So many good and even great films this year! Itās nice to use an unironic exclamation point for the movie year that was, amid a year soaked in political dread and menace, in America and beyond.
TheĀ Writers Guild of AmericaĀ andĀ Screen Actors GuildĀ strikes fought back against the studios and streaming giants, gaining some meaningful financial ground and some roadblocks, at least, to de-accelerate the artificial intelligence encroachments in an industry barely, chaotically recognizable from a few years ago.
The summer of 2023 drew audiences as if COVID wasnāt a thing anymore. Millions responded to the weirdest, simplest, happiest ad hoc marketing coup of recent movie times: Barbenheimer! The ābarbā half was based on a toy, the āenheimerā half told the story of the man behind the weapon that stripped our planet of any future certainty. Both were verifiable and remarkable eyefuls. And āB²¹°ł²ś¾±±šā and āO±č±č±š²Ō³ó±š¾±³¾±š°łā ended up making nearly $2.5 billion as a double act.
Meantime, the corporate consolidation riddle ofĀ Warner Bros. DiscoveryĀ is such that āB²¹°ł²ś¾±±šā can gross $1.4 billion and itās a gnat on the elephant of debt now vexing CEOĀ David Zaslav.
Money can market hits, and sometimes make them, but this yearās highlights ā lavishly budgeted in some cases, micro-budgeted in others ā worked closer to an artistic impulse. We take heart from the yearās signs of cinematic life. In some cases, the titles included in my list premiered on the 2023 festival circuit and will become available commercially in 2024. In one or two cases Iām deliberately withholding a movie or two from inclusion until next year. Thereās more than enough to contend with as is!
Again, with the unironic exclamation point. Never thought Iād see the day, or type the punctuation.
Best movies
10.Ģż: Dueling, intertwining portraits in damaged and damaging women, with an extraordinarily tricky tonal range and sterling work fromĀ Natalie PortmanĀ andĀ Julianne Moore. Directed byĀ Todd Haynes.
9.Ģż: Propulsive almost to a fault, but a genuine feat of intelligent showmanship in the service of legitimately sticky and eternally troubling moral complexity. Written and directed byĀ Christopher Nolan.
8.Ģż: For Netflix,Ā Wes AndersonĀ adapted fourĀ Roald DahlĀ stories, adding up to a nearly perfect 90-minute experience. Comparisons are cheap, but I prefer this project to AndersonāsĀ Ā even if Iām still singingĀ
7.Ģż: A Korean-born wanderer returns toĀ Seoul, three different times in her life, in search of her long-buried origin story. This one lingers in mysterious ways. Written and directed byĀ Davy Chou.
6:Ģż: Using only the horrific Auschwitz setting of Martin Amisā novel, writer-director Jonathan Glazerās razor-sharp exercise in sustained and brutal irony is unlike anything else on, or even near, the subject. Premieres inĀ ChicagoĀ Jan. 12.
5.Ģż: Judy Blumeās evergreen charmer of a bestseller gets the film version it deserves, even if it didnāt get the audience. Written and directed byĀ Kelly Fremon Craig, with wonderful work from everyone, none better thanĀ Rachel McAdams.
4.Ģż: Director/co-writerĀ Greta GerwigĀ takes Mattel on a quest of existential inquiry, funny first, reflective and touching when it counted. Not what the toy company wanted, probably, until the money rolled in. But Gerwig wanted it, and we did.
3.Ģż: Martin Scorseseās mournful elegy is an Old West gangster movie about American might, right and murderous racism. Though it didnāt go deeply enough into the lives of the Osage Nation characters, this was a near-miss, saved and elevated by late-stage rewrites. Itāll last a long time.
2.Ģż: All of 25 minutes, this singular portrait of one broken Israeli soldierās life at home, in perpetual wartime ā filmmakerĀ Yahav WinnerĀ was killed in theĀ Oct. 7Ā HamasĀ massacre ā has zero interest in anti-PalestineĀ propaganda. Streaming on YouTube.
1.Ģż: āBrief Encounter,ā chronologically expanded, and told through the eyes and heart of a Korean woman (Greta Lee) reconnecting inĀ New YorkĀ with her childhood friend (Teo Yoo). Written and directed byĀ Celine SongĀ with exquisite observational acumen.
Top 11-20, in alphabetical order: āAll Dirt Roads Taste of Saltā; āFair Playā; āFour Daughtersā; āIām a Virgoā Amazon limited series; āIn the Rearviewā; āPoor Thingsā; āThe Royal Hotelā; āShowing Upā; āA Thousand and Oneā; āThe Unknown Country.ā
Worst movies
The bummer list, in alphabetical order:
Michael PhillipsĀ is a Tribune critic.
°Õ·É¾±³Ł³Ł±š°łĢż
Ā©2023 Chicago Tribune. VisitĀ chicagotribune.com. Distributed byĀ Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
