It is meaningful to me to be back here, compiling a list of ten for DN, following a year off last year. Coming back I feel my list is different to what it may have been without the break, where my film watching, cinema-going and general cinephilia took new forms that are still revealing themselves. Some notes:
There is no inclusion of Enys Men or One Fine Morning, which for me are 2022 films and though released cinematically this year I wish to leave that year well and truly behind me. I’ve only included films where there is a trailer link so there’s no room for Nariman Massoumi’s poetic short doc Pouring Water on Troubled Oil, currently screening at festivals though criminally getting overlooked at many that should show it, John Akomfrah’s stunning installation Arcadia, at The Box in Plymouth until June 2024, or finally, Mark Jenkin’s incredible short film A Dog Called Discord, commissioned for the BFI’s Film on Film season, and available to stream for free via the BFI Player.
Anyway, thanks to MarBelle for welcoming me back to the fold, I present 10 of my favourite 2023 UK releases, in alphabetical order, below.
Honourable mentions: Nicole Holofcener’s You Hurt My Feelings and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which I adored but which needs no further celebration or awareness-raising.
10. AFIRE | Christian Petzold
Art. Ego. Vulnerability. Arrogance as self-defence. Forest Fires.
9. AIR | Ben Affleck
Sneakers. Mothers. Foresight/Vision. Great Performances. Brillo hair Ben.
8. ASTEROID CITY | Wes Anderson
Invention. Love. Craft. Hanks. Sexual Starlet Scarlet.
7. THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS | Felix Van Groeningen & Charlotte Vandermeersch
Male friendship. Isolation. Capacity to change. Scenery as production value.
6. FALLEN LEAVES | Aki Kaurismäki
Master filmmaker. Masterpiece. Film of the year. Film of career?
5. FREMONT | Babak Jalali
Jarmuschian. Hilarious. Cinema of the Left. White Fang Shrink.
4. THE FUTURE TENSE | Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor
Home. Irishness x Britishness. Reflective/Reflexive. Dartington. Arts Education FTW.
3. GODLAND | Hlynur Pálmason
Silence in Iceland. Photography. Time. Futility. Faith.
2. IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING | Toby Amies
‘To be in the presence of music when it enters the room’. Music film par excellence.
1. A YEAR IN A FIELD | Christopher Morris
Biased. Gentleness. Slowness. Quietness. Hope.
You can check out the rest of team DN’s Top Ten picks here.
