Overstreet's Favorite Films of 2023 — Part One: Honorable Mentions
While none of this year's movies are likely to join my Top 100 favorites of all time, there were many memorable highlights in all kinds of genres, from an impressively diverse array of filmmakers.
Want to recommend your favorite films of 2023?
Want to ask me any questions about mine?
That’s what the Comments section here is for!
The Annual Disclaimers and Definitions for This List
Between now and the Academy Award ceremony in March, I intend to post three huge reports on my favorite films of 2023 at Looking Closer. (This is conditional: December unleashed a sequence of life-altering crises that took all of my exciting plans and threw them out the window. If that happens again, my schedule for posting could change.)
But before I post things to Looking Closer, I’m giving you — the community of my friends and kindred spirits who subscribe to Give Me Some Light — an advance glimpse of the first two lists (the Honorable Mentions and Runners-Up). Paid subscribers will have advance access to the Top Ten list as well.
As my longtime readers know, I adhere to the wisdom of Treebeard: “Don’t be hasty.”
As I explain every year: I don't like to rush things. I'm unwilling to join the riot of reviewers who rush to post their favorites list in November, when there are still several weeks of movies that haven't yet been revealed. And even if I could see them all by November, I wouldn't have the time necessary for reflection, for reading others' perspectives, or for (in some cases) second viewings. I like to give art time. Because there's so much going on in a good movie that isn't immediately evident. Thoughtful interpretations and assessments take a while. Maybe you’re superhuman and you can arrive at a fully-formed reflection instantaneously. Not me.
So, even though my opinions will continue to evolve, and I will revise my lists at Looking Closer and on Letterboxd, I'm ready to share the first drafts of the 2023 lists.
2023 was not the kind of year that serves up movies likely to show up in my All-Time Top 100 list. I discovered many films I loved, but nothing yet that I would call “life-changing.” What were the highlights?
First — women were the writers and directors of so many extraordinary films this year. So many! That is an exciting and promising trend that I hope will be inspiring and influential around the globe, planting the seeds for cultural change that amplifies long-suppressed voices. I’m grateful for these filmmakers and these films.
Second — films made by women and men raised the question “What is a good man?” That is to say, they delivered relentless strikes against that monolithic global abomination that we’ve come to call “toxic masculinity.” And you could tell that they were hitting the mark, because, well… just consider how some of the world’s most backward-thinking and egomaniacal men reacted to Barbie. Many, many films exposed the destructive — and self-destructive — gender norms that narrowly define what men can and should be.
Narcissism, misogyny, violence, and the absence of empathy — these behaviors characterized monsters and villains and fools in movie after movie. I believe that this increased cultural dissatisfaction with the reality that real-world brutes, bigots, megalomaniacs control so much money and so much power in the world today. American democracy may be rapidly crumbling under the lies, abuse, and influence of such men, but the world’s dreamers are clear-eyed that there is no hope or justice if we allow such corruption to continue. I’m grateful for these filmmakers and these films, too.
Third — several movies reminded us of the joys of creative filmmaking. And by that, I mean the playfulness, the potential for surprise, the magic of creative production design, and the wild visions that characterized the early innovations of Georges Méliès and the visionary cityscapes of Jacques Tati. Several times this year, I felt a rare joy that, in spite of the excess of mediocrity served up on streaming platforms each week, we have not seen the end of visionary cinema.
So, here we go: I’ll start with my list of Honorable Mentions — movies that I enjoy and admire for many reasons, but they just didn’t make the cut of my Top 25 favorites on this day. I might change my mind about that when I revisit them later.
Honorable Mentions (Listed Alphabetically)
Director: Justine Triet
Writers: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
My post of first impressions on Letterboxd speaks to why I’m not naming this in my top ten, like almost every other critic on the planet. But there is so much about that is compelling and impressive… right up until the resolution that leaves me so disgruntled.
Director: Matt Johnson
Writers: Matt Johnson, Matthew Miller
I haven’t written about this film. I should. While brands and products are suddenly the focus of so many movies — perhaps a depressingly predictable trend in a culture of consumers who worship capitalism — this one reminded me of The Social Network in the best ways. The characters were interesting, the drama complex, the stakes nearly Shakespearean, and nothing seemed too carefully calibrated for crowd-pleasing. While Glenn Howerton seems like an actor doing what he does well, Jay Baruchel really surprised me with this performance. I had recently seen Ben Affleck’s Air, and this film provided me with a conveniently timed example of how to do this kind of thing very, very well. Check it out. You won’t regret it.
Director: Emma Seligman
Writers: Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott
Director: Michael Mann
Writer: Troy Kennedy Martin, based on the book Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine by Brock Yates
Directors: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley
Writers: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio
Writer and director: Hlynur Pálmason
Director: Alexander Payne
Writers: David Hemingson
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Writers: Ariela Barer, Jordan Sjol, Daniel Goldhaber (inspired by ideas in Andreas Malm’s book of the same title)
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writers: Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen
Director and writer: Sofia Coppola
“Screecher’s Reach” is the highlight of Star Wars: Visions, Season Two, and one of my favorite films of the year.
Directors: Paul Young
Writers: Will Collins & Jason Tammemägi
My overview of the shorts featured in Star Wars: Visions — Season 2.
Director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Writers: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callaham
Director: Juel Taylor
Writers: Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier
To be continued!
Coming soon, the Runners Up list — movies that probably deserve to be on a top ten list for 2023, but didn’t quite make mine.
Take your time posting your top movie picks. I can't wait to see the top 10.
Just reh read your review of Heathers... Err Bottoms. It's interesting because my daughter just asked if she could watch Heathers and I told her she could.
She's 14, I'm not sure yet if that was a good parenting moment or a bad one.
I am looking forward to having a conversation with her about it.