I saw a total of 288 films in 2023 – 140 in theaters and 148 streaming or on video discs, both new and old. This is 34 fewer than I saw the previous year, but who’s counting? I’ve come up with 23 films that are the best of what I saw, or at least my favorites. My picks for the top two films out of all of these are Oppenheimer and Poor Things.

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Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, director & co-writer)  I’d been anticipating this film more than any other last year. Marketing for Oppenheimer created the sense of a big event months in advance of the July 21 release. A countdown display in the lobby of the AMC Lincoln Square theater made sure you didn’t forget it.

When the dust had settled, I’d seen the film four times, twice in 70mm IMAX. I wrote about Oppenheimer last August, which can be accessed here.

Oppenheimer can be streamed on Amazon Prime, though the best way to see it is on the largest screen possible in a theater with great sound.

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Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos, director)  The following is edited from what I wrote after seeing Poor Things at the New York Film Festival last year.

This is my favorite film of  all I saw at the festival. Per David Rooney in The Hollywood Reporter, the film is “non-stop bonkers brilliance.” That it is. It’s just one jaw-dropping moment after another. I wasn’t sure at first, but it pretty quickly overwhelmed me with its insanity and I was helpless to resist, not that I wanted to. It’s a wild ride, an amazing journey that constantly surprises, delights, and sometimes horrifies. Poor Things is described by the distributor as “the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).”

It obviously has Frankenstein in its DNA, but goes way beyond that. There’s such an overload of images and ideas that I’ll have to see it again to sort things out. The production design is amazing… Emma Stone is absolutely fearless in her performance. Mark Ruffalo’s performance would be considered over-the-top anywhere else, but feels just right in this film. He’s absolutely great. Willem Dafoe is excellent as usual. There’s no explanation for the deep grooves and scars in his face, but none is needed.

Poor Things is showing in theaters, but not yet available for streaming.

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Here are the rest.

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Afire (Christian Petzold, director & writer)  Terrific film, constantly surprising. Petzold, a German filmmaker, has made many excellent films, including Transit (2018), Phoenix (2014), Barbara (2012), and Jerichow (2008), an uncredited remake of James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice. I especially liked Paula Beer in Afire. She has a very powerful presence.

Afire can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

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Air (Ben Affleck, director)  Terrific movie about the efforts to get Michael Jordon to endorse Nike basketball shoes. The entire cast — which includes Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Marlon Wayons, Chris Messina, and Matt Damon — is excellent. Especially Matt Damon, who also is great in Oppenheimer. He always seems completely authentic in whatever role he plays.

Air can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

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All of Us Strangers (Andrew Haigh, director & writer)  Deeply affecting and quite moving, this is a gay love story, a ghost story that reveals itself slowly, and an effort to come to terms with the past. Andrew Scott is great in this film, human and caring. We first saw him as the profoundly sinister Moriarty in the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock television series. He’s done a lot of film, TV, and theater, and is next up as Patricia Highsmith’s favorite sociopath Tom Ripley in the Netflix series Ripley, debuting this April. It feels like this is his moment.

All of Us Strangers is playing in theaters, but not yet available for streaming.

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Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet, director & co-writer)  A great film, winner of the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.  Anatomy of a Fall is a courtroom drama set in the French Alps that shows the challenge of how do you get to the truth of an event. Did a woman push her husband to his death, or was it an accident or suicide? Sandra Hüller is excellent as the wife who proclaims her innocence. Nothing is straight-forward. The film weaves back and forth in time to shift our perspectives and challenge our presuppositions about what really happened.

Anatomy of a Fall can be streamed on Amazon Prime and is still showing in theaters.

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 Barbie (Greta Girwig, director & co-writer)  Based on early advertising and trailers, plus prejudiced preconceptions of what I thought a Barbie doll movie would be like, I had no intention of seeing Barbie. But when I learned that Greta Girwig had directed the film and co-written it with Noah Baumbach, I had second thoughts. We saw it on opening weekend (mainly because I couldn’t tickets to Oppenheimer, which famously opened the same day). And loved it! It’s fresh and extremely clever, hard to resist once you’re there. Plus it gets pretty weird at times, such as Barbie announcing that she doesn’t have a vagina. Sure. But as much as I liked it, I haven’t been back to see it again. Whereas, I saw Oppenheimer a few days after Barbie and have since seen it multiple times. Nonetheless, Barbie is a hoot and throws a few curves in the process.

Barbie can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

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The Blue Caftan (Maryam Touzani, director & writer)  This is a delicate, deeply moving film about love and loss. Halim and his wife Mina have a tailor shop making caftans in Morocco. They hire a young apprentice, Youssef. Halim is a closeted gay man who truly loves his wife, but Youssef’s presence causes tensions, and creates a gentle triangle. Someone at Rotten Tomatoes wrote that The Blue Caftan “surveys the human heart with compassion and grace.” That it does.

There is a scene in the film that I really love. Mina is standing at the window of their apartment listening to music being played in the street below. She sways slowly to the music and is eventually joined by Halim and Youssef. Their dancing wordlessly together exemplifies the compassion and grace quoted above. Unfortunately, I could only find a short clip of the beginning of that scene, but I think it gives a sense of the tone and feeling.

The Blue Caftan can be streamed on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.

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Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki, director & writer)  The following is edited from what I wrote after seeing Fallen Leaves at the New York Film Festival last year.

Like Kaurismäki’s previous films, Fallen Leaves has deadpan charm, humor, and a lot of humanity. I’ve especially liked Le Havre (2011) and The Other Side of Hope (2017). Fallen Leaves gives us two lonely outsiders, a man and woman who meet and are attracted, but whose efforts to start a relationship are continually thwarted by miscommunication, lost phone numbers, etc. Nothing much happens in any conventional sense, but the feelings are real, and that’s a lot. It’s a beautiful film.

Fallen Leaves can be streamed on Mubi.

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Ferrari (Michael Mann, director)  The following is edited from what I wrote after seeing Ferrari at the New York Film Festival last year.

Mann is one of my favorite directors. There’s a physical weight that you feel on the screen in his films. I’m thinking of a scene in Public Enemies (2009) when a steam engine slowly comes to a stop in a train station. There’s something in the combination of image and sound that makes me feel the physicality of what’s on the screen, the weight of it. It felt very real. I think you don’t get that with CGI. I especially like Manhunter (1986), Heat (1995), and The Last of the Mohicans (1992). So I was greatly anticipating Ferrari. I don’t think it’s his best, but the racing footage is amazing. Even at the beginning, when we’re just seeing cars being tested on the track, the physicality I mentioned is there in spades, especially in the roar of the engines. There are two major crashes in the film that are extremely intense, overwhelming, and will scare the hell out of you. I hadn’t realized how lethal auto racing was in the ’50s. The drivers seem totally unprotected in open cars at speeds in which the slightest error gets you airborne and probably dead. Adam Driver is excellent as Enzo Ferrari, as is Penelope Cruz as his wife Laura. Their frequent blistering blowout arguments are intense. Shailene Woodley has less to do as Ferrari’s mistress Lina, but does as well as the part allows. I think I’m wanting to like Ferrari more than I actually did, but I don’t want to dissuade anyone from seeing it (as though I actually could). I definitely plan to see it again, and on as big a screen as possible with great sound.

Ferrari can be streamed on Amazon Prime and Apple TV for $19.95. This rental fee will surely drop at some point.

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The Holdovers (Alexander Payne, director)  When I first began watching the trailer for this, I didn’t think I’d want to see it. It had the appearance of a generic Christmas movie, and we’ve seen plenty of those. My interest level rose when I saw that Alexander Payne was the director. But I was curious, because based on trailer, it looked like a smaller, and as I indicated, and more generic film than Payne is known for. His previous work includes Sideways (2004), The Descendants (2011), Nebraska (2013), and Downsizing (2017). These are rather special films. By the time we saw The Holdovers, reaction to the film had been very positive, so I wasn’t as apprehensive as I might have been otherwise. Paul Giamatti nails the role of a bad-tempered, dyspeptic professor at a New England boarding school forced to stay on campus over the holiday break to monitor students who are unable to go home. Dominic Sessa, in his first film role, is excellent as the only student who ends up staying. He clashes frequently with Giamatti’s character. Da’Vine Joy Randolph rounds out the trio as the cafeteria administrator. She’s excellent. The Holdovers has received five Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Giamatti), Best Supporting Actress (Randolph), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. It’s a very satisfying, feel-good film, but with interesting edges.

The Holdovers can be streamed on Amazon Prime and Peacock.

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Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese, director & co-writer)  First of all, it’s a Martin Scorsese film, so you gotta see it, right? At 3 hours & 26 minutes, it’s one of his longest, but I never felt the length. This is an important film that tells an important story. Plus it has a truly great performance by Lily Gladstone as an Osage woman who marries Leonardo DiCaprio. She’s made a strong impression in everything I’ve seen her in, which includes Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women (2016) and First Cow (2019), and Morrisa Maltz’s The Unknown Country (2022). And we just saw her in two episodes of the great Native series, Reservation Dogs. For me, she’s the heart of Killers of the Flower Moon. My problem is with DiCaprio’s character, a stupid, unaware ex-soldier who goes through the movie with an uncomprehending look on his face, a follower who, until almost the end, does everything his demonic uncle (Robert DeNiro, excellent) tells him. I’m not saying it’s a bad performance, because it’s not. But he’s one of the main characters, and I didn’t want to go through the whole film watching him do the shit he does. So that’s my problem. But you never know. Bad characters can be fascinating to watch; they’re often the most interesting thing on the screen. But not this time, not for me. That said, Killers of the Flower Moon is an important film and deserves to be on my little list. I need to see it again.

Killers of the Flower Moon can be streamed on Apple TV.

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Perfect Days (Wim Wenders, director & co-writer) The following is edited from what I wrote after seeing Perfect Days at the New York Film Festival last year.

A wonderful film about a man, Hirayama, who cleans and services public toilets in Tokyo and how his precise routine is upset by the appearance of the teenage daughter of his estranged sister who shows up unannounced on his doorstep one day. Wenders was initially hired to do a short-film project celebrating Tokyo’s state-of-the-art public toilets, but decided to do something a bit more interesting. Filming in Japan with Japanese actors speaking Japanese, Wenders has made one of his most satisfying and quite moving films. Plus there’s a lot of great music. Hirayama listens to the Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” on his drive to work, and later, Patti Smith and many others, including, of course, Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.”

Perfect Days opens in theaters on February 7.

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The Taste of Things (Tran Anh Hung, director & writer)  The following is edited from what I wrote after seeing The Taste of Things at the New York Film Festival last year.

This is my second-favorite film from the festival. The preparation of food and cooking has never been more sensual. You can practically smell the food cooking and taste it. I felt wrapped up in the warmth of this film.

From the New York Times review by Beatrice Loayza:

“The movie is about a distinguished gourmand, Dodin (Benoît Magimel), and his preternaturally gifted chef, Eugénie (Juliette Binoche). They live together in the French countryside and together concoct lavish meals for themselves and Dodin’s coterie of foodie friends. Their lives entirely revolve around the cultivation and creation of these dishes, which Hung emphasizes through long, elaborate cooking scenes.”

The Taste of Things opens in theaters on February 9.

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In the interest of attention spans, yours and mine, I’m going to speed this up.

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Last Night of Amore (Andrea Di Steano, director & writer)  Excellent story of a cop at the end of his rope and running out of time. Chronology that continually loops back on itself, revealing more each time it does.

The Last Night of Amore is not yet available for streaming.

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Love Life (Kôji Fukada, director & writer)  Per IMDb: “Taeko and her husband, Jiro, are living a peaceful existence with son, Keita. A tragic accident brings the boy’s father, Park, back into her life. Taeko throws herself into helping this deaf and homeless man to cope with pain and guilt.”

Love Life can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

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The Night of the 12^th (Dominik Moll, director & co-writer)  Police procedural with two cops attempting to solve the murder of a young girl in a case that spans years, searching for a resolution that may never come. I love this kind of film.

The Night of the 12th can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

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Maestro (Bradley Cooper, director & co-writer)  Huge achievement for Bradley Cooper as director and actor, with Carey Mulligan’s astonishing performance.

Maestro can be streamed on Netflix.

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Past Lives (Celine Song, director & writer)  A beautiful film about childhood friends, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), who are separated when Nora’s family leaves South Korea for the United States. Twenty years later, Hae Sung travels to New York City to see if he can reclaim what was lost. Nora is now married to Arthur (John Magaro). What could have been a clichéd triangle plays out in much more interesting ways.

Past Lives can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

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Revoir Paris (Alice Winocour, director & writer) Per IMDb: “Three months after surviving a terrorist attack in a bistro, Mia is still traumatized and unable to recall the events of that night. In an effort to move forward, she investigates her memories and retraces her steps.” Virginie Efira is excellent as Mia, as is Benoît Magimel as Thomas, also a survivor of the bistro attack who Mia connects with. A film full of feeling, loss, and trying to make sense of traumatic events.

Revoir Paris can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

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Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt, director & co-writer)  Michelle Williams is wonderful as Lizzy, a shy but talented sculptor who makes intriguingly odd female figures. Along the way she forms an odd bond with a wounded pigeon she reluctantly cares for. There’s much more to it than that. This is Willliams’ fourth film directed by Kelly Reichardt, whose work is delicate and quietly effective, much like Lizzy’s sculptures.

Showing Up is not yet available for streaming.

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The Teacher’s Lounge (Iker Çatak, director & co-writer)  I think it takes both of these trailers to give a good sense of this film. Pretty disturbing.

The Teacher’s Lounge is currently in theaters and not yet available for streaming.

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One more thing before I wrap this up: I’d like to know in what universe it’s possible that Ava Duvernay’s monumentally moving and important film Origin does not get any Oscar nominations. It was in theaters for a week in December to qualify for Academy Awards consideration. We just saw it last week after it opened for a regular run earlier this month. An overwhelming experience. I don’t mean to be snarky, but it’s very deep with many ideas and maybe it makes people think too much. Whatever,  it’s a great film. If you’ve already seen it, you know. If not yet, you will.

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That does it for this one. Stay tuned for my take on best documentaries from last year. See you next time. — Ted Hicks

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