Film List – Deadline

Damon Wise’s best movies of 2023

This hasn’t been a great year for runaway favorites, but it has been a great year for films that puzzle, thrill and challenge. Every movie on this list deserves a second viewing, and I hope it will probably reward one…

May December

Todd Haynes’ latest drama takes on a scandalous ’90s tale, slowly revealing the colorful truth behind May and December’s relationship. Natalie Portman is at her best as a scheming actress documenting the life of Gracie, a middle-aged woman whose underage affair twice made tabloid headlines: first at the time, and then again when she married him. The always excellent Julianne Moore makes Gracie a charming act, but it’s newcomer Charles Melton who rises to the occasion as the young man caught in the crosshairs of two cunning, self-obsessed women. Michel Legrand’s spine-tingling score Mediator It also plays a crucial role.

Anatomy of a fall

In a Cannes competition full of returning winners, director Justine Tritt’s winding thriller certainly punched above its weight to win the Palme d’Or this year. Key to its success is the stunning central performance by Sandra Holler, who makes the harrowing 152-minute runtime fly by. But credit also goes to the screenplay by Tritt and her husband, Arthur Harary, which takes a simple murder mystery and turns it into a dazzling dissection of a marriage, in which a German novelist finds herself accused of murder after an unexplained death. From her French husband. The case goes to court, but questions remain long after the seemingly decisive ruling.

Area of ​​interest

Ten years later Under the skinJonathan Glazer has done it again: he took a book, stripped down its contents and somehow created an experimental masterpiece with the bare bones that remained. (Sadly, author Martin Amis died the week the film premiered at Cannes, but he likely would have approved.) Using honest, Big Brother-style, remote-controlled cameras, Area of ​​interest The film shows the daily life of the Höss family living in the shadow of Auschwitz. The visuals tell us the story of a middle-class rural tale, but the soundtrack – harrowing screams and gunshots, as well as the hellish sounds of apocalyptic mecha music – reminds us of what’s happening on the other side of the garden wall.

Retainers

Frost, Nixon, and the chaos of dilapidated classrooms loom large Retainers, where Paul Giamatti and Alexander Payne reunite in another of their wonderful characters. Set in 1970, Professor Paul Hunham is left with the task of monitoring the students at his boarding school who do not have a home for the Christmas holidays. It’s not hard to see where things are going, but the chemistry between the main players — most notably Da’Vine Joy Randolph as the recently bereaved chef — creates a genuine warmth that transcends absurdity. Likewise, Payne recreates the pre-Internet era with an analog mastery and attention to detail that’s evident even in the trailer.

Past life

Like Barry Jenkins moon lightCeline Song’s debut flourished in a year that saw two high-profile films dominate cinematic discourse (V moon lightCase, it was La la land And Manchester by sea). It’s possible, in fact, that the sound and fury of the Barbenheimer debate led viewers to watch this quiet, gently explored drama, sort of the opposite. Sliding doors A young Korean-American woman named Nora (Greta Lee) gets a chance to reverse the effects of chance and time when her childhood sweetheart contacts her via Facebook. The final scene, in which Nora finally decides how this will all play out, is absolutely perfect.

American fantasy

After tasting his comedic genius in Asteroid city (General Gibson’s deadpan “That Was Life” speech) Jeffrey Wright gets an entire movie to remind us what he can do. Adapted from the 2001 novel Erase Written by Percival Everett This film stars Wright as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a middle-class African-American author disgusted by the enlightenment of misery memoirs, who writes a trashy gangster novel under a pseudonym and pretends to be a con man. To his dismay, the book is a huge success, and there is plenty of comedy in the situation he finds himself in next. But Cord Jefferson’s debut is a quietly radical film in many other ways, mainly by telling a story that’s entirely relatable in parallel. A family deals with personal issues like any other family.

Dream scenario

At night, when you’re asleep, he’ll creep into your bed… not the Sheikh of the Arabs, but Paul Matthews, an ordinary biologist who becomes a “thing” when he starts appearing in people’s dreams, initially as a negative presence. Paul is baffled by his sudden notoriety and reluctantly embraces it, only to find that his cult status is short-lived when those dreams begin to turn into nightmares and his students want him gone. Starring Nicolas Cage, Dream scenario It brilliantly captures the zeitgeist of the Internet age, reducing complex issues to mere memes and reserving the right to cancel at any moment.

Moonflower Killers

Martin Scorsese’s “First Western” has been the subject of endless discussion since its sole showing at Cannes, mostly due to its sensitivity to the Native American issue and Lily Gladstone’s outstanding performance. But for me, the film belongs to Robert De Niro in his best performance since his last association with Scorsese, channeling the amoral spirit of Roger Stone in his portrayal of William King Hill, the architect of the Osage murders. Likewise, Thelma Schoonmaker continues to be the power behind the throne, cutting with verve and energy and a very light touch, and the film almost dances to the finish line.

Bad things

When it comes to world-building, Yorgos Lanthimos is in a league of his own, not only in terms of design but also in terms of the way he bends famous actors to his will and blows their familiar on-screen persona into smithereens. Emma Stone is a perfect example of this, subverting her rom-com past by playing the sexually aggressive femme fatale Bella, an immoral experiment created by an emotionally and physically scarred scientist (Willem Dafoe). Bella’s adventures aren’t for everyone, nor is the over-ambitious running time, but Lanthimos has a theatrical finesse for the macabre that rivals David Lynch’s adventures. Elephant man For anger and intrigue.

Priscilla

The Ramones’ version of The Ronettes’ “Baby, I Love You” is the surprise introduction to Sofia Coppola’s loose-lipped account of Elvis Presley’s marriage, as seen from the less familiar point of view of his young wife, Priscilla. The jury’s still out on whether Jacob Elordi has any of the King’s charisma, but Cailee Spaeny proved a revelation in the title role, elegantly transitioning into a role that raises more questions as the years go by. Coppola chose not to dwell on the grooming, instead showing the journey of someone who heroically extricated himself from a bad relationship in full view of the media spotlight. Needless to say, the soundtrack is fantastic, perhaps Coppola’s best yet.