Favorite Films of 2023
My opinion doesn't matter much when it comes to films but I do like to write about them....
Before I start telling you about the films I’ve seen I first want to mention that three of the ones I most want to see have not become available to me, so the rankings of this list might change once I get to see All of Us Strangers, The Zone of Interest, and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Now, on to what I did see…I’m going with a top thirteen because I couldn’t just do a top ten in such a great year for film.
There is no contest for me on what has been my favorite film of the year. The Starling Girl is the movie I have thought the most about and the one that has stuck with me the longest. I’m haunted by its beautiful performances, its succinct and elegant script, and by how perfectly it uses the Kentucky countryside where it is set and where it was shot. Few films these days use sense of place so well to serve the overall theme and very rarely are rural people shown as complex and complicated. They certainly are in The Starling Girl. I would say that it contains some of the most authentic portrayals of rural life that I’ve ever seen in a movie. Some of my attachment to this movie certainly stems from the fact that I was raised in a strict fundamentalist sect/church much like the one in this story of a seventeen year-old girl who has an affair with her youth pastor. I loved everything about The Starling Girl, from the phenomenal performance by Eliza Scanlon and the nuanced antagonist perfectly played by Lewis Pullman to the cinematography in the scene set at dusk with lightning bugs rising up from the forest floor. You can stream it anywhere. A sweet bonus: Lord Huron did the music and wrote a song for the movie that deserves awards attention (“Ace Up My Sleeve”). My Best Picture.
I loved the book Killers of the Flower Moon so I went into this film with some trepidation, even if was made by one of our best and most consistent filmmakers, Martin Scorsese. I was happy to encounter a rich saga that manages to fully immerse us in the time and place so vividly that the three and half hour run time flies by. I was especially impressed by the quiet, layered performance by Jason Isbell (making his big screen debut). But the film belongs to Lily Gladstone. Every time she is on screen it is impossible to look away, and often she is forcing you to look at things you may want to turn away from. Her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart is full of pain but also joy, and everything in between. As if that is not enough reason to see this film, I think the screenwriter, Eric Roth, and Scorsese pull off a remarkable feat. Best seen on the big screen but see it wherever you can. My Best Actress.
In Monica, a trans woman goes home to help care for her estranged mother, who is suffering from dementia and may or may not recognize her. The film insists on being quiet and subtle, avoiding any big emotional outbursts or dramatic moments of reconciliation. Most of the action in this film is reactions and while I tend to love that, some people may find it too slow and dull. I felt like it was a meditation on family in all of its complexities. And the lead performance by Trace Lysette (which ought to be Oscar-nominated) makes it an unmissable film of the year. Shoutout to Graham Caldwell, a Louisvillian who makes a big impact in a beautiful performance from a child actor.
Alexander Payne is one of my favorite directors. He made two films I deeply love (Nebraska and About Schmidt) as well as many others (Election, The Descendants, etc.) that I admire. The Holdovers didn’t disappoint and the more I think about it, the more I love it. I love everything about it: the story, the richly drawn characters, the soundtrack, the sense of place, the production design, the costumes, its leisurely pacing, the way it takes a turn that makes it a whole different film than I thought it was going to be, the way it critiques academia, the performances, and so much more. To me it felt more like a novel than a film and I mean that in the best way possible. My Best Production Design.
Anatomy of a Fall takes an old idea—the courtroom thriller—and gives it new life; even its title seems to be a nod to one of the classic courtroom films of all time, Anatomy of a Murder. That new life is breathed into the genre by focusing more on the domestic and less on the sensational. The most suspenseful part of this film centers on the relationship between a mother accused of mother and her son who is torn on what to believe. The writing is crisp and real. To my mind it is the best screenplay of the year (just watch the lengthy argument scene—it’s electrifying dialogue, and I’m not even being hyperbolic). There is not a wasted word here and certainly no aggravating exposition. And the performances are all pretty phenomenal. My Best Screenplay.
Rustin is a formula biopic movie in that it takes a chapter from a real person’s life to illuminate the struggles and triumphs of their entire lives. Despite that, Rustin feels fresh and original in the way it tells its story. It’s perfectly paced and anchored by my favorite male performance of the year so far in the lead, Colman Domingo. This film tells the important story of the way Bayard Rustin has been mostly erased from civil rights history because he was gay. The third act is especially powerful, which I appreciate since a lot of biopics of this nature tend to fizzle out at the end. But this one comes to a rousing conclusion that is equally empowering and moving, all directed by my fellow Kentuckian, George Wolfe. My Best Actor.
I did not think that I would even like a film about a wrestling family, much less end up choosing it as one of my favorites of the year, but The Iron Claw stole my heart. It eschews any kind of toxic masculinity you might expect while also refusing to make fools of those in the wrestling world. A compelling, endearing cast and a story that would be unbelievable if it wasn’t true. I’ve always been a sucker for authentic portrayals of working class life and especially of rural and/working people shown as complex human beings. Some aspects of it remind me of one of my favorite movies, Urban Cowboy, which had to have been an influence (it was certainly an influence on my first novel, Clay’s Quilt). This was the biggest surprise of the year for me.
Poor Things. A visual delight from beginning to end. The movie has fun with its vulgarities (rarely has the olfactory been so broadly explored in a film as in this one, from farts to body odors) and there is more nudity and sex here than in any film I’ve seen in a long time; I admired the way it refused to be sanitized in its subject matter. It’s gritty but also tender, especially in the third act. I thought the second act dragged a little bit (“I get it!” I wanted to yell at the screen) but the first and third acts are really great. Everyone is at their best but Mark Ruffalo was the standout for me.
Of all the films on this list, Passages is the one that is most likely to alienate the most viewers but I believe that’s because it is so accurate in its storytelling. It was given an NC-17 rating for its sex scenes and I think unfairly so. There is nothing more graphic here than seen in most R-rated films but in this case they are gay sex scenes, which nudged it to a harsher rating. At its core this is a movie about the complexities of fidelity. It’s complicated and beautifully acted and directed. One thing in particular I liked about it is the way it puts us in Paris in all of its grit and authenticity (you’ll find no sparkling scenes of the Eiffel Tower in this film) and the clever ways it aligns us with the characters in moments of discomfort.
May December is probably one of the more widely talked about films of the year. People tend to either hate it or love it. Even though it is making my top ten list I am not sure I can honestly say I loved it. But I can say that I found it mesmerizing to watch and that I’ve continued to think about it. Those are two traits that always make me appreciate a film. In the film, a woman in her fifties played by Julianne Moore is still married to a man in his early thirties with whom she sexually abused when he was a child. So: disturbing stuff. An actress played by Natalie Portman is visiting to interview them for a film based on them and in doing so reveals old and new fractures. I liked the way the Savannah and Tybee Island locations were implemented and the two female leads but the standout here is Charles Melton in a career-making performance. Most Disturbing Picture.
Past Lives. Another slow and steady boil with beautiful performances, this debut film by Celine Strong is a powerful look at the many ways emigration changes people’s lives and how we can never completely leave our home countries, no matter what. It’s more romantic than most films I love, but it’s one that has really stuck with me this year. My Most Romantic Picture.
Some people will find The Miracle Club too sentimental, and honestly, it sometimes is. But it’s also a remarkable commentary on friendship, grace, and the idea that everything that is, is holy. This is a feel-good film with some remarkable performances by some of our most reliable actors. There’s a scene where Dame Maggie Smith is lifted out of a bathtub that I found to be deeply moving in its beauty. My Best Feel Good Picture.
The Son is a film hardly anyone saw, apparently, but it makes my list because I have kept thinking about it, because it’s the kind of film-made-for-adults (Ordinary People, Kramer vs. Kramer) that rarely get made these days, and because of the haunting performances by its entire cast, headlined by Laura Dern (always stunning), Vanessa Kirby (always brilliant), and Hugh Jackman (at his best here, I think). This is a profoundly sad and quiet film in which the smartest move is that nothing you think is going to happen happens, until it does. I watched it on Netflix. Written and directed by the man who made the much more widely seen Anthony Hopkins/Olivia Colman film The Father. My Saddest Picture of the Year.
Other films I really liked: Saltburn (I have mixed feelings about it on the way it generalizes class but was totally entertained), Knock at the Cabin (I’ll always be a Shyamalan devotee), Boston Strangler (gives new life to an old story), M3gan (the funniest film I saw this year), Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (great script, nuanced performance by Rachel McAdams), Cassandro (Gael García Bernal as a gay wrestler) and Of An Age (sweet, quiet Australian film). And I loved Barbie, but I’m just kind of tired of talking about it. I was moved by it, entertained by it, and I really enjoyed it. I did not think it was perfect (that whole Will Ferrel hunting for Barbie sequence, for one thing).
Disappointments: I was not a fan of Oppenheimer. I know I’m in the minority. Briefly, I did not love the way women were portrayed in the film and I thought a film about one of the greatest tragedies in human history should have contained more emotion. To me the whole thing was overwrought and most of it takes place in a boring-to-look-at conference room. The Exorcist (1973) is one of my all time favorite films so I was excited about this reboot. Alas, The Exorcist: Believer starts out strong and peters out pretty quickly. The worst part of it is that it’s just not scary, and it certainly isn’t profound.