The Best Movies of 2023

This has been a fantastic year for the movies. Whether watching at the cinema or sitting on the couch late at night watching from some of our favorite streaming services, filmmakers worldwide have delivered new films with various plots and styles on a wide-ranging scale and budget. 2023 was the year the imagination let loose, though it could be very, very serious at times. 

While independent films from A24, Neon, and KimStim caused a ripple, the filmmaking giants came out their year to provide the waves. However you enjoy the water, cinema has felt the change in tide, and these are the films that we think will define 2023. 

The Best Films of 2023

Barbie, Greta Gerwig

The most beloved film of the year is Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, and for good reason. Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) becomes the catalyst for the war raging against and inside women, trying to dismantle the idea of what she is to discover who she wants to be. Gerwig’s and co-writer Noah Bauchman’s smart writing, love for classic cinema, and willingness to take daring risks pushed Barbie into a crossroads that captured the imagination (and hearts) of millions.

Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan

We can’t talk about Barbie without mentioning Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. While the two faced off at the box office (what was iconically referred to as “Barbenheimer”), Nolan’s World War II film about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project was a sweeping epic that centered on America’s self-annihilation and human domination that courses through our nationalistic senses. The undeniably great pacing of the film still finds time to reflect on the humanity of the lines we may or may not be aware of crossing for greatness. 

Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese 

In this three-and-a-half-hour-long Western epic, one of the great American filmmakers, Martin Scorsese, revisits the murders of the oil-rich members of the Osage Nation in the 1920s. Scorsese’s film highlights that traditional filmmaking still has a place in Hollywood, villains are still his focus, and many untold stories of American history deserve to be looked at on the silver screen. Not to mention, the ending of Killers of the Flower Moon is a gut-punch reminder of the power of cinema as a vehicle to entertain while flexing the muscles of fantastic storytelling. 

Read More: How ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Echoes Martin Scorsese’s Previous Films

The Creator, Gareth Edwards

The Creator is a sci-fi seemingly set in an alternative modern-day world that has been riddled with war between the human race and artificial intelligence. Edwards’ direction and visual styles ground the fantastical set pieces in this futurist world, finding the right balance to bring this techno-drama to its emotional peak, showcasing the genre’s strengths to ask thought-provoking moral questions that may or may not have any right answers. 

Past Lives, Celine Song 

From the opening scene of Celine Song’s directorial debut film, Past Lives captures the heartache that unfolds over the 24-year-old relationship between Nora Moon (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Tea Yoo). The seemingly endless long takes capture the tiny awkward moments between two people who don’t know how to love each other openly but love each other nonetheless. Past Lives is quiet with its hopeful sorrow, promising that things will work out in this life and in the ones after that. 

Asteroid City, Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is an existential look at worlds colliding in more than one way. The complexity of the film is captured through meticulous techniques and mesmerizing colors that Anderson plays with through different mediums. Anderson’s artistic crisis is being tackled on-screen through tragically comedic worlds that level us with a humbling truth. 

Read More: 4 Screenplay Trademarks From Wes Anderson We Spotte in ‘Asteroid City’

Priscilla, Sofia Coppola 

Priscilla Presely’s life is often overshadowed by the stardom and scandals of Elvis. While she barely was on everyone’s minds last year, writer/director Sofia Coppola gave Priscilla’s story a carefully crafted and delicate spotlight that examines the poignant synecdoche for the traditionally “good” woman in the culture at large. 

May December, Todd Haynes   

What happens when art tries to imminent life? Director Todd Haynes examines this throughout May December, his latest film with Netflix. Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), an indie actress, pokes at the wound of the marriage between Gracie (Julianne Moore), an ex-con who was imprisoned for sleeping with an underage boy, and Joe (Charles Melton), the underage boy who is now watching his children graduate, the complicated dynamics can find moments of humor in the absurdity while being crushingly sad once you take a step closer. 

Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos  

The fantastical world of Yorgos Lanthimos is not bound to any specific time as Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is not bound by the ideas of polite society. In the whimsical world, the Frankenstein-like protagonist Bella, who is a grown woman with the brain of an infant, is learning at each turn what it means to be alive. On top of an already fantastic story, the set design by James Price and Shona Heath and costumes by Holly Waddington help to elevate the ever-evolving world of the film. 

Beau Is Afraid, Ari Aster  

Ari Aster, who has become the modern master of horror, returned with an anxiety horror film that many people had mixed feelings about. I, however, found genius in Aster’s third feature film, Beau Is Afraid. The postmodern structure of the film gives Aster the ability to showcase serious themes in absurdist, melodramatic ways, making us so uncomfortable at times that you can’t help but laugh. Cinema should challenge us, and make us feel uncomfortable, and that is what Beau Is Afraid does better than any 2023 film. 

Talk to Me, Danny and Michael Philippou

Talk to Me, the directorial debut of Danny and Michael Philippou, became an indie darling. Debuting at Sundance, quickly getting picked up by A24, and shaking audiences to their core in theaters at the end of the summer, Talk to Me is a terrifying take on a possession movie with a Gen Z perspective, adding a layer of cynicism to the bleakness infecting Mia’s (Sophie Wilde) life. 

Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet

Justine Triet proved that the courtroom drama isn’t dead. His masterful Palme d’Or winner, Anatomy of a Fall is a martial whodunnit that pushes everyone to the edge of sanity. Sandra Voyte (Sandra Hüller), a crime novelist, finds herself in the middle of one of her own stories when a French court indicts her for the murder of her husband. Triet’s master is in how he presents Voyter as a character that the audience must put their judgment on, only provided with the details that matter to the case. 

The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer 

Jonathan Glazer’s latest project, The Zone of Interest, is hard to watch, but impossible to forget. Based loosely on a Martin Amis novel, the film’s horror is in what it omits. The story follows the family of Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), who leads an ideal life just outside the walls of the notorious extermination camp. The family turns a blind eye to the evil beyond their property’s wall, displaying the willingness humans have to willfully look away to protect their blissful lives. 

Infinity Pool, Brandon Cronenberg 

A simple trip turns dark and twisted after a couple goes outside of the resort grounds. Infinity Pool, written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg, explores the lust and corruption of the elite as they exploit themselves and everyone else around them. It’s a twisted game that levels you grappling with the morality of you’re own ego. 

Showing Up, Kelly Reichardt 

Showing Up looks at the artist’s relationship through a softer lens. Reichardt, who is known for her quiet and simple stories, masterfully builds the complicated relationships between every single character in the film. What makes Showing Up stand out is the attention to detail that seems to mimic Reichardt’s creative process. The film can be bold in its originality, but it is still a quiet film that doesn’t require the characters to put everything on the line. It’s just a moment in time that may or may not be forgotten, but the film is unforgettable. 

The Holdovers, Alexander Payne 

There is something nostalgic about Alexander Payne’s films, and The Holdovers, which stars Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, is no different. The Holdovers comedy is sharp, the wisdom hits hard, and the emotion arch that carries the characters throughout the story feels too close to home at times, grounding the story in reality and relatability.  

Ferrari, Michael Mann

The ruthless genius of Michael Mann shakes you to the core with Ferrari, which tells the story of Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) and his wife trying to save the company from bankruptcy with the Mille Miglia. Ferrari is a man who is never satisfied with anything as he strives for greatness, but Mann’s style creates an underlying tension that is building toward obvious disaster, both on the personal level and on the race track. 

Maestro, Bradley Cooper

This wide-sweeping biopic of Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and Felicia Montealegre’s (Carey Mulligan) relationship and their respective careers is a gripping drama that can be emotionally frustrating. Cooper, who wrote the film with Josh Singer, navigates the decade-long complications with interpersonal relationships that are captured in beautiful beautiful black and white and rich saturated colors as the story progresses further into the modern era. 

Earth Mama, Savanah Leaf

In this debut film, Leaf explores the intimacy of motherhood. While the film can be unassuming at times, there is a level of artistry that Leaf obtains in a single camera movement that can fill your heart with ache. The balance of expressionism with impressionism allows Leaf to explore Gia’s (Tia Nomore) inner life and outer life as she goes against a system that will fail her. 

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, Raven Jackson

Another debut feature makes this list. Jackson, who also wrote the screenplay, tells the story of Mack’s (Kaylee Nicole Johnson) life. These moments are out of order but are carefully pieced into something that captures the sensation of a mundane but unforgettable moment. It is something we are all familiar with, but Jackson somehow discovered a way to translate this unconscious thought process into the visual medium, and, for that, we must celebrate. 

Occupied City, Steve McQueen

Written by his wife, Bianca Stigter, McQueen’s 4-hour and 22-minute documentary is a testament to the power of the visual medium. Scenes of contemporary Amsterdam are overlaid with narrative reciting the events and actions of specific sites where Jewish people were forced into ghettos or to buy yellow stars. The film’s release feels even more powerful at this time as antisemitism is on the rise. McQueen is asking to us remember the past as we step into the future. 

Origin, Ava DuVernay

While films about writers suffer from a lack of visual interiority (which is why the medium exists), DeVernay does not have trouble showing the emotional weight of writer and historian Isabel Wikerson’s (Aunjanue Ellis) life as she attempts to heal herself through investigation of the murder of Trayvon Martin (Myles Frost). DuVernay’s success lies in her ability to create narrative tension, making the activities of research, contemplation, and writing as dramatically captivating as possible. 

The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazaki

Miyazaki returns to World War II for his final film, The Boy and the Heron. While the whimsical tale is not as distressing as Grave of the Fireflies or lighthearted as My Neighbor Totoro, The Boy and the Heron explores a world that is slightly off-kilter and dangerous as it tests its characters to bring goodness into the world, even if that goodness has some badness mixed in there. 

“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” “The Swan,” “The Rat Catcher,” “Poison”, Wes Anderson

While this is not technically a single film but four shorts, I will put them together for the sake of space and to celebrate short filmmaking at its most prestigious level. Based on Roald Dahl’s stories of the same names, Anderson’s trademark style fits comfortably with these stories, making some of the tightest short films I’ve watched all year. 

Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros, Frederick Wiseman

Centered on a dynasty of French chefs who live and work in the countryside of central France, Menus-Plaisirs–Les Troisgros is blunt and absorbing from the first shot. While this is Wiseman’s 44th documentary, there is a straightforward approach to the style that makes you feel like you are a part of the team (for better or worse). Watching people cook can be hypnotic. When the best are making the food, it is absolutely transcendingly mesmerizing. 

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