Top Ten ’23

Taking a cue from the Oscars and in another way the Golden Globes, I have divided my Top Ten for 2023 into two categories: five of the very best were foreign-language films, and I was able to cobble together five respectable movies in English. Contrary to what the critics said, and seem to say every year, this was not a great year for the movies. Were it not for the Oscar-nominated foreign films, which weren’t released to the public until 2024, I could not have put together a top ten.

Foreign-Language Films

1.  Anatomy of A Fall. A clever story and attractive actors showed what a director can do with minimal sets and a small budget. The plot challenged you every step of the way: did she push her husband or did he fall, and the question ran another level deeper. Then, does a trial deliver justice, or truth? And the genius was, at the end we don’t know the answers.

2. Zone of Interest. A chillingly original take on the Holocaust, a story we thought we knew, brilliantly conceived, photographed and acted. The relevance today, with events in Gaza, only made the message, never spoken, more powerful.

3. Io Capitano. At the other end of the budget spectrum from Fall, this Italian film brought to life an immigrant’s journey from Senegal, through Mali, the Sahara Desert, to Sebha then Tripoli in Libya before ending on the Mediterranean. Seemingly too horrific to be true, parts of the story are playing out every day. A wringer of a film (as were Zone and Fall).

4. Fallen Leaves. Another bleak world, but where there is love there is hope and beauty. The rom-com story is familiar but it is told with a spare sweetness that more than engages. The Finnish setting doesn’t try to be attractive; we have the lead couple’s faces for that.

5. The Teachers’ Lounge. A young sixth-grade teacher against the German school system was refreshing for the real-world problems it offered. When to buck the system, when to go along, how much to take upon yourself are questions we see around us, at least in the newspaper, every day.

Foreign, English-Language Films

1.  Oppenheimer. This deserves a category of its own, the best picture in almost every category, from Acting to Cinematography to Directing to Score. The story is Important and cleverly told: we are sucked into the drama of Robert Oppenheimer’s odd life, while the world events around him jog our memory of history without taking over. And the surprising use of Lewis Strauss as a foil allows the filmmakers a moment of happy ending before we are left to ponder our future. And what actors!

American Films

1. The Holdovers.  The feel-good movie for Christmas, and boy was it needed! In every way a throwback to the ’70s, this was funny, sweet, easy to follow and impossible not to like. The three leads were award-worthy and forged an unlikely three musketeers relationship that warmed the snowy prep school setting.

2. May December. An acting tour de force with another unlikely trio rubbing each other the wrong way, setting off little sparks. The Southern milieu added a Gothic sheen to a story that would seem farfetched had it not been infamous.

3. Priscilla. A sideways take on the Elvis Presley story, with a remarkable performance in the title role and a darn good Elvis.

4. Barbie. There was so much here, you could pick and choose what you liked (Barbie) and what you didn’t care for (Ken). It was a comic strip made with subtle intelligence and a love of the cinema.

5. Air. A film about Michael Jordan that didn’t show Michael but gave us the wonderful Matt Damon/Ben Affleck tag team. Very American and the best corporate drama of the year.