Top 10 of 2023

May December, the kind of character study that turns questions like "When do you think she'll start doing the lisp?" into high drama, is my pick for best of the year.

Every year is a great year for cinema, and we should stop pretending it isn't. Instead, I propose we focus on how the cinema was great in the given year. 2023 was a volatile year for filmmaking, yes, but another way to put that would be it was a subversive year. We saw the WGA and SAG go toe-to-toe with the major studios and come out on top. Rather than compete, we saw the summer's two biggest films triumph as a most unlikely double feature. Sequels and superhero movies were largely rejected by audiences, instead favoring original stories. While it was falling victim to that trend, Disney tossed away Sound of Freedom and a smaller studio turned it into the most successful money-laundering scheme of the year... It's been a year of unexpected change. Not all good, but undeniably subversive. 

With that in mind, I present my top ten of the year, each in its own way a strong representation of the nebulous, ever-evolving year it was released in. This almost certainly won't be my final draft (I am an amateur critic living in Oklahoma after all and several of my most anticipated 2023 releases - American Fiction, The Zone of Interest, Fallen Leaves, All of Us Strangers - haven't opened here yet), but I saw more than enough exceptional films to make a worthy lineup.

My Top 10 Films of 2023 (So Far)

1. May December

Like last year's TÁR, Todd Haynes' complicated/hilarious/devastating film is the best biopic of the year without being about anyone real. Sure, there's the Mary Kay Letourneau inspiration, but it has loftier goals than recreation/shock value. It's a movie that knows your first question is going to be, "How could you do this?" and counters with the more important, "What were the consequences?" and (more pointedly) "How are you going to make this about yourself?" Haynes is no stranger to melodrama, nor weaponizing it for maximum emotional effect. And with such a perfectly suited cast (Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and especially breakout star Charles Melton are all putting in their best work), there is no choice but to make it number one.

2. Bottoms

If you liked Barbie, but felt it was pulling its punches, this is the movie for you. Equal parts Booksmart and Fight Club, Emma Seligman's absurdist high school satire is the most re-watchable film of the year (convenient, as you'll need two or three viewings to catch the jokes scrawled across Marshawn Lynch's whiteboard) and the sharpest in its class. Leads Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri are the future and we're just lucky to be here for their ascension. The cult status is all but confirmed and I'm thrilled for the young people who get to grow up with this as a touchstone.

3. Anatomy of a Fall

A courtroom drama so balanced that even the dog is sending mixed signals, Anatomy of a Fall is an unnerving exploration of how we can't ever really know the truth about anything. Did Sandra (the phenomenal Sandra Hüller) push her husband? Did he just slip? Did their son witness any of it? It's an immaculately constructed piece, written by a married couple (director Justine Triet and Arthur Harari) in an ever-cycling mix of English, French and German that is both a skillful touch and an added obstacle for the amateur sleuths in the audience.

4. The Holdovers

Some films feel custom-built just for you, and this is mine: a melancholy yet hopeful period piece set on Christmas in am abandoned boarding school. I believe I would thrive in this environment, and similarly could have dwelled in this film for days. Paul Giamatti is a delightful curmudgeon/my dad. Dominic Sessa is an impressive find as the standalone student left behind over winter break. And Da'Vine Joy Randolph (who is winning the Oscar this year) is the heart of the picture as the grieving school cook who stays on to look after these two weirdos. Their mismatched energy and mild adventures are all I need from a movie and exactly what director Alexander Payne does best. An instant holiday classic.

5. Rye Lane

The only movie last year that loved fisheye lenses more than Poor Things. But that's about where the similarities end. This first feature from Raine Allen-Miller is a charming, bite-sized walk-and-talk romantic comedy that feels like a mashup of Before Sunrise and Bob's Burgers set in South London. There's a lot of heart, a playful attention to detail, and genuine chemistry between our leads (David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah). Rarely have I rooted so hard for a movie romance to work out.

6. Bad Press

While Killers or the Flower Moon grabbed up all the attention, there were a number of equally worthy Oklahoma-based projects this year. None was more inspiring or eye-opening than this documentary about independent news outlet Mvskoke Media's fight to stay open under a government that would rather revoke freedom of the press than face any criticism. It's both the best political thriller and most rousing underdog story of the year. I still can't believe this all went down a county over and I never heard a thing about it, let alone that there are similar cases all over the country.

7. Poor Things

Another movie that demands comparison to Barbie, but I've seen enough pieces about that already. In fact, I have nothing to say about this that hasn't already been said. And that's to the film's credit. It's that good and that locked in on what it's doing - like Mad Max: Fury Road but with boning instead of driving. Emma Stone is incredible. Mark Ruffalo is incredible. Willem Dafoe is incredible. The design is out of this world. Yorgos Lanthimos doesn't miss, folks. It's in theaters now and I strongly encourage you to go see it... Just be careful who you take with you.

8. The Boy and the Heron

As gorgeous as it is inscrutable, Hayao Miyazaki's latest (I'm not convinced its his last) is my kind of feelings-first semi-autobiographical victory lap. The story - grounded in tragedy (the loss of a parent), but propelled by absurdity (parakeet armies and cosmic block stacking) - doesn't always make sense, but the emotions resonate as powerfully here as they do in any of the animation legend's more conventional narratives. And Miyazaki is breaking out all his best tricks - sprites, nature, curiosity, villains who become friends, characters who move in gaggles. Easily one of the year's best, and I haven't even seen the English dub with that Robert Pattinson voice people won't shut up about...

9. Godzilla Minus One

If Shin Godzilla was an Armando Iannucci, Godzilla Minus One is a Tennessee Williams. The latest entry in the landmark Toho franchise does something many of its predecessors failed to do: put the human drama up front. Taking place just after World War II, the film's hero is a disgraced kamikaze pilot who stumbles into a found family of orphans, outcasts and scientists who end up taking on the irradiated lizard. Every encounter is scary, largely due to how much you care about the characters. It's a novel approach, as is its complicated setting and political pondering, which begins as a nationalistic examination and turns into a passionate plea to find something worth living for. Also, Godzilla is there.

10. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

The only true sequel on the list and the exception to 2023's cursed superhero lineup (though it had its own development issues)... And for good reason: It put in the effort. It took what worked about the original (everything) and doubled down on every level, deepening the core relationships (especially between Miles and his mom), increasing the stakes in logical and thoughtful ways, expanding the roster in fun and unpredictable ways, and actually investing in a villain's arc (The Spot's transformation from doofus to menace is a masterstroke - in a feature that is frame-by-frame masterstrokes). Oh, and it still manages to be capital-f FUN. I hope they take their time on the third one. Give these animators space to work and to live. We'll still be here in a couple years.

Honorable Mentions:

Are You There God? It's Me Margaret., Barbie, Beau Is Afraid, Dicks: The Musical, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Every Body, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Monster, Mutt, Past Lives, Polite Society, Theater Camp, They Cloned Tyrone, We Will Speak, Wonka, and (screw it, this is my list and it was long enough) the "Seven Fishes" episode of The Bear