From behind the scenes to the films themselves, 2023 proved to be quite an eventful year with significant effects for the industry as a whole. A historic labor strike by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood’s respective unions for writers and actors, lasted for months which effectively crippled movie production and future releases. However, it brought a highly positive change resulting in increased protections in America’s movie and TV industry. We also witnessed a curiously massive shift in the behavior of the theater-going audience. In previous years, superhero movies were surefire box-office hits, but they stumbled hard in 2023. Big-budgeted movies such as The Flash, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and the more recent Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ended up being flops. Thanks to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, it made the case that people actually want to see more original and well-made films that challenged them.

It’s been an incredible year for movies, and so finalizing this best-of list proved to be difficult for me. As usual, I still haven’t seen everything the year had to offer like The Iron Claw, Godzilla: Minus One (one that I’m absolutely eager to watch), and more simply because of no showings in my area. That said, I figured that I had to finish this list much sooner than later. And so, these are my personal top ten films of the year, ranging from studio-produced blockbusters to the latest works from my favorite auteurs.

10. Barbie

Director: Greta Gerwig

Filmmaker Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach had a tough job of breathing new life into a decades-old doll that’s fallen out of favor in recent years. They understood that doing a disingenuous commercial disguised as a movie just to sell more dolls isn’t simply going to work. Instead, Barbie turned out to be a hilariously self-aware pink playhouse of never-ending musical numbers and the woes of womanhood. It’s apparent that the cast had a lot of fun in this film, but Margot Robbie (who also served as producer) and Ryan Gosling are standouts, and both have cemented themselves as true lead stars. Not only is it a deconstruction of an almost forgotten franchise that tackles gender issues, but also a box-office mega-hit studio blockbuster. And as one-half of possibly 2023’s biggest cultural phenomenon, you can’t deny the dazzling achievement Barbie has made in brings people back in theaters. Read the full review here.

9. Dream Scenario

Director: Kristoffer Borgli

Perhaps the most original plot I’ve seen all year, Nicolas Cage effortlessly delivers another career-highlight in the satirical horror-comedy Dream Scenario, produced by Ari Aster. Cage plays Paul Matthews, a timid and woeful family man who suddenly appears in everyone’s dreams. As someone who keeps pining for validation, he takes advantage of his newfound fame to pursue his personal goals. But things take a nightmarish turn when Paul becomes horrifically violent in the dreams, and his popularity quickly transforms into notoriety. Although the film dabbles into the fickleness of social media and celebrity culture, Dream Scenario is at its best when exploring Paul’s inherent insecurities and narcissistic tendencies, all thanks to Cage. Any lesser actor at the lead would make this film totally crumble, especially with how it ends, but Cage’s incredible performance at this later point in his career is what mainly saves it.

8. The Killer

Director: David Fincher

The Killer is a return to form for David Fincher, a director whose most known for his films about hit men and serial killers. Rather than going for high-octane action, Fincher settles for a more methodical approach here. It’s a procedural look at a nameless assassin’s approach to every kill that serves as a reflection of the perfectionist director, narrating every rule he has set to succeed in his job. In many ways, this is Fincher reveling in a very familiar element, while also allowing the filmmaker some self-parody. Stylish and engaging, this makes a surprisingly layered film and one of the funniest action thrillers in the Fincher’s filmography.

With a copious amount of product placements all over, The Killer also has plenty to say about modern technology and consumerism through the lens of being a hit man. It takes on the mundane side of contract killing (no John Wick-esque shootouts here), which all goes back to the film’s opening line about having the capabilities to deal with boredom. Read the full review here.

7. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson

As the MCU experienced its worst year in the box office, Sony’s much-anticipated animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse arrived in theaters with a bang, and further builds upon the foundation of 2022’s Into the Spider-Verse with even bigger ambitions. Continuing the story of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Across the Spider-Verse increases the emotional stakes for our leads in every way, all while introducing a new collection of universes and Spider-Man variants (each with their own aesthetic). Of course, a visual spectacle is to be expected, yet this film’s animation somehow is even more stunning and imaginative than the last. Despite the film ending in a cliffhanger, it definitely feels earned when everything else is so perfectly crafted. Loaded with incredible imagery and compelling characterization, Across the Spider-Verse has cemented its place as one of the great sequels that leaves the audience anxiously waiting the for the entry.

6. Anatomy of a Fall

Director: Justine Triet

In Anatomy of a Fall, Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller) becomes the main suspect after her husband plunges to his death from above their mountain chalet, with their blind preteen son as the only key witness. Justine Triet’s Palme D’Or-winning film could’ve easily been a standard crime procedural with that kind of a premise, but she and her co-writing partner, Arthur Harari, pushes the screenplay way beyond that, and into an intricately layered courtroom drama anchored in domestic conflict. It effectively becomes an intimate yet painful examination of a crumbling marriage more than anything else. Big props to Hüller’s multifaceted lead performance as Sandra, who gives the film its emotional force, firm and unwavering in her moral judgment. Riveting and suspenseful, Anatomy of a Fall never drags in its two-and-a-half hour runtime. It comfortably wallows in its ambiguity that even with the constant, manipulative poking of buried resentments and past regrets to get to the truth, we still may not have all the answers at the end. Read the full review here.

5. Oppenheimer

Director: Christopher Nolan

A three-hour biopic about the father of the atomic bomb ending up being the biggest movie event of the year probably surprised even Christopher Nolan himself. Oppenheimer is the director’s grandest work yet, and it tells the important story of the creation of the weapon of mass destruction that changed the course of history – and it’s only two-thirds of the film. The final act is witnessing the heartbreaking downfall of J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by a brilliant Cillian Murphy, after coming to the horrific realization of what he’s brought upon the world. Turning the harrowing tale of a theoretical physicist into a pop culture sensation is already impressive in itself, but making a thrilling biography out of Oppenheimer, despite the film comprising mostly of an ensemble cast as important historical figures talking and arguing in classrooms, courtrooms, and offices, is a testament to Christopher Nolan’s monumental achievement.

4. The Holdovers

Director: Alexander Payne

Set in 1970, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers takes place in a New England boarding school during Christmas break. Cranky history teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is forced to babysit a group of students who are stuck with nowhere else to go. Paul’s main companions here are Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a student left behind by his own mother for a honeymoon, and Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), the school’s kitchen manager who is grieving the loss of her son in Vietnam.

Payne’s talent of making the audience sympathize with even the most unlikeable characters comes so effortlessly. He understands that our personal troubles are what makes us all human, and it’s through these tragedies that the unlikely trio form a bond over. As a result, he takes us on a warm journey of empathy and humanity. Paul Giamatti is as strong as ever he’s ever been, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph proves she’s deserving of a lead role. But it’s Dominic Sessa who gives a breakthrough performance in his acting debut. Like a hot beverage on a cold winter’s night, The Holdovers feels like a warm embrace. It’s a cozy, heartwarming family tale that reminds us to be a little more understanding. An instant Christmas classic.

3. May December

Director: Todd Haynes

It’s been amusing to see both critics and audiences try to classify whether May December is a campy black comedy or a serious melodrama. Regardless of where you think Todd Haynes’ latest fact-based drama falls into, you can’t deny its masterful ability in making the audience feel deeply uncomfortable, yet it keeps pulling you into its emotionally dissonant story. The film centers around a well-known television actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) doing research for her latest role in an indie film. She arrives in Savannah, Georgia to study Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) who, as a 36-year-old mother of two, was caught having an affair with a seventh grader back in the early ’90s. They immediately became a tabloid sensation. And now more than two decades later, Gracie and her husband Joe Yoo (Charles Melton) are living a seemingly quiet married life and moving past their dark history. Featuring incredibly compelling performances from the lead cast, May December touches on the disconnect between the lies we tell ourselves and the lives we live, while also serving as a disturbing exploration at how we continuously consume real-life traumas for our own personal mindless entertainment. Read the full review of here.

2. Past Lives

Director: Celine Song

Arguably the most affecting romance film I’ve seen in years, Past Lives is a delicate, slow-burn love story of star-crossed souls spanning decades and across continents. The film is built around two childhood sweethearts Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) separated by circumstance, who later reconnect as adults and living totally different lives. While they seem to be made for each other, they are now forced to confront their love that will never blossom, pondering all the what-ifs that come with it. Writer-director Celine Song displays her masterful touch in exploring the themes of love, fate, and providence in this talky but immersive story. As emotional as it is philosophical, Past Lives has a genuine maturity in dealing with relationships and past regrets that feels powerfully real. A truly poignant feature debut for Song, this film stays with you for a while after its heartbreaking conclusion. Read the full review of here.

1. Killers of the Flower Moon

Director: Martin Scorsese

It’s amazing to me that even at 81 years old, Martin Scorsese remains at the top of his game. Killers of the Flower Moon, a harrowing epic about the genocidal atrocity against the Native American people of the Osage nation to acquire their oil money during the 1920’s, is a film filled with many layers. While it heavily contains elements ripped from a western or a gangster movie (a genre which the director has made his fair share of), Scorsese and screenwriter Eric Roth has adapted David Grann’s 2017 nonfiction book into a emotional story of culture and romance. It shines the brightest when showing the developing relationship of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), a veteran who came into town to work for his scheming uncle Hale (Robert de Niro), and Mollie Brown (Lily Gladstone), a member of a wealthy Osage family. Gladstone’s Mollie is a force of nature and undeniably the heart of the film, standing out and even stealing every scene from the powerhouse duo of DiCaprio and de Niro. Despite its three-and-a-half hour runtime, Killers of the Flower Moon moves with precision and purpose, a contemplative journey of a nurtured love amidst one of America’s many sins.

Honorable Mentions: