I watched 304 films throughout 2023 & 150 films that were released in 2023.
In an effort to celebrate as many films as possible from this wonderful year, I am extending my usual top 10 films of the year list out to the top 50.
While I will only go into depth about the top 10, if I have already written about something in the top 50, I have included the link to it below for those interested.
Enough chit chat! Lets get to the movies!
King Coal (Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon)
Theatre Camp (Directed by Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman)
Somebody I Used to Know (Directed by Dave Franco)
Creed III (Directed by Michael B. Jordan)
The Boy and the Heron (Directed by Hayao Miyazaki)
Knock At The Cabin (Directed by M. Night Shyamalan)
Fingernails (Directed by Christos Nikou)
Fallen Leaves (Directed by Aki Kaurismaki)
Reptile (Directed by Grant Singer)
The Burial (Directed by Margaret Betts)
A Little Prayer (Directed by Angus MacLachlan)
Air (Directed by Ben Affleck)
Sanctuary (Directed by Zachary Wigon)
A Haunting in Venice (Directed by Kenneth Branagh)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Directed by Jeff Rowe)
Somewhere in Queens (Directed by Ray Ramano)
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Directed by Daniel Goldhaber)
Memory (Directed by Michel Franco)
Passages (Directed by Ira Sachs)
Godzilla Minus One (Directed by Takashi Yamazaki)
Napoleon (Directed by Ridley Scott)
No Hard Feelings (Directed by Gene Stupnisky)
You Hurt My Feelings (Directed by Nicole Holofcener)
Oppenheimer (Directed by Christopher Nolan)
Mission Impossible:Dead Reckoning (Directed by Christopher McQuarrie)
BS High (Directed by Martin Desmond Roe, Travon Free)
Taylor Swift The ERAs Tour (Directed by Sam Wrench)
The Killer (Directed by David Fincher)
American Fiction (Directed by Cord Jefferson)
Poor Things (Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos)
Maestro (Directed by Bradley Cooper)
Spider Man Across the Spiderverse (Directed by Justin Thompson, Kemp Powers, and Joaquim Dos Santos)
The Artifice Girl (Directed by Franklin Ritch)
Priscilla (Directed by Sofia Coppala)
Ferrari (Directed by Michael Mann)
Fair Play (Directed by Chloe Domont)
Asteroid City (Directed by Wes Anderson)
Anatomy of A Fall (Directed by Justine Triet)
Barbie (Directed by Greta Gerwig)
Bottoms (Directed by Emma Seligman)
10. Dream Scenario (Directed by Kristoffer Borgli)
What the film is about - “A family man finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. However, when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, he's forced to navigate the consequences of his newfound stardom.”
Why I loved the film - Dream Scenario is absurd yet grounded in a way that hits way too close to home. While Nicholas Cage being on another level throughout the film is expected, the decision to have the film morph into a commentary on the connectedness of our world & cancel culture was far from expected. Very rarely do films so successfully start as a premise movie and land the plane in a meaningful way. In fact it is so rare, that Kristoffer Borgli was instantly added to the list of young filmmakers that I will be watching for years to come.
9. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig)
What the film is about - “When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.”
Why I loved the film - There are certain films that I walk into expecting to like a great deal or impact me in a meaningful way, but I am perfectly fine admitting that I didn’t anticipate this to be one of those for me. While Judy Blume’s work has been impactful to both boys and girls through the years, there is no denying that this book in particular has a fond place in the hearts of girls who read this at a young age. How do I know that is true? Well, when I saw the film in an almost sold out theater, I was quite literally the only guy in the whole theater (which my wife made sure to give me a hard time about). Given those circumstances, it would have been pretty realistic to assume that the film wasn’t made for a guy in their 20s. Little did I know, this film would touch me in a way that a film hasn’t in quite some time.
Craig very intentionally took a novel that was written for young adolescent girls and made it a film that is for the whole family. This was done by specifically honing in on the mother and the grandma characters and crafting them much more into real people than they seemed in the book. Craig used her own experiences as a mother to breathe life into the adults throughout the story, specifically Margaret’s mother, portrayed by Rachel McAdams on screen. While the book is primarily from Margaret’s perspective, the film very beautifully shifts the perspective to the adults occasionally. The whole film oozes with the innocence of childhood, but also carries the weight of the burden that comes with raising a child well in this world. After all, middle school girls aren’t the only ones trying to find their place in this world.
Probably the most tender and pure film of the year. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is about as good as dramedies get in this day & age.
8. Blackberry (Directed by Matt Johnson)
What the film is about - “The company behind the first smartphone, the BlackBerry, meets a catastrophic demise.”
Why I loved the film - The opening title card of the film reads as such “The following fictionalization is inspired by real people and real events that took place in Waterloo, Ontario”. Another way to interpret this is, “there is some stuff in the next two hours that will make some people mad”. Immediately we feel the tension and know we are in for a wild ride. Blackberry is shot like a wildlife documentary (think in the likes of The Office), so you feel like you are a bystander looking in on something that you aren’t supposed to see. Matt Johnson makes the intentional choice to use long lenses and shoot from far away so that it appears you are peering into this whole group of people and their way of life. The bigger the company gets, the further away the camera gets as access gets more closed off and it is harder to get close. And at its heart, that is really what the film is about, the more successful you get, the harder it is to not compromise your vision, morals, and ethics. Growing a company is easy, but doing it well is hard. For years the tech industry has abided by the principle “move fast and break things”. Throughout Blackberry you really feel the seams of that idea, both what it means philosophically and what it means practically.
7. Other People’s Children (Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski)
What the film is about - “Rachel, 40 and childless, loves her life. When she falls in love with Ali, she becomes attached to his 4-year-old daughter, Leila.”
Why I loved the film - This French film is by far the most underseen and least talked about great film of the year. Other People’s Children is a magnificent, nuanced look at a woman’s journey with motherhood & children. The film flows together like a cool breeze on a warm summer day, but is also self-aware about the messiness of being human. The warmth embodied through each individual and each relationship portrayed on screen is something that you normally only get from a great novel. You feel the joy, but you also feel the pain. It includes maybe my favorite ending of 2023 and packs a punch that will leave your mind stirring for days.
6. All of Us Strangers (Directed by Andrew Haigh)
What the film is about - “One night in his near-empty London tower block, screenwriter Adam has a chance encounter with mysterious neighbor Harry, puncturing the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam finds himself drawn back to his childhood home, where his parents appear to be living just as they were on the day they died 30 years ago.”
Why I loved the film - Yes, the film is just as sad as the log line sounds, but not in the obvious ways. It is much simpler and stranger than you can imagine. It never hits you over the head with the emotionality of the subject matter. It never goes in directions you think it might. It is subtle, tender, and respectful. At the same time, it is that subtleness that hits you like a title wave during certain parts of the film. Truly beautiful. Especially for those who have lost a parent.
5. The Holdovers (Directed by Alexander Payne)
What the film is about - “A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school remains on campus during Christmas break to babysit a handful of students with nowhere to go. He soon forms an unlikely bond with a brainy but damaged troublemaker, and with the school's head cook, a woman who just lost a son in the Vietnam War.”
Why I loved the film - Much of the narrative around The Holdovers has been how the film is a throwback to 70s, both the time itself and the films of that time. If you spend five minutes inside of the film you can feel it in the production design, the dialogue, and the overall vibe of the film. While all of that is true, the most important throwback element of the film is the richness of the world that was constructed and explored.
There is lots to love about The Holdovers, but the most notable is just how well it holds your attention and entrances you in the world. It isn’t too often in today’s studio system that a film lets you marinate in a character study for 2 hours.
In this day and age, we are so used to getting short flashes of things that shortly holds our attention, but nothing that meaningfully holds our attention tight for a long period of time. The Holdovers is a throwback to the time when that is what mattered. A time when you showed people on screen that had differences coming together on some common ground. A time when you could have a quiet, intimate drama led by a star.
We have been given so much from The Holdovers. A true throwback. A captivating character study. An Oscar worthy performance from Paul Giamatti. A breakthrough performance from newcomer Dominic Sessa. A new Christmas classic.
4. Killers of the Flower Moon (Directed by Martin Scorsese)
What the film is about - Real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal as Mollie Burkhart, a member of the Osage Nation, tries to save her community from a spree of murders fueled by oil and greed.
Why I loved the film - Out of every film on this list, Killers of the Flower Moon is by far the toughest to watch. Not because violence is portrayed unorthodoxly onscreen. Not because it is three and a half hours long. Not because it is boring at any point. But because for 3 and a half hours Scorsese makes the audience live every second through the eyes of pure evil as we make a full descent into the depths of darkness.
As hard as it is to watch, the whole thing is done so artfully and with so much awareness by Scorsese. He doesn’t waste a frame or a second. His intention is never lost. In fact, for months after seeing it, images will linger in your head. They will play over and over again until you decide to watch it again.
3. The Iron Claw (Directed by Sean Durkin)
What the film is about - “The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who make history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.”
My Thoughts - In almost every pivotal frame of The Iron Claw director Sean Durkin makes the deliberate choice to give the audience a wide frame followed by a slow zoom towards where he wants your attention. In each instance your eyes immediately go where he wants them. But it’s that slow progression towards that spot that really gives you a second to sit with the whole frame, live in it, and breathe in where it is headed. You may not realize it at first, but the same is true for the film as a whole. At the outset we see the whole frame and have a pretty clear idea where we are headed. But it’s that slow descent to that specific place that makes the film so special. Not only do we get rooted in a deep understanding of the whole frame, but we live in it and understand the world we are operating in before we really zoom in. By the time we reach the destination, it’s so raw and real that you feel it in the depths of your soul. One of the most authentic, tragic, heartbreaking films of 2023. It’s not a question of if you will cry but how many times.
Career best performances from everyone involved. Beyond baffled that Zac Efron isn’t getting more awards chatter for this. One that will weigh on your heart and soul for a long time.
2. May December (Directed by Todd Haynes)
What the film is about - “Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance, a married couple buckle under the pressure when a Hollywood actress meets them to do research for a film about their past.”
Why I loved the film - Few movies made these days even attempt to portray half the depth and layers that May December does, let alone actually succeed in doing so. It does it in funny ways - a dark and tragic story wrapped with a campy tone with an overbearing score and painfully obvious symbolism. At first it almost seems like a soap opera. Then you realize that is the point. Scene after scene you want to do nothing but look away, yet you become so fixated on the character study taking place on screen, that you can’t. It almost feels wrong to love something that makes you so uncomfortable and horrified at the same time.
The balance by Todd Haynes of the scandalous story with the devastating trauma is a work of art. How he pulls off this big critique of Hollywood by studying the psychologies of three deeply damaged people, is mind blowing and deserves all the praise. Praise that it likely will never get by Hollywood itself because awarding the film would mean accepting the truth of the film, which will never be done.
1. Past Lives (Directed by Celine Song)
What the film is about - “Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Decades later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront destiny, love and the choices that make a life.”
Why I loved the film - Past Lives marked a first for me when it comes to movie watching - I saw it twice in theaters in the same weekend. Probably my favorite detail surrounding those screenings is the conversation I had with my wife after seeing the film together. If we see a movie together we always talk about it, but not to the length we did Past Lives. That is the true power of this beautiful piece of art. The best films are the ones that evoke conversation and make you leave the theater going, “I just want to talk to someone about that”. Past Lives is the textbook example of that.
While the film is filled with some of the most beautiful images and most stirring emotional themes/reflections in recent years, my favorite thing about it is actually how grounded in reality the whole thing is. Everyone is an adult and acts like an adult throughout the whole thing. This isn’t a movie about anyone trying to “steal away a girl” or “a girl thinking about running away with a guy” - it is so much more than that. For so long Hollywood has trained us to think in those terms and not in the terms of real life. Past Lives is only focused on reality - real feelings, real emotions, and real consequences.
Destiny and how we end up where we are is so much bigger than I choose you, it’s bigger than any one of us. Nora herself thinks she has more control over her destiny than she actually does - she tells her class early on that she chose to go to America. In reality, her parents made that choice for her and she likely had no say. We like to think we have more control than we do because it doesn’t make us feel so small.
Even when we get where we are supposed to be, what ifs still pop into our head. Many will try to squash those what ifs or apply a false narrative to what we are having them. But what Past Lives whispers throughout its meditative and slow build is that those thoughts about what ifs don’t mean we are unhappy or a bad person, they simply mean we are human. Sometimes pondering them is the only way to move forward, even if that’s a hard thing to do.
That is all for now! I will be back next with the 10 Most Anticipated Films of 2024. Time to start getting excited for what is to come!
Until then, watch some good films!
Aaron
I think people often come to a list like this to see whether they agree with it or not. The list in our heads is always the right list and the list we are reading is wrong on how much it makes different choices. On this level, we disagree very much.
However, I love this list and I love your writing about these films and why they mean so much to you. Whether it is on the personal level or your response to a new insight or great technique your thinking about these films is very clear and while we may disagree, you make me want to watch your top ten choices again, to revel in your insights on each of these films. My own opinion is that the best thing a critic can do is stoke a love for film and an eagerness to sample different movies. You absolutely achieve this here!
It speaks to the quality of the year that there are so many great films to choose from for our top choices.
P.S. Past Lives is a great number one and Flowers of the Killer Moon is an absolute masterpiece that will resonate with anyone who sees it far into the future---it should be more widely available--Criterion come to the rescue!! Also I had not thought about the critique of Hollywood angle hurting May December's reception. You're probably at least partially right about why that movie didn't get a bigger reception.
Not the worst list I've ever seen, but certainly not the best.