When last we spoke I was quizzing you about what we had learned in 2022. I know it seems like yesterday, while simultaneously feeling like forever ago. Is forever ago a thing? I guess it is now. Forgive me. After nearly four years I finally succumbed to the dreaded virus. I can now officially blame it for any mental failings on my part (as opposed to blaming old age). It had been such a large, unseen part of my life for so long that when it laid its insidious claim on me, I felt little but anticlimactic disappointment and annoyance. That, along with runny nose, body aches, and general malaise.
But I digress. I am really here to talk about movies. Movies are back, you know. Or haven’t you heard? Thanks to Barbenheimer the studios realized that audiences will still go to the theaters in droves if inspired by films that aren’t the same old formulaic, tired-and-tested money grubbers with chaotic action but no soul. We’ll see how long that lasts. But it was nice while it lasted.
On the whole 2023 was a good year for movies. But what exactly separates movies that make my year’s best list from those that don’t? Unlike a stage production, for example, a movie is a singular event. The writers, directors, actors, designers, and craftspeople have curated each story element, line of dialogue, image and sonic element to a degree that might exasperate the most chronic sufferer of OCD, then preserve it on celluloid or digitally.
What makes a movie great, I would argue, is offering viewers intellectual, emotional and aesthetic space -- the space for interpretation, the space for ambiguity, the space for mystery. Far too many movies, be they action, drama, comedy or thriller – dictate what we should think, how we should feel, how we should respond. Great films want their audiences to participate in them, and are humble enough to let each viewer decide exactly how. And how do great films do that, you ask? It’s a mystery to me.
Which brings us to my favorite films of the year. I spill a lot of ink on them below and won’t belabor it here. Suffice to say each of the movies discussed or listed meet the criteria (to a greater or lesser degree) of a great film. At least to me. I hope you enjoy what you read. But, more importantly, I hope you discover a movie (or two or three) that you wouldn’t otherwise think of watching. And I hope you watch them. And I hope you find something in them that speaks to you. Because how we respond to a movie is an intangible element of the movie itself. That is what makes movies (or any art form) worthwhile.
Finally, a sincere thanks to my family and friends who tolerate my endless yammering about movies and other things. A special thanks to Pilar Alessandra, who has been kind enough to give me time on her On The Page Podcast every year for the last 17 years to pontificate on movies with some thoughtful and articulate fellow film fanatics. And, of course, thanks to anyone reading these words.
Be safe. Be well. And, when in doubt, choose kindness.
Brian Pope
March 8, 2024
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THE TOP TEN
(in alphabetical order)
AMERICAN FICTION Writer/director Cord Jefferson’s gently acerbic adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel Erasure follows Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright, never better), a frustrated black academic and writer of literature who larks a stereotypical Black novel under a pseudonym. Neither he nor his agent (a delightful John Ortiz) are prepared when the “joke” book becomes an overnight publishing sensation. No one – not the publishing industry, not awards panels, not Hollywood, not even Monk himself -- is let off the hook in this insightful comedy. The excellent ensemble includes Tracee Ellis Ross, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Issa Rae, Keith David and Sterling K. Brown.
ANATOMY OF A FALL Part family drama, part courtroom drama, and all mystery, director Justine Triet and her co-writer Arthur Hirari’s absorbing film follows the trial of successful writer Sandra Voyter (the stunning Sandra Huller) accused of pushing her husband to his death out the window of their remote chalet in the French Alps. Caught in the midst of this family tragedy is their young son Daniel (played by the equally remarkable Milo Machado-Graner) who has limited eyesight due to an accident. Though the trial finishes with a rendered verdict, Triet never shows us what actually happened. We are left to ponder the truth for ourselves, unknowable as that may be.
GODZILLA MINUS ONE In writer/director Takashi Yamazaki’s thrilling new entry into the Godzilla franchise he focuses on the survivor’s guilt of a Japanese kamikaze pilot who faked engine problems to avoid certain death in the waning days of World War II. As he struggles to put his life back together in Tokyo, a newly radiated kaiju rises from the ocean depths and makes its way to the traumatized islands. In this adaptation Godzilla represents all the post-war and post-nuclear anxieties of Japan. And there is no benevolent kaiju to save the day. The humans must be resourceful and more than a little lucky to stop the unstoppable Godzilla. The film's characters are surprisingly rich, and the action scenes thrilling.
THE HOLDOVERS Over Christmas break at a remote prep school outside of Boston, cantankerous ancient history teacher Paul Hunham (a perfect Paul Giamatti) must chaperone willful, abrasive student Angus Tully (an impressive Dominic Sessa) left behind by his mother and stepfather while the rest of the students and most of the staff enjoy the holiday. Only the school cook Mary Lamb (the remarkable Da’Vine Joy Randolph) remains, grieving over the death of her soldier son in Vietnam (it is 1970). How these disparate characters deal with each other is an old-fashioned joy, thanks to David Hemingson’s hilarious, warmhearted script. Director Alexander Payne stages his scenes in the ‘70s style and never allows the film to veer into sentiment.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Director Martin Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth transform David Grann’s non-fiction FBI procedural into a harrowing drama about the Osage murders in the early 1900s. Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) arrives in the oil-rich Osage territory and is taken under the wing of influential William Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale sets him up as a driver to wealthy native Molly (Lily Gladstone). Ernest and Molly fall in love and are married. But the Osage are dying violent deaths, and their vast wealth gradually transferred to white husbands or financial caretakers. DiCaprio is very good, and De Niro is better. But Gladstone carries the film, speaking volumes with a glance. The late Robbie Robertson’s provides the film’s evocative score.
OPPENHEIMER In adapting American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherman, director Christopher Nolan divides his story into two timelines. The first concerns Robert Oppenheimer’s (Cillian Murphy) key role in the development of the atomic bomb, and the second concerns former member of the Atomic Energy Commission Lewis Strauss’ (Robert Downey, Jr.) attempt to destroy Oppenheimer’s professional reputation for a perceived slight. The film looks and sounds great (cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema and score by Ludwig Goransson) and moves at a clip without confusing timelines (editing by Jennifer Lame). Murphy and Downey, Jr. are excellent, with Emily Blunt superb as Oppenheimer’s tough, shrewd wife, Kitty. An absorbing and cautionary recounting of the birth of the atomic bomb.
PAST LIVES Have you ever wondered what happened to your childhood love? Or what might happen if they were to come back into your life? I know I have. Writer/director Celine Song ponders just such a scenario in this gentle meditation on the path not taken. Korean tweens Nora and Hae Sung have an intense kid crush, then Nora’s family moves to North America. Twelve years later the two (played as adults by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo) find each other on Skype but neither commits to meeting. After a twelve-year silence Hae Sung visits Nora in New York, but she has married Arthur (John Magaro). The reunion has repercussions for all three. Lee, Yoo and Magaro are uniformly excellent, and Song’s insightful script moves imperceptibly to a heartbreaking finish.
POOR THINGS Greek provocateur Yorgos Lanthimos directs Tony McNamara’s delirious adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel, a feminist riff on the Frankenstein myth. Bella (Emma Stone) is a reanimated woman made by Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) and betrothed to protegee Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef). Before settling down Bella chooses to abscond with cad Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) for travel, food and hedonism, until the cruel vagaries of life impose themselves. Stone is stupendous as the willful free spirit, Dafoe is perfection as the deformed father figure, and Rufallo is richly ridiculous as the outmatched Lothario. A wondrous steampunk production design draws us, like Bella, into this strange new world we can’t help but want to explore in all its dreadful beauty.
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Not even the exceptional SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE can prepare you for the scope and ambition of this superior sequel. Writers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Dave Callaham pack more ideas into this animated feature than can be effectively recounted here. Yet somehow directors Joachim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson hold this sprawling epic together while maintaining a brisk pace that never shortchanges character development. Standouts in the stellar vocal cast include Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Bryan Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Jake Johnson and Mahershala Ali. I speak as a film lover and not a Marvel acolyte -- this movie is truly marvelous.
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Writer/director Jonathan Glazer’s austere adaptation of Martin Amis’s novel is a harrowing Holocaust film that never witnesses atrocity, only its discarded remnants. On the surface, Rudolf and Hedwig Hoss (Christian Friedel and Sandra Huller) have a bucolic life with their children – swimming in a nearby river, celebrating birthdays, and having friends over for afternoon tea. We soon discover their home is yards away from the Auschwitz concentration camp, which Rudolf runs as commandant. We never see inside the camp itself, but dog barks, clangs of metal, shouts, and occasional gunfire provide a pervasive aural background. Being passive observers we feel complicit in the horrors we know are occurring just outside the film's vision, and the effect on this viewer was corrosive. A must see.
Runners Up
(in alphabetical order)
ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET.
BARBIE
MAY DECEMBER
YOU HURT MY FEELINGS
Honorable Mentions: BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT; JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4; NYAD; RUSTIN; SAINT OMER; SALTBURN; SHOWING UP; THEATER CAMP
