The best films of 2023 proved to be an eclectic and exciting mix of thought provoking cinema. Narratives ranged from genocide, lost loves and rebirth, immigrant experiences, stories pulled from headlines and a teacher with a distracting lazy eye at a small boarding school in New England. The year was rich with directorial vision and personal styles: the unblemished truth by documentarian Frederick Wiseman, lonely science fiction from Andrew Haigh, the exploding imagery of Martin Scorsese, Justine Triet’s moments of tensity, the Bressonian minimalism of Aki Kaurismäki and Jonathan Glazer’s dialectical montage with the collision of image and sound.
Only time will tell if the list of films stands the test of time. As Jean Renoir once said, The best films are those that leave a lasting impact, that linger in your mind long after the credits roll.
15 TOP FILMS FROM 2023
- The Zone of Interest:
Jonathan Glazer (UK) - Past Lives:
Celine Song (US) - Killers of the Flower Moon:
Martin Scorsese (US) - Fallen Leaves:
Aki Kaurismäki (Finland, Germany) - May December:
Todd Haynes (US) - All of Us Strangers:
Andrew Haigh (UK) - Anatomy of a Fall:
Justine Triet (France) - Showing Up:
Kelly Reichardt (US) - Passages:
Ira Sachs (France) - Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros:
Frederick Wiseman (France, US) - Poor Things:
Yorgos Lanthimos (UK, US, Ireland) - Return to Seoul:
Davy Chou (France, Germany, Belgium, Qatar, Cambodia) - The Holdovers:
Alexander Payne (US) - Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: “Phony Wars”:
Jean-Luc Godard (France, Switzerland) - Oppenheimer:
Christopher Nolan (UK)
BEST DIRECTOR
Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest
Runner-up: Martin Scorsese/Killers of the Flower Moon
BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
Celine Song/Past Lives
Runner-Up: Raine Allen-Miller/Rye Lane
BEST MALE ACTOR
Franz Rogowski/Passages
Runner-Up: Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer
BEST FEMALE ACTOR
Greta Lee/Past Lives
Runner-Up: Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall & The Zone of Interest
BEST SUPPORTING MALE ACTOR
Robert De Niro/Killers of the Flower Moon
Runner-Up: Robert Downey, Jr/Oppenheimer
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE ACTOR
Tilda Swinton/The Killer
Runner-Up: Rachel McAdams/Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
BEST ACTING DEBUT
Park Ji-Min/Return to Seoul
Runner-Up: Dominic Sessa/The Holdovers
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Rodrigo Prieto/Killers of the Flower Moon & Barbie
Runner-Up: Hoyte Van Hoytema/Oppenheimer
Best Original Screenplay
Samy Burch/May December
Runner-Up: Celine Song/Past Lives
Best Original Score
Mica Levi/The Zone of Interest
Runner-Up: Robbie Robertson/Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Editing
Thelma Schoonmaker/Killers of the Flower Moon
Runner-Up: Laurent Senechal/Anatomy of a Fall
Best Sound Effects
Johnnie Burn/The Zone of Interest
Runner-Up: Mark Ulano/Killers of the Flower Moon
Most Disappointing Film
Silent Night/John Woo
Runner-Up: Barbie/Greta Gerwig
Horace
February 27, 2024 at 9:56 am
Very interesting selection. Obviously, I missed a lot of good films. What I like about your choices is they are films based on artistic merit instead of commercial standards. We, as a society, have become glazed with the same formulaic junk — including high budgeted trash from Netflix and other Hollywood movies. Your choices gives me hope that there are still genuine film artists out there. Thumbs up on your perspective. Thumbs up with Traveling Boy!
Ed Boitano
February 27, 2024 at 11:09 am
Hey, Horace – I appreciate your kind words. Yes, there are still genuine film artists out there, but it does require a little digging when the market is dominated by monetary profits; in particular with non film Marvel movies and corporate franchise movies made by faceless committees.
Roarke
February 27, 2024 at 11:13 am
Watched Zone last night. wow. great film. The opening black screen , the long hold before the image starts, seems to be a nod to Leni Riefenstahl. do you think?
every element of cinema mastered here : composition, editing, lighting, movement , best sound in a film in years, acting
will def watch it again.
still need to see All Of Us, Passages, fallen leaves and american fiction.
i’m not expecting much from fiction , just watching for the oscars.
i can’t believe you like fincher
Ed Boitano
February 27, 2024 at 12:09 pm
I appreciate your astute comments, Roarke; many mirror my own. I also revisited Zone yesterday. Your question regarding
if ‘the opening black screen, the long hold before the image starts’ is influenced by Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, will require another revisit. It is among my favorite films and look forward to seeing it again.
READERS NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with Triumph of the Will, it is a 1935 Nazi propaganda documentary directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Since it was released it has been called a masterpiece due to it’s innovative use of images, camera movement, editing and sound. The literary content, a 1935 Nuremberg PRO Nazi rally, is disturbing. Try to overlook the propagandistic literary content, and concentrate on the film form of the documentary.
Roarke
March 4, 2024 at 3:45 pm
Return to Seoul was one of the best films of the year.
Ed Boitano
March 4, 2024 at 3:46 pm
You’re right; I watched it last night… and was blown away.
Marvin
March 1, 2024 at 8:48 am
Your movie review is better than the Oscars which are politically motivated. Yours is based on artistic merits. You made me aware of films I didn’t even know existed. Great stuff!
Ed Boitano
March 3, 2024 at 1:20 pm
Hey, Marvin… Thanks for the kind words. I generally don’t quote Howard Cosell, but “I call them as I see them.”
Dan
March 4, 2024 at 11:22 pm
Ok list… Zone of Interest, Killer Moon, Poor Things good. Don’t get why folks like Showing Up. What’s the big deal about it?
Ed
March 5, 2024 at 4:57 pm
Thanks, Dan… i appreciate your reaching out to T–Boy. I know many are split on Kelly Reichardt; some consider her to be a towering figure of independent cinema, others are indifferent, wondering why she’s such a big deal. She does get a lot respect from auteurists for her overall body of work due to her consistant minimalist visual style. More literary minded viewers admire her devotion to working-class characters in small, rural communities. Of course it’s not easy being a female director working outside of male dominated mainstrean Hollywood. I was not a fan with Meek’s Cutoff, but have always been impressed with Certain Women, and, though slightly less, with Showing Up. What’s important to me is that she makes personal films which illustrates her passion for cinema. It doesn’t hurt that Michelle Williams has appeared in many of her films. Ed
Celina
March 5, 2024 at 10:13 am
translations for any foreign movie I feel are questionable
sometimes I’ll vaguely understand what is being said by someone with what little I know of the language and the subtitles will say something I guess functionally similar and at best slightly more clarifying, I understand literal translations aren’t always ideal and can be misleading but other times rudolph saying “jah” and then the translation being like “I will”, it’s like just translate it as “yes”??? what is being lost there???
Ed
March 5, 2024 at 12:04 pm
Celina… thanks your thoughtful comment. When you said ‘Rudolph,’ no doubt you’re referring to Rudolph Höss in The Zone of Interest. I’m amazed, but pleased by all the social media chatter devoted to it. For me, it’s an important film that demands revisiting.
Yes, translations can be a problem… in Remarque’s, In The West, Nothing New (or No News in the West) to All Quiet on the Western Front; Angst to Topsy-turvy, etc, in the same above text.
I’ve read three different translations of Crime and Punishment, and each versions felt like a new story.
Linda Dee
March 5, 2024 at 4:25 pm
Glad to see Tboy had The Zone of Interest as best film
of 2023. It was very interesting and thought provoking. The banalties of evils and how you can see yourself just carrying out orders. How atrocities are conducted as a normal activity, and passing this down to your children. Horrendous.
How we can easily ignore what is happening just over a wall. Very relevant even in present day events.
My only problem I have with this movie is that you must have knowledge of the historical events. There are a lot of subtle and long drawn out moments that can be quite confusing even for my dumb brain to know what is actually happening. Example, the infrared parts, I was very confused what was happening, for a good while.
Only after reading a bit more after can I appreciate the movie even more.
Happy Hell – Traveling Boy
March 15, 2024 at 11:18 am
[…] in case you’re interested, TravelingBoy.com has their own list of award-winning movies. I respect this list more than politicized […]