In retrospect, 2023 was an interesting time for movies, with the writers and actors’ strikes, which left some of us wondering if some films would even make it into the light. Upon looking at my 2022, I feel that 2023 films didn’t give me too many visceral reactions or strong emotions in comparison, especially with the last quarter of films we are able to see.
It is not that the films weren’t good, but I wasn’t in my feeling it as much. Perhaps I have fallen out of love with American/Western films, which wish to hold me emotional captive with manipulation. Here are the best, in my opinion, with a few honorable mentions.
Sanctuary, Dir. Zachary Wigon
It was just sexy and strange. There were some interesting shots, but only a few. It feels more like a play than an actual movie at times, with incredible, solid performances by Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott.
Rye Lane, Dir Raine Allen Miller
This movie has all the style and charm you want in a romantic comedy that’s been sapped out of the genre when wishing to make a quick buck. Director Raine Allen Miller understands how to use the camera thoughtfully, using beautiful lighting and coloring. Even if you’re not into romantic comedies but want to see someone who knows how to light Black actors to make them look exquisite in every scene, this is the film you should watch. Vivian Oparah is so ridiculously beautiful in this it’s hard to take your eyes off of her.
Killers of the Flower Moon, Dir. Martin Scorsese
I am not entirely in love with this film, but it’s hard to argue that Martin Scorsese isn’t one of the top-performing directors of our times. It’s a lot like reading a good book: you hate the protagonist, you detest some of the premise, but it’s so beautifully done that you want to keep reading it just to see what happens, knowing fully well it would not fulfill your wishes. I know people praised Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance, which was all great and good. However, Lily Gladstone outperforms him with just a look. If she does not get more work after this, I will be deeply saddened and know that Hollywood will uplift white voices/faces above all. It doesn’t mean Gladstone doesn’t deserve the praise. She deserves all the flowers.
Close, Dir. Lukas Dhont
A film about two 13-year-old boys who are close but, once entering school, are forced apart, and the consequences are devastating. Director Lukas Dhont managed to direct child actors Eden Dambrine (Léo) and Gustav De Waele (Rémi) into giving performances that feel completely authentic and natural. It’s beautiful, with artistic lighting and breathtaking colors.
How To Blow Up a Pipeline, Dir. Daniel Goldhaber
A crew of young environmental activists executes a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline. I hope this becomes a calling card for all of us to do whatever is necessary for a revolution. The movie is not drenched in sentimentality, although every character has a personal reason for coming together to do this. The distance is necessary, for it’s the same distance our politicians and media outlets would give them if a crime like this is ever happened and the media was forced to report it.
The Beasts, Dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen
A French couple moves to a Galician town for a closer relationship with nature. They farm organic vegetables, selling them at the market. They and a few others refuse to sell their land to a renewable energy company, causing a rivalry with their neighbors, the Anta brothers.
This movie has two stories about how arrogance can be confused with self-righteousness and how some don’t choose to be in the community they were born in. It will leave you reeling with emotions once all the pieces become evident to you.
Past Lives, Dir. Celine Song
Two Korean childhood friends reconnect decades after Nora’s family emigrated to Canada. After years of starts and stops, with long pauses from each other because they refuse to sacrifice their lives for the other, they meet for one week in New York, where Nora lives with her husband, Arthur.
It is a beautiful, quiet film with its emotions, as it can be. We’re observing them from a distance, aware of their grief for what could have been and never was. We aren’t wrapped up in it. We don’t see the violence of that emotion until the end, all while knowing they’re going to be okay.
Godland, Dir. Hlynur Pálmason
At the end of the 19th century, a young Danish priest is sent to a remote part of Iceland. The deeper he goes, the more he seems to lose himself and forgets the primary purpose of his visit. He does not belong there. In fact, he isn’t entirely welcome.
This film is beautiful. The quality of the shots is astonishing. It’s done with almost a painter’s quality to it for us to grasp how Religion and colonization take over a land that isn’t theirs and they don’t appreciate.
Saint Omer, Dir. Alice Diop
Rama is a novelist who attends the trial of Laurence Coly, a young woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter.
Diop does not ask her or the audience to forgive Coly but instead forces us to evaluate the circumstances that led to such a crime. There is a coldness instilled in her by society that does not love or want this immigrant woman. Thus, Coly determines that it does not want her daughter either.
Rama is confronted with her own past and experiences, reflected back in the fragments of Coly’s life, while often being the only Black woman in the courtroom. It’s as if, with the corner of her eyes, Coly is telling Rama, “This could be you. I could be your mother or your daughter.”
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