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Barry Keoghan in Saltburn
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FINAL UPDATE January 18, 2024: I'm happy once again to share my annual list of my favourite films released this past year. When I first posted this on December 30th, 2023, I hadn't yet seen all of the major 2023 releases I wanted. But as of this week, I've finally seen everything I expected to be near the top of my list.
Here is my list of 2023 favourites, in order!
1. Saltburn - This one is not for everyone's tastes. I tend to prefer well done films that I also find super fun to watch over and over as my top pics every year. If some of the cultural politics around a film also appeal to my sensibilities, that helps a lot. This year, this darkly comedic, artful, satirical thriller takes the cake on so many levels. Adorable and talented Irish actor Barry Keoghan gets his sexy star turn as an Oxford scholarship student who befriends the rich son of an aristocratic family, and spends the summer at their lovely castle estate named Saltburn. This wicked tale exposes and demolishes the stupidity of its upper class characters, who spend the movie largely bullying Keoghan's lead, slowly laying the groundwork for their fates. Additional viewings of this flick are essential, especially the final scene featuring a very naked Keoghan dancing throughout the mansion, probably the hottest, most beautiful image released on film this year. This is an instant class revenge / queer classic from director Emerald Fennell, who proves her stunning feature debut Promising Young Woman was no fluke, but the start of a hopefully long, great filmmaking career.
2. Oppenheimer - Probably Christopher Nolan’s most accomplished film, he paints a chilling picture of science and technology in cahoots with military and geo-political forces racing to beat the Nazis at the end of World War II. Cillian Murphy is perfectly subdued as the head scientist grappling with his own ethics. The rest of the cast, let alone the technical achievements here are stunning. The notion these nuclear scientists literally gambled on destroying the planet by conducting the first atom bomb experiment, depicted here as only Nolan can with minimal special effects, is bone chilling. It is three hours long, and by the end many might feel overloaded with details. I’m not sure what could possibly have been cut, though. I am sure Nolan’s headed to a well-deserved Best Director Oscar at the Academy Awards in March 2024.
3. American Fiction - I missed this film at the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the Audience Award in 2023. Finally, I caught the film in January 2024 and it's utterly wonderful, goodhearted, smart, and hilarious! Oh, man, this is so good. Jeffrey Wright plays an African-American fiction writer unable to get his next serious and straight-laced book published, and frustrated by what he deems the plethora of badly written "black trauma porn" stories finding massive audiences on the market. So he decides to write his own version of said black trauma porn called "My Pafology," which he later renames "Fuck". Hilariously, publishers eat it up and the book gets published and becomes a huge hit, even the movie rights get sold, leading to a deeply funny, ironic, perfect ending. I'm still chuckling about moments in this film days later. Plus, the characters and family story lines here are so enjoyable and moving. Overall, a great viewing experience!
4. Poor Things - Yorgos Lanthimos' latest masterpiece is also more charming, engaging and energetic than his previous great works (which include The Favourite and The Lobster). I loved the sharp hilarious writing in this edgy re-working of the Frankenstein story. Emma Stone is perfect, as are all the actors involved. This is very much deserving of the praise it's receiving. The art direction, costume design, hair and make-up, and all other technical aspects of this film are beyond beautiful. The stunning attention to detail is so welcome, giving this bizarre fantasy comedy such vibrancy, especially on the big screen. It probably didn't need all the nudity, but it certainly adds to the rawness of the festivities.
5. The Zone of Interest - British Jewish director Jonathan Glazer presents here perhaps the most quietly disturbing and unforgettable portrait of civilized evil I’ve seen on film in years. The Nazi commandant in charge of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, lives alongside the horrific camp in a lovely house and grounds with his German wife and children. We never see directly inside Auschwitz, only its foreboding walls and barbed wire, plus we often hear sounds of gunshots, dogs barking, muffled screams and trains pulling into the camp. We also occasionally see the burning smokestacks especially horrifying at night shining shades of fiery red through closed bedroom curtains. Much focus is paid to how these characters try to normalize everything about their existences, focusing on the comforts and beauties they cling to, including garden flowers (occasionally covered by human ash) and swanky parties amongst the Nazi elites in the area. When the commandant is threatened with a transfer to another camp, it’s despicable how his wife fights to stay in her “fantasy” home they’ve spent years striving to build. Living next to Auschwitz is literally her dream come true. These characters are all complicit in the evil that surrounds them. Evil’s fascination and comfort with physically beautiful things makes those things seem complicit too.
6. Barbie - I have to say this film delivers on the social commentary and satire we hoped it would. It is truly a new feminist masterpiece! The acting by Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as her boyfriend Ken is stupendous, particularly Gosling whose performance is the stuff of comic genius (and will likely be rewarded with a Best Supporting Actor nomination early in 2024.) But the biggest accomplishment is the writing by Greta Gurwig and Noah Baumbach. America Ferrera’s monologue on the impossible challenges of being a woman is a stand-out. This film’s massive international success reminds us that you can recycle a concept or even a toy brand and turn it into something modern, smart, thought-provoking, supremely funny and entertaining, as long as the creatives in charge are uniquely talented.
7. Killers of the Flower Moon - Martin Scorcese’s latest masterpiece depicts a series of murders of Osage members and relations in the Osage Nation after oil was discovered on tribal land. The tribal members had retained mineral rights on their reservation, and thus became the targets of racist, greedy white invaders trying to get their hands on that wealth. The story focuses on how William King Hale (played by Robert De Niro) manipulates his simpleton nephew Ernest Burkhart (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) into marrying Mollie Kyle (played by Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman whose family owned oil head rights. The film is long at 3.5 hours, but still kept me engaged throughout, but perhaps my bathroom break at the halfway point missing a few minutes helped with my viewing stamina (note to movie theatres: it’s time to bring back 10-minute intermissions to give the audience a break so they can comfortably endure ever-longer feature films.) Nevertheless, this is a timely exploration of the immense evil that took shape around a little known and tragic period of racist American history.
8. The Holdovers - Touching, beautiful, this is a quiet masterpiece about a brilliant but cantankerous classics teacher (Paul Giamatti) charged with supervising a handful of high school boys at their private school over the Christmas holidays in early 1970s New England. Particular focus is on the emotional and intellectual bond that forms between Giamatti and one brilliant young student played by newcomer Dominic Sessa. Da’Vine Joy Randolph as a mourning mother who keeps the males at the school fed adds to the delight of this latest masterpiece by Sideways director Alexander Payne. I do agree this is Payne’s best film and will warm your heart if you give it a chance.
9. Anatomy of a Fall - A refreshing take on the whodunnit / courtroom drama, this French film with a tonne of English dialogue details the criminal investigation and trial of a successful writer after the surprise death of her less-successful writer husband at the family chalet. The only witness is her partially blind young son. Sandra Huller plays the woman to perfection, leaving us wondering throughout if she’s guilty or not. The gripping conclusion unfolds organically, giving great satisfaction and emotional authenticity to a tragic situation.
10. All of Us Strangers - This lovely film is more muted and minimalist than I anticipated, but still quite moving. The story is about a lonely gay man in London, UK played by the beloved Andrew Scott. Approaching middle age and somewhat dissatisfied with his screenwriting career, he visits his childhood home where he miraculously finds his parents, both dead since they were killed tragically when he was 12, alive and the same age as he last saw them. Of course, this film engages in a lot of magic surrealism, integrating this mental and emotional exploration of the past with the present, as the lonely man simultaneously begins a new relationship with an attractive and equally lonely neighbour played by Paul Mescal. The effect is deeply authentic, but might leave some strangely dissatisfied with its quiet ending. There are no easy resolutions in life, and this film admits it readily, while still being beautiful.
11. Past Lives - A remarkably endearing and honest cross-decades romance about revisiting old loves who got away. The best straight romance of the year.
12. The Killer - David Fincher again delivers shocking action and tension in this artful and well-written thriller about an assassin (played by the always sexy Michael Fassbender) who screws up on the job and then spends the rest of the movie (very efficiently) cleaning it up.
13. Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse - This animated adventure sequel (as well as the first Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse) adds as much if not more wonderful depth, character development and intrigue than most of the live action versions.
14. Asteroid City - Another quirky delight from Wes Anderson, who brought us one of my favourite films in The Grand Budapest Hotel. This one is less funny and accomplished, but still greatly entertaining. The alien visitation scene is worth the price of admission.
15. Maestro - I enjoyed this somewhat flawed character study about uber talented conductor Leonard Bernstein. Bradley Cooper completely inhabits the character and is 100% convincing in all aspects of the role including the musical genius, body language, and frequent queerness. I also bought into the romance with his true love played by Carey Mulligan, the woman who accepts him unconditionally. Cooper does suck up most of the oxygen but Mulligan does hold her own next to him.
16. One Life - I saw this at TIFF 2023, although it won’t be released until 2024. This moving, absorbing story about a British humanitarian who helped save 700 Jewish refugee children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia just before the start of World War II is made greater by the ever-wonderful Anthony Hopkins in the title role.
17. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 - I’ve loved this trilogy in all of its naughty, original, hilarious, once-impossible-to-produce glory. Oddly for this third part in the trilogy, I found myself tearing up on several occasions. But also laughing out loud often. This features another great vocal performance by Bradley Cooper who again plays Rocket, arguably the lead character this time around.
18. Rustin - Colman Domingo is great in this good film about activist Bayard Rustin whose friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. set the groundwork for the 1963 March on Washington.
19. Nyad - Annette Bening delivers as Diana Nyad, the marathon swimmer repeatedly attempting to cross from Cuba to Key West. But I especially loved Jodie Foster as her best friend who provides essential support to Nyad's exhausting efforts.
20. Air - Thoroughly entertaining story about the partnership between a visionary Nike executive played by Matt Damon and basketball legend Michael Jordan that revolutionized the world of sports marketing and athlete compensation in major commercial deals.
21. John Wick: Chapter 4 - Delivers what John Wick films have always delivered, but even more. And with more beautiful art direction.
Disappointing:
May December - Decent enough, although not at all convincing and ultimately disappointing film from the inconsistent Todd Haynes. Natalie Portman is always interesting to watch in this, while Julianne Moore simply wasn’t. Was she underwritten? It would seem so. I also didn’t buy the central story set-up of an actress spending weeks with her troubled subject before shooting a movie, nor did I believe Charles Melton’s character only now comes to realize he might've been exploited by the love of his life. Far too easy a conclusion for a film that pretended to be more nuanced.
The Little Mermaid - Fine enough adaptation, but overly slow and often boring. Stick with the animated original.
Not interested in seeing:
Napoleon - Sadly, director Ridley Scott has been phoning it in for years now and, from what I can see, this film looks horribly inaccurate and heavy-handed with tropes that were tired in Scott films directed 20 years ago, let alone today.
I still need to see these films, in order:
Blackberry
Origin The Color Purple
Priscilla
The MarvelsPassages
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One
Wonka
The Boys In The Boat
Ferrari
Haunting In Venice
Dicks: The Musical
Dream Scenario
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Eileen
The Boy and the Heron
Memory
Manodrome
The Iron Claw
Pain Hustlers
Dumb Money
Bottoms
Anyone But You
