From Jeff Nelson

The “Barbenheimer” pop culture phenomenon rocked the world of entertainment to its core, bringing droves of audiences into movie theaters to experience the vastly different cinematic journeys of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. However, the year 2023 offered plenty of other opportunities to lose oneself in other worlds on the silver screen. No film this year earned my coveted 5/5 “perfect score,” but several works got rather close. Here are my top 10 films of the year.

10. Passages

Tomas (Franz Rogowski) throws his marriage with Martin (Ben Whishaw) into disarray when he begins an affair with a beautiful woman named Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos).

Ira Sachs’ Passages made its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where its messy love triangle hit all of the right notes. Tomas is an undeniably selfish perspective character, which Rogowski captures with a truly mesmerizing performance. The film is justifiably raw, complicated, and sexually frank in a way that stuck with me all year long.

9. Past Lives

Deeply connected childhood friends Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) reconnect in person for the first time in 20 years since she emigrated from South Korea to New York. Their reunion stirs complex emotions, rousing questions surrounding love and destiny.

Celine Song delivers a stunning directorial debut with Past Lives, which also made its splash at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Lee brings a beautiful subtlety to Nora in this chemistry-filled romance that tugs on the heartstrings. Past Lives is emotionally-rich and utterly sincere.

8. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) encounters a team of various Spider-People from across the multiverse, including Gwen Stacy (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld), that seeks to protect it. When an unassuming villain named Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) becomes a multiversal threat, Miles must pave his own path of heroism to save all that he holds dear.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse impressively doesn’t dip in quality from its extraordinary predecessor. It’s bursting with visual creativity, boasting a gorgeous animation style. The storytelling creates dramatic stakes for both Miles and Gwen that set up the final installment in this trilogy, doing so without sacrificing this entry’s quality.

7. Perfect Days

Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho) takes great pride in his work as a public restroom janitor in Japan. He moves from one location to the next, listening to his rock cassettes to fill the time in between. Hirayama’s painful past comes flooding back upon the arrival of his young niece.

Wim Wenders weaves a simplistic poetic beauty in Perfect Days with Yakusho’s ultra-fine performance. It requires patience, but it’s a highly-rewarding cinematic experience that sees the meaning in the mundane with maturity and artistry. Who knew it could be so supremely satisfying to watch a man meticulously clean public restrooms?

6. The Blue Caftan

Halim (Saleh Bakri) runs a tailoring shop with his wife, Mina (Lubna Azabal), facing technology’s impact on their industry that sacrifices quality for speed. Their relationship is tested when Halim begins to take an interest in their new, handsome apprentice (Ayoub Missioui).

Maryam Touzani’s The Blue Caftan was Morocco’s official submission for the Best International Film category at the 2023 Oscars, but it didn’t hit US theaters until this year. Much like the beautiful blue caftan of which the film is named after, this love story is beautiful to look at, but it’s the breathtakingly scrupulous construction discovered in the character work that pushes it over the edge. It’s a tear-jerker filled with earnest emotion that will steal your heart.

5. The Beasts

French couple Antoine (Denis Ménochet) and Olga (Marina Foïs) open their own organic farm in the Spanish countryside, causing tension with the village locals. Their differences ultimately erupt into violence.

Similar to The Blue Caftan, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts made its rounds in 2022 before reaching American theaters in 2023. It’s a real nerve-shredder of a thriller that grips you by the throat and doesn’t loosen its grip for a second until the end credits. The drama evolves in a riveting fashion, pulling together one of the year’s finest films.

4. All of Us Strangers

Adam (Andrew Scott) returns to his childhood home with the goal of writing a screenplay, but he’s shocked to discover his parents (Jamie Bell, Claire Foy) seemingly alive just as they were the day they died 30 years prior. Meanwhile, he develops an unexpected romance with his mysterious neighbor (Paul Mescal).

Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers lands the most heartbreaking punches to the gut of the year, concocting cathartic waves of earned emotion. It stumbles in disappointing third-act revelations, but colossal performances from Scott, Mescal, Bell, and Foy carry this haunting drama into something painfully relatable and tangibly impactful. It will stick with you.

3. The Taste of Things

Dodin (Benoît Magimel) is a renowned figure in the world of culinary arts, spending his days indulging in the history, art, science, and enjoyment of food with his associates and his cook of the past 20 years, Eugénie (Juliette Binoche), who he’s deeply in love with.

The Taste of Things shockingly beat out Anatomy of a Fall for France’s official submission slot to the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars, but I consider this delectable romance to be the better film. Anh Hung Tran’s direction is magnificently delicate. The human romance may be underdeveloped, but the passion surrounding food and its ability to fill one’s heart and soul is palpable. You’ll never leave a movie feeling hungrier.

2. May December

Twenty years after the media frenzy surrounding their tabloid romance, Gracie (Julianne Moore) and her husband (Charles Melton) allow actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) to spend time studying them in their home in preparation for an upcoming movie about their life. However, their marriage begins to buckle under the pressure.

Todd Haynes splendidly walks the line between camp and dramatic impact with May December. It’s notably uncomfortable, darkly hilarious, and fiercely riveting. Portman and Moore are tremendous, entirely understanding the assignment, but Melton leaves the biggest impression with a heartrending performance that will leave your jaw on the floor.

1. Poor Things

Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) brings a woman named Bella (Emma Stone) back to life under disturbing circumstances, replacing her brain with that of her unborn infant. She goes on an adventure that allows her to experience life for the first time in a fully-grown body.

Poor Things is as exceptionally odd of an odyssey as we’ve come to expect from filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos over the years. Those who are willing to get on its wavelength are in for a real treat, with a masterful performance from Stone and career-best work from Mark Ruffalo. It features some of the year’s greatest crafts, from costumes to cinematography and production design. Poor Things is the best film of the year, striking an awe-inspiring balance between romance, drama, comedy, and sci-fi in an abnormally fascinating package.

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