2023 Faves: Film

My favorite films, performances, and first time watches

There’s still a few films that I need to watch that I missed in 2023 (namely: Earth Mama, The Zone of Interest, and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt). And I only managed to watch a few over 100 films this year, something I’d like to at least double in 2024. But here’s a list of my sixteen favorite films I watched in 2023, ranked.

Poor Things

May December

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé

Godzilla Minus One

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Anatomy of a Fall

The Holdovers

Saw X

The Iron Claw

Passages

Rotting in the Sun

Asteroid City

No Hard Feelings

Killers of the Flower Moon

A Thousand and One

Monica

Favorite Performances: Erika Alexander (American Fiction), Tobin Bell (Saw X), Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction), Zac Efron (The Iron Claw), Fantasia (The Color Purple), Andrew Barth Feldman (No Hard Feelings), Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall), Greta Lee (Past Lives)*, Trace Lysette (Monica), John Magaro (Past Lives)*, Charles Melton (May December), Messi (Snoop, the dog in Anatomy of a Fall) Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers), Franz Rogowski (Passages), Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers), Emma Stone (Poor Things), Teyana Taylor (A Thousand and One)

Favorite First Time Watches: Beau Travail (1999), Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), The Housemaid (1960), Opening Night (1977), Safe (1995), Thief (1981), Three Colours: Blue (1993), Three Colours: Red (1994)

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*This post did not originally include Past Lives, but it was my first watch of 2024. A very good film and gorgeously directed, but not one of my personal favorites. Not enough sweeping emotion for me, I love romances. I thought Greta Lee was captivating and my controversial take is that John Magaro fear that he might lose Nora, while also wanting to encourage her reunion with Hae Sung is actually the heart of the film.