9 May December
Do you remember watching Ingmar Bergman’s Persona and wondering if any filmmaker has ever used the same premise to have a TV actress stay with someone who is the focus of a tabloid scandal? Maybe not, but Todd Haynes did, and we didn’t know we needed it. As the mentioned actress and tabloid groomer, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore are a great pair.
There’s a self-awareness in this film. It often plays as the made-for-TV mediocre movie that Portman’s character would do. Making a dark comedy about different kinds of public figures. Even casting Riverdale’s Charles Melton was clever. His performance as the groomed young adult is among the year’s best.
8 Anatomy of a Fall
Directed by Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall is a courtroom drama that chronicles the trial of a woman accused of killing her husband. With a prominent performance by Sandra Hüller, we witness her case and everything happening before, during, and after the trial. Each scene reveals a new detail. Everything that we see and hear is there for a reason.
Nonetheless, the actual investigation is outside the courtroom. As we see stellar performances, we start to think about other things regarding the accused and late husband’s relationship. What is worth giving away for our relationship and family, and whether or not following our passion makes us selfish.
Also, the steel band’s cover of 50 Cent’s PIMP has to be one of the best needle drops in film history. I’m not exaggerating. Check the film to see why.
7 John Wick: Chapter 4
So, yeah, I put the conclusion of the John Wick saga higher than movies like May December and Anatomy of the Fall on the list. Truth is, when an action movie is well made, I’m obsessed with it. And that’s what John Wick has given me. Movies that blew my mind and made me have a grip on it.
The 4th and final installment of this crazy modern masterpiece ends violently and poetically. You’ll root for the protagonist and feel his pain. And this is why I think John Wick is a perfect movie franchise. It took time to reveal the character’s background, expanded the universe one scene at a time, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun with pure action sequences.
6 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Unsurprisingly, Across the Spider-Verse is another major franchise film that blew my mind and kept me interested in the characters. The second installment of this Spider-Verse animated movie feels as groundbreaking as the first one. It’s such a breathtaking animation that you can frame every single take. There’s not a dull second when it comes to animation.
The greatness of this film doesn’t end with the visuals. It is a compelling story about a teenager caught between school, family, and his powers. At this point, we should all be tired of the Spider-Man “with great power comes great responsibility” narrative. However, they released a well-made existentialist film about an array of multi-dimensional Spider-Men.
About Miles Morales, I’m a black Puerto Rican. Of course, I’m thrilled that someone like me is part of the pop culture zeitgeist.
5 The Holdovers
Already one of our favorite Christmas movies. Alexander Payne’s poignant film about finding friendship in the most unlikely places feels nostalgic. Even if you weren’t alive in the 70s, you probably felt the nostalgia of watching a mid-budget adult drama. Perhaps, watching Payne movies like Sideways back in those better days.
It goes as fast as being a visual homage to 70s films. The Holdovers proved that we needed this in mainstream cinema again. Sometimes, we want just a warm hug. And that’s what this film gives to the audience.
4 Killers of the Flower Moon
Like Hayao Miyazaki, this is probably Martin Scorsese’s last film. These legendary filmmakers are getting old, and it’s part of human nature to part ways. And Marty has been the one doing a career great at an old age. Killers of the Flower Moon look and feel like the film Scorsese wanted to make his entire career.
Chronicling the Osage murders, which bring the birth of the FBI, KOTFM follows the nephew of the brain behind the murders, William King Hale, as he falls in love with the Osage woman he is supposed to marry and kill to get her wealth. Like other Scorsese films, this is an in-depth epic about crime and greed. However, he subverts the same sub-genre he created by paying homage and respect to the Osage nation.
The different kinds of cinematography and Scorsese himself speaking following the modern footage of the Osage gathering is a nice touch of meta-modernism in today’s cinema. If that final scene is Scorsese’s swan song, he left with a beautiful conclusion to a movie and his career.
3 Past Lives
A romantic drama about two childhood friends who have a deep connection, this is the perfect millennial love story. The film follows Nora and Hae Sung’s relationship for 20 years. Separated by immigration, they contact each other on the Internet for years. Until the fateful happens, they reunite each other for a week.
Though the events happening in the character’s lives are rooted in immigration, there is something profoundly personal for everyone who came of age in the 2000s. At the start of the Internet’s chat rooms and social media, we all fell in love with Messenger. The way this film portrays the mid to late 2000s feels like a period piece. As a movie about millennial relationships, it explores how family and destiny can get in the way.
In the future, when we look back at the early 2020s, Past Lives shall be one of the first films in the conversation.
2 Oppenheimer
Back to Barbenheimer, one of the two films revolving around last summer’s phenomenal event might be Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece. Oppenheimer is such a ridiculous cinematic achievement that it’s hard to explain all the reasons without turning this into a 300+ word separate review. This is how Nolan probably feels about his complex films, and this biopic about a genius who finds it hard to explain his work is the filmmaker reflecting on himself.
If Oppenheimer is not the perfect movie, it is pretty close to perfection. The cast, cinematography, and sound design all come together beautifully. The best thing about the film is the editing. What could’ve been a dull biopic about a scientist it’s a 3-hour thrill ride thanks to the outstanding pace.
1 Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos’s enigmatic take on Frankenstein, based on Alasdair Gray’s book of the same name, is everything I love from the previous favorite movies of the year and even more. In this whimsical film starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and Mark Ruffalo, existentialism, growing up, sexuality, and freedom are explored. It has the same themes as Barbie but is weirder, sexier, and more eccentric.
Lanthimos is a gift to mainstream cinema. He gets away with things other directors wouldn’t even think of. All the fisheye 8mm, the explicit sex, the bad CGI, the punk classical score from Jerskin Fendrix, and the bravado from the cast blend together to create the perfectly perfect film of 2023. I’ll probably spend 2024 obsessed with this film.
Still Looking Forward to Watching:
- American Fiction, directed by Cord Jefferson
- The Color Purple, directed by Blitz Bazawule
- The Zone of Interest, directed by Jonathan Glazer
- Fallen Leaves, directed by Aki Kaurismäki
- All of Us Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh
One Comment