Oh, Hi Mark. And goodbye to 2023 - a good year for film, not so good in other fields of human endeavour. My film count was a bit down on last year - I saw 90 in total, including 82 new viewings and 59 trips to the cinema (just under half at the Luna in Leederville). Anyway, here are my favourite 10 films that I saw in 2023, with a podcast at the bottom of the words.
[Click on the titles for links to full reviews]
10. Cairo Conspiracy (2022)
A terrifically tense religio-political thriller about a first year university student dealing with events above his station in Cairo. Stellar performances in this rare glimpse into Egyptian culture.
9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
James Gunn polishes off his Guardians trilogy with aplomb, centring the dramatic story on Rocket while allowing the rest of the crew to bring the chuckles and action stylings. Nobody quite hits the nails with the musical beats like Gunn.
Best Aussie film of the year is also probably the creepiest. The Phillipou brothers, straight out of Adelaide, give us a way into the demon world via a mangy old porcelain hand. Sophie Wilde is fantastic as the focus of the story, grieving her mum and possibly finding some answers to her questions via the hand. Having the courage of its convictions adds value to the finale of the film, too.
I saw this at the 2023 Revelation Film Festival and it was my pick of the roster. It's a doco about a young woman called Emily Nestor who ran a true crime podcast that 'investigated' a road death in her area. It's part thriller, part expose on current fads, part exploration of self (that of Nestor, specifically). It really gives you something to chew over.
Great stuff, this. It started out as the worst film possible - terrible acting, poor timing, awful 'comedy', until you realise what's afoot. Romain Duris is on top form as the director of a low-budget zombie film, who runs into all manner of trouble during filming. The set-up, and eventual pay-off are cleverly worked and the climax is just reward for sitting through the brave intro section. Top farce work from actual director, Michel Hazanavicius.
Ken Loach reckons he's done after this film and if so, he can't have served us a much better exemplar of his style. This film sees a bunch of Syrian refugees pitching up in the grim north; Durham, to be precise. Some of the locals aren't fook'n aven it man, and this attitude sets local barman, TJ, against the rest. A lovely plea for understanding and sense in a shitty world.
This is a fine two-hander about a young dad and his near-teenaged daughter trying to connect on a holiday in Turkey. Debutant director, Charlotte Wells strikes a rich vein in the relationship between Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio - they're brilliant together. An unsettling undercurrent runs through the film that keeps us guessing and wondering about what happened after(sun). Amazing filmmaking.
Not far off the very best from the guvnor of Ghibli Animation, Hayao Miyazaki. It involves a young boy who moves to the countryside during WW2 following the death of his mother. Once there, odd things start to happen, mostly stemming from the malevolent heron of the title. This fantasy-infused delight is kind of like a wrap-up of his career and it'll be a shame if he does hang up his quill (yeah, he probably doesn't use a quill).
Damien Chazelle's vibrantly messed up ode to Hollywood's golden era just spanks along from the get-go. The opening party sequence is worth the ticket alone, but the filming on location stuff that follows is even better. Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie bring the wattage but the real star is Chazelle himself. He moves the pieces around the board with a confident exuberance that belies his inexperience (this is his FOURTH feature, for fuck's sake).
1. Saltburn (2023)
A late dash to the finishing line for this filthy, icky satire on privilege and desiring it. The disgustingly eccentric Catton family have, and Oliver Quick have not. But he want. Debauchery and skullduggery ensue at the Saltburn manor over a hot summer. The cast, the dialogue, the cinematography, the music - all superb. Emerald Fennel has delivered a modern classic.
Some more highlights from films I saw in 2023 are laid out below:
Best kids' films: Wonka, The Amazing Maurice, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Feelgood films: Tenor, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Wonka, The Crime is Mine.
Feelbad films (but still good): Living, Godland, Prison 77, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, The Blue Caftan.
Weirdest films: Sick of Myself, Eo, Freaks.
Best shits and giggles: Cocaine Bear, Renfield, Palm Springs.
Best scenes: The diner scene in The Innocent, the hallway brawl in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, the train sequence in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, the Battle of Austerlitz in Napoleon.
Best performances: Bill Nighy in Living; Noémi Merlant in The Innocent; Fares Fares in Cairo Conspiracy; Sophie Wilde in Talk to Me; Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer; Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike in Saltburn; Nicolas Cage in Dream Scenario; Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall; Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio in Aftersun.
Best songs: 'In the Meantime' (Spacehog) in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3; 'Syntynyt Suruun ja Puettu Pettymyksin' (Maustetytöt) in Fallen Leaves; 'Under Pressure' (Queen and David Bowie) in Aftersun; 'Destroy Everything You Touch' (Ladytron) and 'Murder on the Dancefloor' (Sophie Ellis-Bextor) in Saltburn.
[Now, I'm not going to do a 'Worst of 2023' because I really only saw one terrible film last year. The rest were just blurgh (Slumberland, Operation Fortune, etc.) or run-of-the-mill blockbusters (Black Adam, Ant-man 3, Avatar 2, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, etc.). The most egregious of the lot, though, was Ari Aster's interminable neurosis toss, Beau is Afraid. Well, Shady was almost afraid but the overriding emotion was more anger than fear. Awful fucking shite.]
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