2023, the year of the Barbenheimer double bill, spoiler: neither of them feature in my top ten, but what a year for getting people excited about the cinema again. Films have always been such a huge, influential and guiding part of my life and I hope this epic mastermind of filmmaking and marketing will ensure more future film lovers. As always, I wish I had watched more films and deciding on my top ten always brings me a certain level of angst as I have long relied on the medium to take me away from real life, yet simultaneously allow me to reflect on the themes within and their relatability to my own existence and the world I live in. The films that have made my list are those that have sat with me in both my waking and sleeping moments. They come back to me when I am least expecting and they make me want to read and listen to every interview and review I can find on the geniuses behind them. As I sit here in the doldrums between Christmas and New Year these titles echo delightfully through my senses, viscerally, mentally and ephemerally. I must also mention that much to my chagrin I am yet to revel in the latest offering of Yorgos Lanthimos in Poor Things despite having the pleasure of diving deep into the creation of its authentic pivotal sex scenes with firebrand Intimacy Coordinator Elle McAlpine in one of my favourite interviews of 2023, but we must have something to look forward to next year!
Honourable Mentions: Past Lives, Femme, Infinity Pool, May December, When Evil Lurks, No One Will Save You.
10. EARTH MAMA | Savanah Leaf
I was able to sit down and speak to this promising young director about her debut feature Earth Mama for DN as part of our BIFA coverage and it only made me fall in love with the film even more. Portrayals of motherhood can often be over sentimental, saccharin or bleak as fuck but Leaf’s Earth Mama is a captivating and truly affecting look at the systems which fail women over and over again. With a stunning injection of magic realism to balance out the gritty and politically charged narrative, her objective lens offers an eloquent and fiercely commendable drama.
9. ANATOMY OF A FALL | Justine Triet
As a clichéd lover of all things true crime I was enthralled by Sandra Hüller’s flawless performance as a wife accused of the murderer of her husband. Justine Triet’s layered courtroom drama keeps you guessing at every turn and I found myself struggling throughout to decide where my sympathies lay and who to believe. A look at marriage and motherhood which surpassed all of my expectations and still keeps me wondering as to whether justice was served.
8. HOW TO HAVE SEX | Molly Manning Walker
A truly impressive British independent film that brought me right back to my youth. I am not ashamed to say that I have pounded my fair share of strips over Europe seeking sun, freedom and attempting to assert myself as an adult. Looking back now the situations I put myself in and the encounters with men that I thought were fine at the time make me shudder and Molly Manning Walker brought me right back there. Her ability to capture the subtlety of trauma is something I have never seen before or been able to relate to so accurately.
7. SALTBURN | Emerald Fennell
Barry Keoghan is a genius, not only is the world talking about the size of his appendage but he masterfully plays one of the most nuanced grotesque, diabolical characters I have seen on screen. Families have squirmed with discomfort watching this over their leftover festive sandwiches whilst I was in seventh heaven at every vile and toe-curling scene. Fennell’s playful and debauched film is full of everything I could ever want: sex, scandal, jealousy, excess and above all a (thinly) veiled criticism of the rich!
6. DREAM SCENARIO | Kristoffer Borgli
I have long had a fascination with dreams. I am not someone who tries to decipher their meaning or use them as an analytical tool but find myself spellbound by the power they have over us. I can wake up feeling haunted, traumatised, nostalgic or joyful and I felt this with every turn of DN alum Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario. The film so aptly reflects the fickle whims we are subject to in our society these days just as we are subject to our sleeping hallucinations. Finally, Nic Cage…the man just keeps getting better and better!
5. LA CHIMERA | Alice Rohrwacher
Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality La Chimera not only explores Italy’s rich past and culture but love and loss at every turn. It is not the Tuscany that the world often sees but a beguiling underworld full of colourful and enchanting characters whose gang I would love to be a part of. It is a film I am already longing to watch again and know I will take more from with each viewing.
4. TÓTEM | Lila Avilés
What struck me most about Avilés’ visually arresting and heart-breaking film was the pace. We are swept into a whirlwind of preparations where intricate and entirely relatable family dynamics play out but I was drawn to the second speed within. Sol makes her way through the rich and luxuriant creative household she is part of taking her time to focus on the small things which made me slow down and really hone in on the exquisite details in cinematography, writing and celebration of life.
3. PARADISE IS BURNING | Mika Gustafson
Sisterhood isn’t easy despite genetics or upbringing you are forced into an often unbreakable bond with someone entirely different from you. Gustafson manages to perfectly embody the love, hatred, jealousy and struggles of those bonds within a poignant coming-of-age drama where the adults don’t hold the power and don’t really matter.
2. PASSAGES | Ira Sachs
Sex is central to Passages and the film contains some of the most realistic, intimate and passionate scenes I have seen on screen. Sach’s love triangle is so unique in its exploration of each of its central characters’ wants, desires and limits. Passages forced me to question my own morality, stance on relationships and ask myself who is really at fault.
1. ALL OF US STRANGERS | Andrew Haigh
I cannot get this film out of my mind, it haunts me, it randomly flashes before my eyes and it made me immediately return to re-read the book by Taichi Yamada on which it is based which I originally devoured at university. Reverberating with loneliness, longing and a desire to heal the wounds indelibly left on us by our upbringings, Haigh left me devastated, grieving for fictional characters I have never met and fantasising about what was left unsaid.
