It’s Oscar weekend, time for another A Year In Film! One of the few times I write anything any more, whenever I dive back into it I always get invigorated by the year of movies we got. 2023 especially was a fantastic year for film. Full of master filmmakers pumping out fantastic features, foreign voices continue to prove they can go toe to toe with bigger budgeted American faire, and a few older filmmakers dropping some later period gems that make me want to go back and discover all of their films that I missed. Movies aren’t going anywhere, we just need to get people to put more of them in theaters.
Past Best Of content by me:
A Year In Film: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007
The Decade’s Best: 2010-19 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
The Decade’s Best 2000-09 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
On to the list…!
Best Scene of the Year: Ernest Lies to Mollie (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Scorsese uses all three hours, till the last scene of the movie (minus the radio hour coda), to build towards the climatic moment between his lead characters. A romance between two people who shouldn’t be together comes down to one conversation, and the end result is 100% earned by everything that came before it. It’s crushing, even though we aren’t even rooting for these two to end up in the end. It’s crushing because of the performances in that moment, DiCaprio and Gladstone bring the whole movie to that conversation, and they wear all the pain of Ernest’s decision on their faces. I was blown away.
Runner Ups: Oppi At Berkeley (Oppenheimer), Beau Gets Some Water (Beau is Afraid), Bella Dines With Her Ex (Poor Things), Playing The Smuggled Song (The Zone of Interest), Lenny Conducts At The Cathedral (Maestro), The Fate Of The Lovers (Afire), Miles Does His Own Thing (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Down To The Basement (Eileen), Council Meeting (R.M.N.), Feeling The Power (El Conde), Goodbye (Past Lives), A Visitor Visits (Asteroid City), Dining Before You Die (The Killer), Beyoncé Rides A Tank (Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé), Enjoying The Show (Infinity Pool), Fiery Shotgun Mayhem (John Wick: Chapter 4), Dream Ballet (Barbie), Mirror Mirroring (May December), They Let Us In (Talk to Me), No Diggity (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), Making Any Meal (The Taste of Things), He’s A Maneater (No Hard Feelings)
Best Shot of the Year: The Goat Knows (Poor Things)
If you know, you know; and the goat knows.
The Also Rans (All Movies Worth Your Time And Discussion):
Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Theater Camp, Polite Society, Creed III, No Hard Feelings, They Cloned Tyrone, American Fiction, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Copenhagen Cowboy, Strange Way of Life, Landscape with Invisible Hands, Kokomo City, I’m a Virgo
The Contenders:
Passages
Franz Rogowski gives you what you want every time out, and his work in Ira Sachs’ Passages is maybe his best performance yet. A charismatic chaotic narcissist, you just want to yell at the screen for everyone to run away, while also just sort of getting why they get sucked in all the same. The twists and turns in the back half (and front) will keep you wondering what might happen next, while successfully walking the fine line of being too melodramatic thanks to having a performance like Rogowski’s at the center. Adèle Exarchopoulos and Ben Whishaw are also both quite good here, but they are mostly left to reactive roles by the nature of being in the path of destruction that Rogowski leaves in his wake.
The Taste of Things
The cooking scenes in Tran Anh Hung’s film are long, specific and look delicious, but the performances of people enjoying the deliciousness is almost equally compelling. Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel star as a longing pair of chefs that love each other’s food and maybe truly love each other, but Binoche’s Eugénie keeps them from making it official. The plot is light, the food is plentiful and the film is able to stir up some drama that pulls you along. Foodies will be in heaven, romantics’ hearts might ache and Binoche continues to be one of our greats.
Wonka
People were hating on this from the day it was announced, which became a great litmus test to know who hasn’t seen director Paul King’s Paddington films, and those folks should not be trusted. King’s involvement in this immediately makes it a must see, so it was fun to see everyone come around on this, as it ultimately became a sleeper hit of the year. Timothée Chalamet continues to show us that he can do just about anything, while King rolls out a delightful crew of fantastic and hilarious character actors to populate this imaginative world that feels both of a piece with the Wonka of it all, while being a bit of its own thing as well. The songs were good, I had lots of laughs, and I was smiling ear to ear for most of the film; what more can we ask for? (that Paul King was directing Paddington 3…)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
I had a billion Turtles toys as a kid and I’ve basically enjoyed every theatrical entry in this franchise across my life. Mutant Mayhem is probably the best iteration yet of the Turtles, on any screen, and the potential future of the franchise has never looked brighter. This is in large part due to the casting of some actual teenagers to play the titular characters and letting them bond by record together and re-writing the parts to their personalities. Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon all hold down the Turtle parts, but the producing team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg bring in an awesome ensemble to fill out the huge cast of fellow mutants. Jackie Chan and Ayo Edebiri stand out as Splinter and April O’Neil, but Paul Rudd steals the show as Mondo Gecko. I’m so pumped we are going to get more of these versions of the characters (I might even tune into the show between movies) and this is the best looking animated film riffing on the “Spider-Verse” vibe yet.
Talk to Me
Michael and Danny Philippou’s horror debut was one of the most exhilarating first features of the year. While I might have a couple other feature debuts above this, I’m probably most excited to see what these two do next and with a bigger budget. I recommend Talk to Me wholeheartedly, but there is a moment late in this film where you can see the movie it feels like they really wanted to dive into is about to happen, but the budget won’t allow it; maybe in Talk 2 Me If they can keep the fun vibes of this film rolling into a bigger and more expansive feature, look out for something truly special. Their casting eye is also worth mentioning, especially the star of this film Sophie Wilde, who I imagine is going to have been cast in a million things by this time next year. These brothers and this film are one to watch.
May December
Todd Haynes’ latest is such an odd little character study, part of me wonders if this would be higher up on my list if I had gotten to watch it again. There is certainly a wavelength you have to get on with this film, all while a number of characters are constantly manipulating things right under the surface. Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman are marvelous, as one would expect, but the ensemble is filled out with a number of other great performances; with Charles Melton being right at the top of that list. His performance I think will only grow on future re-watches, as his slow rolling self-revelation and unfolding of feelings buried by a past no one can connect with gets shoved to the forefront in the film’s climax. I guess what I’m feeling is, I need to rewatch May December, if at a minimum to be sure we have enough hot dogs.
Fallen Leaves
This is my first Aki Kaurismäki and I am sure there will be more of them in my future! The dry sense of humor and deadpan performances still allow you to feel these characters’ interiority, all while Kaurismäki puts our potential lovers through trials and tribulations that feel honest and true to life, but are put in an order of events that make it feel like this all could only happen in a movie. Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen ground the drama and comedy through a pair of great performances, but Kaurismäki’s distinct tone and visual language guide you through the few highs and maybe more misfortunes of these potential lover; while always making sure you know you can laugh, especially at Janne Hyytiäinen’s Huotari.
The Holdovers
Alexander Payne lets Paul Giamatti cook in The Holdovers (reunited after almost 20 years since Sideways) and while they get up to some pretty big and broad humor, executed perfectly, there is also an overwhelming amount of pathos and heartache breaking through at almost every turn here. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is part of the triumvirate that rides through this movie, and the way the script and her performance lets the layers slowly fall away around her character is the more subtle portion of the picture, but its most moving element as well. Newcomer Dominic Sessa is the weak link of the three leads of this film, but I think that has more to do with his part feeling the least realistic and him being the freshest actor in the bunch. Sessa does get some moments to shine, thanks to some witty back and forth with Giamatti, but part of me wonders how much higher this could have crept up the list with a performance/part that felt a bit more lived in and true to life. Still, Payne doesn’t really miss and he doesn’t here.
Barbie
Greta Gerwig is definitely the best director of her generation (a fellow elder millennial) so I’m not going to lie that I was a bit disappointed walking out of Barbie feeling it was “just” really good. I wanted to be able to slot this in with her top tier work (Frances Ha, Lady Bird), but I was (and still am) wondering what it means to me that Ken is the best thing in a Barbie movie. Is that my gender bias, is that Gosling’s performance, am I just missing the forest for the trees in that he just has the most fun part, but isn’t the most consequential? I’m not sure! And I think that’s fine. It doesn’t take away from all the other great performances in the film (Margot Robbie at the top of that heap as our titular Barbie) and the amazing craftwork and filmmaking that fills this movie, it’s just weird one of the best things we got at the movies this year somehow holds its movie back from being higher up on my list. Also, you can feel the movie desperately trying to get back to Barbieland after it takes (an ultimately necessary) detour to the real world, as that is where the movie is at its absolute best. But I need to stop dogging on Barbie, like I said, it’s really good, I just wish I loved it as much as some other people do.
Knock at the Cabin
M. Night Shyamalan is back in the grove. He knows his lane and he’s sticking to it. He’s lost an air of self-seriousness that was evident in his pre-The Visit films (that sometimes worked, really well!) and has fully embraced the B-movie vibes that lets him play with his high-concept ideas in a way that you can just sit back and have fun. Sure, I wish the script embraced the mystery all the way through, maybe took a bit more overt political stance or wasn’t so pro-spirituality, but the man is as good as anyone at crafting some set pieces and nailing his big moments. A fantastic cast gets run through ringer here, all knowingly embracing the humor, dread and horror of the situation their characters have gotten themselves into. More Dave Bautista in glasses performances, please.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (R.I.P. Part 1)
The Mission:Impossible franchise is probably my favorite one in Hollywood at the moment, and I’m not going to lie that I was a tad disappointed when the reaction to this one sent Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie into a bit of a spiral to re-jigger the formerly Part 2 of this story into, maybe, slightly something else? We will see how that plays out next year, but I think the only thing Dead Reckoning really did wrong was having to follow up M:I-Fallout; which is one of the best action movies of all time. You couldn’t top it, and they didn’t really try to, instead they never stopped innovating and coming up with new wrinkles to the action inherent to the series. The Rome chase is exhilarating by throwing Cruise at Hayley Atwell into a tiny car, the Abu Dhabi Airport sequence feels completely new and fun, and the final train sequence transcends being just an homage to the first film with the thrilling falling train car sequence to close out the movie. Throw in some great hand to hand fights, an absolutely electric Pom Klementieff, plus more Vanessa Kirby, and you got yourself another winner. Though, don’t get me started on anything Rebecca Ferguson in this movie; what did you do to my lady!
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Through all the MCU hubbub and turnover across the last few years, the surest bet anyone could make is that James Gunn was going to knock Guardians 3 out of the park. It serves as a great send off of Gunn and his sensibilities in the MCU, all while telling a heart wrenching story of loss and revenge at the center of another intergalactic adventure that feels quite carved out of the greater MCU experience. Everyone just feels so at home and comfortable here, this cast and crew could pump these movies out with eyes closed at this point, but part of me wonders if that comfort keeps it from feeling as surprising and fresh as the first two entries did in this series (Vol. 2 is top 5 marvel for me)? Still, you can’t miss this if you are fans of this crew, as Gunn’s departure to DC land probably means we’ll never get another film that reaches this special and unique alchemy that has run through the MCU for almost a decade now.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
The surprise delight of the year? John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s adaptation of the titular board game puts characters, humor and pathos at the forefront of the script, while stretching their budget to create some fun and imaginative fantasy set pieces that feel like something we’ve never seen before. Anchoring this with Chris Pine was the first thing that intrigued me about this film, and you totally get why as you settle into the film’s tone. He can handle it all and they surround him with a fun and game cast. Michelle Rodriguez is another stand out, getting to have fun and play with her tough lady persona, while bringing in Hugh Grant and Regé-Jean Page in to just be silly as all heck really cements the foundation this film builds off of. It sucks this might not have been successful enough to get another entry, but I for one will be hoping for more.
How to Blow Up A Pipeline
A movie that came out of nowhere, adapted from an anarchist manifesto(!?!), but finds a propulsive heist movie vibe where the plan is to blow up the goal. A diverse ensemble but together by Director/Producers/Writers/Star team of Daniel Goldhaber and Ariela Barer keeps things compelling and on edge, especially as disagreements arise and backstories are filled in while the plan starts to maybe not go as planned. My only hang up with the film was a couple of choices around when and how much to flashback, but that’s mostly because they have such a great story at the core that you don’t want to get away from. It’s a movie that makes you excited for what everyone involved is going to do next, while also being a pretty convincing piece of political statement that feels entertaining every step of the way. Close to being the least seen thing on this list, that shouldn’t keep you from checking it out.
John Wick: Chapter 4
The fact that Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves have given us four entries in the saga of John Wick and haven’t had to flashback to his past once is an impressive feat of world building. Chapter 4 feels like the most epic entry yet, with bravado set piece after set piece, the movie never lets up across its lengthy runtime (not durgatory). They have earned this scale and scope, it’s what fans of this franchise want, and I wasn’t bothered one minute. The one knock I can ding Chapter 4 for is the Arc de triomphe sequence, which is creative, but doesn’t execute on a visual technical level the way almost everything else does. It felt a tad artificial in a franchise that always feels like everything we are seeing is “real”. I’m excited to see what this world puts out next on the big screen and would welcome a return from Reeves if his knees are up for it.
Infinity Pool
Somehow not the most bonkers and deranged movie on this list this year, Brandon Cronenberg’s third feature (still need to see Antiviral!) feels like a step in the direction of accessibility, while remaining completely out there for most viewers. The dark comedy around the wealthy’s ability to live a consequence free life for the right price is sad/but true to a T, but it also nails the fallacy of the American DreamTM that anyone can climb up to the level of the 1%, and how they really look at all of us below them. I also just love Cronenberg’s lo-fi sci-fi vibes he creates, unlocking unique story paths and bigger ideas to dissect without the need for a giant budget. And who needs a budget when you got Mia Goth. Good lord, this woman is a force of nature and I want to see EVERYTHING she’s in until the end of time. Is anyone having as much fun as her in the movies right now?
Priscilla
Me and Sofia Coppola go way back and I’ve never jumped off the train as many seemed to have along the way. Her highest highs are still near the start of her career, but I love that she has taken her unique vision and style and brought it to a biopic that undercuts the glitz and glory of one of the biggest celebrities of all time. Looking at Priscilla Presely’s life with Elvis from her perspective (and the filmmaking lens inverse of Baz Luhrmann’s) actually makes this a pretty good double feature with that mega-film from the year before. Cailee Spaeny has been great since day one, but she delivers so much nuance, pain and power as Priscilla here, without ever going too big or broad to get the point across. Coppola and Spaeny let the story speak for itself, warts and all, as the script stays matter of fact and not afraid to subvert some established narratives around Priscilla’s legendary husband. Keep them coming, Sofia, and I can’t wait for Spaeny’s star to continue to grow brighter at the movies.
Reality
I don’t know what made Tina Satter’s Reality work so damn well for me, but I was engrossed from start to finish in this docu-drama/recreation of the arrest of whistle blower Reality Winner. All of the dialogue was taken from actual transcripts of the recordings of the incident and I think the novelty of watching how weird/happenstance/and unfocused something like this can play out really stood in contrast to the way we’ve been conditioned by the movie version of what an FBI integration looks like. Sydney Sweeny’s calm and disaffected presence works well for this part, elevating in subtle ways when necessary, but I think Josh Hamilton sort of steals the show as the stumbling and bumbling lead investigator who also never loses the threatening hold he has over the situation. The situation never explodes, but the tension slowly builds to an ending that we know is inevitable. Satter takes this simple premise and executes it about as great as one can, all while re-raising awareness to some geo-political maleficence that we have too quickly forgotten.
Leave the World Behind
Sam Esmail’s return to features has a clear vision of what he wants to do with this adaptation of Rumaan Alam’s book of the same name; building in set pieces and action beats to flesh out the scope, while showing off his cinematic chops, building on to of a source text that is mostly a chamber drama full of dread. You get Mahershala Ali, Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke in a movie together and a lot of the work is already done for you, but they are also all clicked into the tone Esmail is trading in, never taking this story that is full of potential political hot potatoes too seriously. The script is having fun subverting our preconceptions, sometimes in a hilarious conclusion to the film’s climactic standoff or by straight up letting our lovable lead actress tell us directly she’s not playing the part you imagine she is. Esmail has the chops, and I hope he keeps making movies, as I am pretty much done with TV anyways. Physical Media!
The Marvels
A lot of folks have given up on the MCU, and a lot of folks feel like they can safely have all their knives out to stick into anything that comes through that pipeline, but I’ve never given up on this world. Yes, they finally released a couple of things I would quantify as bad in this post Endgame world, but all in all, I think Marvel is still quite good at churning out really good movies and tv that are fun to watch. Sometimes they transcend into something pretty great and they have even made a few masterpieces; The Marvels falls in that pretty great camp. It feels like an evolution on the formula, a pivot in the right direction from the interconnectedness storytelling that worked so well for Phases 2 & 3 that the studio can never hope to recreate (and, you could argue they haven’t really been trying that hard to do so in Phases 4 & 5). The scope is smaller, the characters are all fun and the movie doesn’t slow down for more than a few minutes at a time. The film isn’t worried about explaining itself and knows who its greatest asset is; Iman Vellani. She’s been a star since minute one on Ms. Marvel, and if Marvel was smart they would be putting her right at the center of all of their plans moving forward (and they might be?). She’s a delight to watch, and so is this movie, let’s hope it gets reclaimed after unfortunately coming out at the lowest point for this genre since it took over Hollywood.
Napoleon
Ridley Scott knows how to make a historical epic. Less focused on the fine details and more engaged by the broad strokes of history around Napoleon Bonaparte, some key battles specifically, Scott’s latest is more of a space to let Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby have some fun. Phoenix is just going for it, and the film is a comedic reflection of the absurdity of the era’s politics and Napoleon the man. I was laughing throughout, until some pretty gnarly action scenes fed the endorphins from another part of my brain. The big miss here was maybe being a bit too committed to the Battle of Waterloo, as it takes up quite a bit of the runtime and is the least interesting thing in the movie, even if it is technically impressive. Phoenix is worth the price of admission though, but then again, when is he not?
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Cheating and putting a limited series on this list, but retelling Scott Pilgrim in anime form was something I never thought I would have wanted. Not only is it a faithful adaptation of the book in terms of its look and sense of humor, but it also manages to be something completely new and original storywise; showing off the potential of this vibrant world Bryan Lee O’Malley created. While influenced by the Edgar Wright adaptation (borrowing most of that cast for the voice work) and the original graphic novels, Takes Off blazes its own path and maybe makes up for some outdated material that didn’t seem all that worrisome when O’Malley wrote the original texts. Funny, fast paced, and full of fun ideas, the conclusion of this version of Scott Pilgrim really wrestles with the maybe not so great take-aways someone could read into that original story’s view of masculinity. Great stuff.
Anatomy of a Fall
(get’s out my steel drums) I still think about this movie a lot and I haven’t seen it since last October. Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall sticks with you not because you are wondering about the whodunit of it all (innocent in my book), but because Triet’s script (with partner Arthur Harari) through the voice of Sandra Hüller is just an endlessly compelling journey into the psyche of being a modern woman and being in a bad relationship. Hüller’s Sandra is attacked from all sides, often quite unfairly, then quite literally in a courtroom which seems to operate outside the realms of law as we know it. Just a wild picture, one I can’t wait to revisit, and one whose estimation may rise quite high with future viewings. Need to catch up on all of Triet’s other works before her next film.
The Top 20:
20. Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé
Beyoncé is no stranger to my year end list, Homecoming making it on here previously, and while I think that movie is a bit better than this one, Beyoncé remains one of the most undeniable and charismatic pressences to ever live. You can NOT look away from her. Powerful, funny, in control, beautiful, she’s shooting a range of auras at you left and right. This concert documentary does a great job at trying to recreate the vibes as best as you can at capturing what it might have felt like being on the floor of that show, while intercutting with some behind the scenes elements that really showcase Beyoncé’s inspirations and showing us how she is truly the architect of the Beyoncé experience; far above anyone else. Gotta catch her live.
19. You Hurt My Feelings
Nicole Holofcener’s latest is maybe the best big screen performance yet from Julia Louis Dreyfus, wrapped around a relationship drama that feels as real as real life. Stakes are small, emotions are high, but everyone’s journey feels authentic to middle aged livelihoods, relationships and personal drama. Tobias Menzies gets to ditch the stiff upper lip he’s been typecast as of late, instead getting to be quite hilarious as a sad and depressed therapist who really loves his wife; even if he doesn’t really like her book. This really was just a delightful slice of life you could slide into and right back out of, but not without getting you to reflect on your own relationships and how you’ve navigated similar differences of opinions between you and your loved ones.
18. Magic Mike’s Last Dance
Why did people not like this movie? A lot has happened since Magic Mike XXL in 2015, but I think we got to throw people’s disrespect towards Steven Soderbergh and Channing Tatum’s latest fun, funny and sexy creation as one of the more baffling reactions in the intervening years. Outside the absence of the fellow posse members, a real strike against this movie, Last Dance has all the elements you should expect from this series, in a slightly different looking package. Magic Mike XXL is one of the great films of this century, I’m not saying this reaches that, but the dancing is fun, the mood is light, Salma Hayek Pinault is a great addition and fresh angle to the series, and the movie still knows how to go out with a bang. Tatum opens and closes the movie with a show, but I still found myself having a great time with everything in between; but I’m a sucker for these movies, I guess.
17. Perfect Days
My first Wim Wenders (feature, I’ve seen Pina), though soon to not be my only, Perfect Days often feels like a perfect slice of life. Wenders isn’t trying to gin up artificial drama by throwing crazy scenarios into the mix, or developing outlandish twists of fate for our hero’s daily routine. Koji Yakusho’s stoic, kind and committed lead performance is irresistible and mesmerizing, as you can’t look away from the screen when he’s on it; even after he cleans toilets over and over again across the film. The drama that does pop up feels authentic to his experience, but does maybe raise a few too many questions with not enough answers about his past. Not that those answers are important, per say, but there is a whole life lived left unexplored that made me want to know more. What led him to this life? Why does it bring him such solace? Is he really just hiding from reality? We will never know, and Wenders doesn’t seem interested in answering. Maybe I need to continue to try and not worry about such things if I want to achieve more perfect days, or maybe this is a cautionary tale of where hiding from the world can lead you. Damn, can’t wait to watch this one again.
16. The Killer
First up in a string of masters making great movies that somehow didn’t crack my top 10 of the year (at this moment) is David Fincher’s The Killer. Michael Fassbender is propelled forward on a warpath of revenge after he botches a hit and the retribution finds his family instead of finding him. Wryly hilarious of both the filmmaker and the genre, Fincher opens the film with a dare to the subscribers of Netflix (the studio who funded this film) to stick with this film. Slowly taking us through days of waiting and routine, with nothing but the droning of Michael Fassbender’s monotonous tone describing his every decision and inner monologue on the world around him. It tested my patience the first time I saw it, but once things go sideways the film never really straightens back up; even with a climax that our killer ultimately walks away from. A rewatchable roller coaster ride once you are on the tracks, just be prepared for the pacing of the queue before you dive down the first drop.
15. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, The Rat Catcher, Poison
Wes Anderson created four short films for Netflix this year, as they are now the rights holders of the entire Roald Dahl estate. Each short is an adaptation of a short story from the collection “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More” by Dahl, and the creative restraints that Anderson has put on himself is that there isn’t a single real life location to be found. Shot, seemingly, entirely on a stage, layers and layers of backdrops can often fill each set as he dives deeper and deeper into a scene or story. The characters are also reciting every word from the story as they perform it on stage, looking direct to camera and reciting the actions they are performing or observing, right alongside with their dialogue. It’s a bit jarring at first, but it is done so quickly and so effectively that it propels the stories forward while creating a unique pairing of performance and direction that is unlike anything I’ve seen. Anderson also recruits a small troupe of actors to play all the parts across all the shorts, including newcomers to the filmmaker in Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Kingsley and Dev Pate;, who fit right in. Ralph Fiennes might give the best performance though, as the titular Rat Catcher, which, well, you just have to watch.
14. Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese keeps pumping out masterworks in this late period filmography, with four straight epics that you could hold up against almost anything that he’s made before it. Telling the story of the Osage murders that ripped the wealth and oil out of those people’s hands and into the pockets of greedy white people, the film pulls no punches on who the villains are, even if the filmmaking doesn’t traditionally reveal who the perpetrators are until quite a bit into the film. What makes the film even more remarkable, is that it is able to capture this romance and love at the heart of these crimes between Ernest and Mollie Burkhart. It would feel like an invention if the surviving family members didn’t say it was true, but Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone are able to sell and convince us that there was a great love between them, even as Ernest became complicit in her and her family’s downfall. The pair give incredible performances, punctuated with one of the best moments of the year (see above) when Mollie finally has to walk away at the end of this film. I can’t end this blurb without shouting out Robert DeNiro, who also gives one of the best performances of his career here, always turning it up a notch for his friend Scorsese. Yes it’s long, but it is never not rewarding.
13. Asteroid City
Wes Anderson, again!, this time with a feature entry that is great per usual, but I haven’t connected with in a way that leaves it at the top of my personal Wes rankings. Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson are excellent as a pair of potential lovers quarantined in this small town thanks to a possible alien threat that the U.S. government severely reacts to. Ed Norton is delightful as a southern twanged playwright, Jeffrey Wright continues to quickly climb the Wes ensemble rankings, Tom Hanks proves he should come back and do another Wes entry, all while Anderson effortlessly dots his sets and backgrounds with little details you aren’t going to pick up on until viewing number five. The film is intentionally obtuse in its framing devices, maybe more than they need to be, but you can also look at this structure as Anderson really wondering if all of these shenanigans are really necessary. They consistently bleed into one another here, pointing out how difficult it can be to make something so intricate, and the aforementioned shorts from Henry Sugar may already be a preview of Wes’ next evolutionary state. If you are in on Wes, you can’t go wrong here.
12. Past Lives
The highest feature debut on this list, Celine Song’s love story focuses largely on one that might not be happening in this lifetime. Maybe it was in the past, one of them hopes it will be in the future, but what about the now? Greta Lee and Teo Yoo star as a pair of friends who were separated by an ocean and continent as children when Lee’s Nora immigrated to Canada. Connecting again twelve years later, they find there is still a connection there but remain a world apart, throw on another twelve years and Nora is married and Yoo’s Hae Sung is on the verge of some sort of mid-life crisis. The connection between these two builds and builds across decades, but the film is ultimately about what if this isn’t the right time to be together. Song sticks the landing on the ending with this one; one of the year’s best. I can’t wait for more Celine Song films.
11. El Conde
Pablo Larraín is a director I connect with whenever I see one of his films, but outside the two “royal women” films he’s made, I don’t think I’d seen anything else before El Conde. What a beautiful and demented satire of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, imagining him as vampire sucking the life out of the “lesser thans” of his people and country is a great start, but rolling in an exorcizing assassin nun, a pathetic family scrambling to secure some riches from their fascist father, a conspiracy around the Catholic Church and quite a surprising twist around Pinochet’s parentage fills out the runtime with plenty of political commentary and comic intrigue. The film is also gorgeous, with some of the best black and white photography you will ever stumble across in this day and age. Fantastical and never too full of itself, Larraín skewers his targets all while having fun along the way.
10. R.M.N.
Cristian Mungiu lets you sit in his stories, he takes his time, and while things can explode in his pictures, it’s the subtleties that make his movies work wonders. At the middle of this story about xenophobia in a small Transylvanian village we get to watch a debate among the townsfolk, in one long static shot, that last about 15 minutes, that serves as a political conversation for our times, a pivot point for the film’s story and a reminder of just how bad men can suck some time. The film is more than this one incredible sequence though, Mungiu pulls you into this small story and lets the drama unfold in a way that catches you off guard, even if it’s not surprising where a community being torn apart over fear would land. Mungiu’s work can feel like a documentary, while wrapping you up in a blanket of tension before you even know things are about to collapse. He’s another director I need to fill out their filmography, as every time I sit down with one of his films I end up pretty blown away.
9. Eileen
William Oldroyd’s adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel (adapted by her as well) was, in hindsight, unfairly pinned with Oscar hopes because it starred Anne Hathaway in a key supporting role. That’s not to say there isn’t Oscar worthy stuff in this movie, it is just definitely not in the register of period movie Oscar bait that I think many were expecting. This movie is waving a GIANT freak flag from minute one and that shouldn’t be surprising if you saw Oldroyd’s first feature, Lady Macbeth. Even if you don’t know the filmmaker’s previous work, Thomasin McKenzie’s performance lets you know what kind of movie you are in for from minute one, and she’s just going for it. Clearly subverting the soft spoken passive protagonist she’s been accused of playing every time out (even in this movie!), McKenzie’s eyes are wild and full of lust in a way that makes you want to watch whatever she’s going to do next. Throw in a drunk as fuck ex-cop Shea Whigham that she’s forced to take care of, who also shames her at every turn for not being the stereotypical woman, and we have a delicious pot of intrigue that’s going to boil over. Hathaway shows up and slowly starts turning up the burner’s dial, before she just decides to blow up the kitchen. The final act of this film takes quite the turn, and the boldness of where this film ends, in terms of both plot and for the character of Eileen feels supremely under-appreciated.
8. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The first Spider-Verse film grew on me over repeat viewings. I am not the die-hard Spider-Man enthusiast that many a fan of comics and comic book movies are, but after Across the Spider-Verse I think it’s safe to say that this trilogy of Miles Morales films (baring a complete failure of Beyond the Spider-Verse whenever we get that) will stand as the gold standard of Spider-Man stories on screens. In fact, this has the potential to be the first five-star Spider-Man movie for me, if its second half in Beyond comes through. I have nothing to complain about with this film. It’s a perfect sequel in that it doesn’t repeat what came before it, but instead expects you to know who these characters are and where they come from; building on top of those already strong foundations. The expansion of Miles’ family’s role in the opening acts, establishing a background for Gwen, introducing a fantastic new villain in The Spot, plus visiting and meeting a bunch of new Spider-People and Verses just aloows the filmmakers to always keep things fresh; without ever trying to rush to the next thing. I love that this movie lingers, but still feels propulsive when it needs to. It’s hilarious, action packed and is only held back that it is definitely half of a movie with no real ending. But, I wouldn’t change a thing, I just need Beyond the Spider-Verse asap.
7. All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh has a pretty high success rate with me, but All of Us Strangers feels like a high point for him. An adaptation of a novel from 1987, Haigh basically makes this film his own outside the premise of our protagonist ending up in a situation where he can talk to his parents long after they’ve tragically died in his youth. Andrew Scott stars as Adam, a lonely writer who is also lost for love as a gay man living in a basically empty high rise outside of London. Upon visiting his childhood home, an unspoken magical realism allows him to re-enter that home and talk to his parents, discussing the things he never got to because they weren’t there. Coming out, discussing his loneliness, dissecting his youth, Adam dives deep with his parents and some truly emotional moments come out of this exercise. Back at his London home, he strikes up a relationship with a younger gay man who doesn’t have the same hang ups as him around sex and finding love, helping Adam open up on these fronts as he unpacks the ghosts of his past. The film is so effective because Andrew Scott just wears all of his emotions on his sleeve, in a performance that will crush you by the end. His parents are also played wonderfully by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, bringing wisdom and reflection through their older, yet younger, eyes. Reflecting on how they raised Adam as a boy and dissecting with him how they could have done things differently. When Paul Mescal is giving a great performance, but ranks fourth amongst the group, you know you’ve got something special. The film is about feelings more than any plot, and few films were more felt than All of Us Strangers for me this year.
6. Afire
Christian Petzold has become a mainstay of my Top 20 when he releases something new, with Afire being the highest he’s made it yet. Following one of the most unlikable protagonists of the year (not a criticism), Thomas Schubert playing a king grump writer trying to finish his second novel, you fall in love with the film regardless because of all the great spirits that surround him and the way they bump up against his attitude. Paula Beer becomes the alluring annoyance (to him, not us, she seems lovely) that he can’t stop thinking about, all while romance swirls and passions flourish in this summer home near the coast that is under constant threat of an encroaching forest fire. Read into all the allegories about the state of our world as you’d like, they are there, and Petzold’s film feels like it wants to shake its audience out of ever walking through life the way Schubert’s Felix does here. Embrace love, embrace life, it can disappear at any moment. Langston Uibel and Enno Trebs beautifully capture this worldview across the film, and they know not to be a jerk to Paula Beer. What are you thinking, Felix?
5. Maestro
Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, A Star is Born, had the best first hour or so of any movie that year; Maestro puts it all together from start to finish. He stars as Leonard Bernstein, with Carey Mulligan as his wife Felicia Montealegre, and the film is a biopic, but isn’t really interested in running through every great beat or moment in Bernstein’s career. The film starts when his professional life kicks off, but it glides over a couple of decades of achievements and instead focuses on the relationship between Leonard and Felicia. These two have wonderful chemistry with one another and the film dissects their highs and lows without ever explicitly having those big scenes that wave their hands to the audience that this is the thing that’s causing the drama. The cheating is there, the homosexuality is there, the ambition is there, the putting her life on hold is there, the children are there, the cancer is there, and Cooper gives us a taste of how all of these elements affect these two across their lives together. I get how you can land on the argument that there isn’t enough here about Bernstein’s achievements, but that also isn’t Cooper’s goal. He saw this romance and wanted to explore that, and I think he does so beautifully, with some truly fantastic imagery and filmmaking to support it. Cooper is the real deal, on every level, he’s supremely underrated at this point; which is sort of wild.
4. The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer only makes a movie a decade at this point, but when he keeps putting out films on the level that he does, we can only complain a little. The Zone of Interest refers to a Nazi’s designation of the land around their concentration camps, as this film takes place quite firmly outside the walls that harbored endless atrocities. We never see those atrocities, but we do hear them, as we spend the vast majority of our time in the home of the commandant of the Auschwitz camp, watching his family and wife trying to go about their lives as his soldiers commit genocide a few feet away. The film is harrowing, but is able to find strokes of hope. There is pitch black humor buried in here as we sit baffled at the compartmentalization these people can put in place. It serves as a reminder that it’s not that hard for normal people to feel comfortable with blood all over their hands, especially if they are reaping rewards for all the letting that they are doing. Technically perfect, crafted in a way that lets you fully envelope yourself in the film, as nary a note feels false, The Zone of Interest will get into your head; where it sadly still needs to live.
3. Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone seem to have found (and continued to form) a beautiful creative relationship after working together on The Favourite, and Poor Things proves to be a leveling up of their collaboration. Stone takes the lead here as “God’s” latest experiment, Bella, as she evolves from being a baby brain in a woman’s body to a fully enlightened feminist with complete autonomy. Hilarity ensues along the way as she steam rolls the men and societal norms that try and get in her way, questioning the world around her at every turn. Filled with beautiful costumes, elaborate sets and a hilarious supporting cast, Poor Things is top notch across the board. Mark Ruffalo may have found his best role yet as a lothario lawyer who becomes overwhelmed by Bella, while Wilem Dafoe continues to find new ways to surprise us as Bella’s creator. Stone’s performance is probably my favorite of the year, as she commits to doing just about anything you could imagine, while slowly evolving her movements and reactions to the world around her as Bella gains more and more consciousness. It’s a performance that will be tough for her to top, thankfully we are going to get plenty more from Stone in the years to come, and let’s hope Yorgos is behind more than a few of them as they have quickly become one of our great actor/director duos.
2. Beau is Afraid
Ari Aster has vision, and this three hour stress dream is so clearly from a singular mind that it feels like the most wholly unique film on the list. No one else could have made this movie. Beau is certainly afraid, and Joaquin Phoenix is just incredible as a man who is just perpetually on the verge or fully inside a nervous breakdown; often rightfully so. He lives in a Fox News-esque urban hellscape where everyone wants to murder you and terror is around every corner. Once he leaves that he is held hostage by a family who swears they are going to help him, while young teenage girls torture and terrorize him. An existential theater troupe in the woods comes next, before finally getting home to mother, or what’s left of her. As someone who does not have mommy issues, I can’t even imagine how this film will hit for you, but I can’t imagine it will feel good. You’ve been warned. Weird as fuck, crazy as hell, and deranged at almost every turn, Beau is Afraid isn’t for everyone. If you want to take the dive, just try to remember to have some fun and laugh along the way, Ari is.
1. Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan makes something great every time out (come at me TENET haters) and Oppenheimer grabs you by the lapels and pulls you along for the invention of the atomic bomb from the opening scene. Cillian Murphy stars as our titular scientist, and his face seems to be made for the IMAX close up. Twitching and fluttering with Oppenheimer’s racing mind, we can see the genius’ brain at work, even when he doesn’t speak. It’s a performance full of subtlety at the heart of a movie that has big and operatic performances and filmmaking swirling around him. He holds the center, while managing to never sink among the swirl. Robert Downey Jr., David Krumholtz, Matt Damon and Benny Safdie are the most influential voices in said swirl, some providing support, others always trying to tear down, and they are just some of the literally dozen or so great performances across this film. Barely letting you breathe for the first two hours of this film (through the Trinity Test), Nolan’s script gives you all the details you need without ever dumbing it down, all while letting his established team of collaborators go off and deliver some of their best work to date. While not quite my favorite Nolan film, it still feels like a culmination of everything he’s been working towards over the course of his career. Exhilarating film making, beautiful images, high minded discussion, plus getting Murphy to deliver the most complete and well rounded performance/character to ever appear in one of his films. Oppenheimer is the best film of the year.
Thanks for reading, and here is some other The Best Of content by me:
A Year In Film: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007
Middle of the Row 