2023 was a peculiar year for me. In late 2022, I decided to change my life and apply for graduate programs. I had not been in school since I graduated from my undergrad program in May of 2020, and since then I knew that I wanted to continue my studies; more particularly, my film studies. However, the timing had never felt right between the pandemic and the lockdown, that was until this year when I was accepted to a grad school program that would allow me to get my Master’s Degree in Film Studies. Moving 11 hours from home was a challenging task, but getting back into the mode of studies, tests, essays, and lectures proved to be more time-consuming than I ever thought. Not to mention, I was lucky enough to be an integral part of the university’s successful rugby team; needless to say, my time was incredibly limited.
Still, I managed to see quite a few 2023 films, and even though it took me a while, was able to catch up to some of this year’s best releases. Epics, indies, and one of cinema’s biggest battles at the theater flooded screens in a way that screams: “Movies are back!” With that being said, here are my top 10 of 2023.
Honorable Mentions: Maestro, The Holdovers, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Air, Wonka
10. Oppenheimer
The second half of the Barbenheimer craze falls at number 10 on my list, but that should just be a testament to how strong this year is. Oppenheimer was a visual and aural treat providing an IMAX experience like none I had seen before. It was loud and colorful, but it was also so emotional and superbly acted by Cillian Murphy who gave the best performance of his life as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Christopher Nolan is at his best here perfectly melding a visual epic with true human emotions, without trying to be smarter than the audience, that reminds us of what kind of director he really can be.
9. Poor Things
From the two Yorgos Lanthimos films I have seen (The Lobster and The Favourite) I had assumed that I would be witnessing a pretty absurd film (in a good way). What I wasn’t ready for was how emotionally deep this film was. Emma Stone as Bella Baxter is such a perfect performance navigating through all stages of girlhood and womanhood while staying true to herself and her wants. Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youseff are great, but Willem Dafoe spoke to me giving a tender and delicate performance, one which even one of the craziest on-screen actors can do so well.
8. Beau is Afraid
No film this year brought me so much joy in the theater. Beau is Afraid was marketed as a horror movie, sure, but this 3-hour film was even more comedic than it was horrifying. The elements were there, but I think this is the kind of messed up and wild filmmaking that Ari Aster has been wanting to do, but hasn’t had the chance to do until now. Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic, as are all the supporting performances, but this film had so much shock, suspense, awe, and pure absurdity to where I have loved every viewing of it. Dare I say Ari Aster’s best work yet?
7. John Wick Chapter 4
Before this year, I had never seen a John Wick film. As a genre, action is fairly low for me in terms of enjoyment, and so this franchise was something I had never sought out. Nevertheless, even though I had yet to see a John Wick movie, I still agreed to take on the challenge of reviewing the film. Knowing this, I watched all 3 releases before seeing Chapter 4 in IMAX, and not only did it find a way onto my top 10 list of the year, it quickly became my favorite theater experience. From the sound of the booming first punch to the insane overhead art gallery fight sequences, John Wick Chapter 4 set a new standard for action films providing unbelievable stunts and choreography, genuine emotion, and quite frankly, just some of the coolest shots of the entire year. This movie was not just action, it was a spectacle with great cinematography, committed performances, and car chases better than anything the Fast movies have done in years.
6. The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest messed me up. A film that displays the evils of humanity and how easy it is for these evils to become normal. The direction from Glazer is astounding, weaving in magnificent tracking shots as well as a few night vision scenes that made me gasp, but the sound design is what has stuck in my head since my initial viewing, and what ultimately makes the film the most horrifying of the entire year. Not to mention an ending that calls for so much reflection, it truly is a film that will make you sick but is a more than necessary one to view.
5. All of Us Strangers
Paul Mescal’s Aftersun was my number-one film of 2022, and there were rumblings that his newest film All of Us Strangers had thematic similarities to his previous film. This alone got me excited for the film, but what I got was nothing that I expected. Mescal gives a fantastic performance (his final scene has stuck with me since I first viewed the movie), but Andrew Scott (better known as “Hot Priest” from Fleabag) is on another planet. His performance is as introspective and giddy as it is sad delivering a poignant performance never seen from the actor. Not to mention Andrew Haigh (whose previous film Lean on Pete is a massively underlooked gem) creates a sort of ghost story of a film that is beautiful, shocking, at times scary, but all in all emotional searching for one final connection. Jamie Bell is also fantastic in his best performance since Billy Elliot (2000) and Claire Foy is great as well.
4. The Boy and the Heron
I have to be honest, the first Studio Ghibli movie I had ever seen was My Neighbor Totoro and it was earlier last fall. I had planned to do a watch through but time got in the way and I was never able to. While My Neighbor Totoro is a cute and fun movie, I was not fully aware of the thematic depths writer/director Hayao Miyazaki could reach. A film about moving on and not dwelling on the past to the point where forgetting becomes… normal. Not only just normal but necessary as well. The score, voice performances (I have only seen the dubbed version but where is Robert Pattinson’s Oscar for this?), and astounding visuals all blend magnificently to create a film I will watch endlessly, especially when I am grieving.
3. Barbie
July 15, 2019. This is the first time I had publicly posted about Barbie. Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach had just signed on to co-write a Margot Robbie-led live-action version of one of the most popular toys of all time, and something about this pairing stuck out to me. I had been a Gerwig fan already after adoring both Lady Bird and Little Women, but there was something about this Barbie collaboration that I knew, even in 2019, would be a massive hit. I should’ve played the lottery, because almost 4 years after that original tweet Barbenheimer would rule the world, and Barbie would start its run to become the biggest movie of 2023. Even though I had (clearly) high aspirations for this film, I was still blown away by Gerwig’s tender and exuberant direction, Robbie’s honest performance, and Ryan Gosling giving a comedic performance for the ages – proving he is one of our generation’s best comedic actors. The zany, and at times campy, nature of the film fits into what Barbie should be, but the emotional core is what truly stuck with me, and so many others.
2. The Iron Claw
The Iron Claw was a movie that coming into the year I knew nothing about. As the release drew closer,! rumblings of this being an all-time tragic story began to surface, and my interest was piqued because I kept thinking: how tragic could it really be? However, while I was truly caught off guard by the harrowing story of the Von Erichs, it was the filmmaking from Sean Durkin (a person I knew nothing about before this film) and the true ensemble of performances that made this one of the year’s absolute best. All of the supporting performances are great, but Zac Efron taps into not only the physicality that this story needs, but also the emotion that truly sticks with you throughout – it’s the best performance of his career, and it’s the best performance of the year. The writing and direction are what ultimately elevates this film to my number two of the year as just about every correct decision Durkin could have made, he did, culminating in a powerful and emotional film with one of the absolute best endings of the year.
1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, one of the best and most inventive animated films of all time, had some massive shoes to fill. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse not only matched its predecessor on pretty much every level, but it also managed to exceed it crafting a film like no one has ever seen before. The introduction of Oscar Isaac as the film’s antagonist, Spider-Man 2099, gave us one of the best voice performances of the entire year, and Jason Schwartzman’s Spot was one of the best villains, as well. The animation, effects, and design are all elevated in a way that gives this film the same groundbreaking feeling to the superhero genre that Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight did so many years ago. A perfect score from Daniel Pemberton is the icing on the cake for my number-one film of 2023.
