By John Corrado

There were a lot of good movies released in 2023, but one of the best things about the year that just ended is that it finally felt like the movies were truly, fully back following the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a year when a talky, three-hour biopic like Oppenheimer could make nearly a billion dollars at the box office over the summer, and become part of a genuine viral phenomenon with the Barbie movie (aka Barbenheimer, the best moviegoing event of the year!).

Even in a landscape that still prioritizes streaming (and dramatically shortened theatrical windows that leave box office revenue on the table), these were encouraging trends. Below is my top ten list – and fifteen honourable mentions – of what I felt were the best movies of last year, a broad cross-section of films ranging from massive blockbusters to intimate indies, encompassing everything from big action movies, to animation and international films.

Honourable Mentions:

#25: Maestro; #24: May December; #23: Evil Does Not Exist; #22: Blackberry; #21: The Iron Claw; #20: All of Us Strangers; #19: Fallen Leaves; #18: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; #17: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; #16: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1; #15: Monster; #14: Perfect Days; #13: John Wick: Chapter 4; #12: The Boy and the Heron; #11: Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.

#10: Anatomy of a Fall

Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner, with a title inspired by Otto Preminger’s 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder, is a compelling courtroom drama. Sandra Hüller delivers a powerhouse performance as a dissatisfied wife put on trial for her husband’s death, while young Milo Machado Graner holds his own as the visually impaired son who must stand as a witness. Bolstered by an intelligent, highly articulate screenplay, Triet’s film is most riveting for the way that it constantly makes us reevaluate concepts of justice and truth, leaving us with plenty to think and talk about afterwards. (Review)

#9: Barbie

A year ago, it would have seemed ridiculous to think that a Barbie movie would make this list. But this is Greta Gerwig’s Barbie; an endlessly enjoyable, delightful, and surprising film that cleverly subverts expectations as a movie based on the classic doll, thanks to an intelligent screenplay by Gerwig and partner Noah Buambach. Margot Robbie is wonderful as the “stereotypical Barbie” discovering there is more beyond her pink, plastic world, while Ryan Gosling steals every scene as “himbo” Ken. It not only turned into the biggest hit of the year over the summer, but is also genuinely one of the best movies of 2023, cementing Gerwig as an unstoppable force. (Review)

#8: Priscilla

Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla serves as the subdued, melancholic companion piece to the spectacle of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis (which made my best list last year), offering a beautifully crafted portrait of Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) that explores a much darker side of her relationship to Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi). Spaeny does wonderful, understated work in the titular role, while Elordi puts his own magnetic spin on Elvis. It’s Coppola’s best since Lost in Translation, and that is very high praise. (Review)

#7: Poor Things

This latest confection from Yorgos Lanthimos, following his Oscar-winning The Favourite, is built around a truly fearless performance from Emma Stone. Stone stars as Bella Baxter, a Frankenstein-type creation brought back to life with a baby brain in her head, who goes on a journey of sexual liberation. The results are weird and wonderful, with the film balancing outrageous humour, deeper philosophical ideas, and eye-candy production design. (Review)

#6: The Zone of Interest

Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is a Holocaust film, but one that explores these horrors from the perspective of a Nazi commandant (Christian Friedel) and his wife (Sandra Hüller), who are raising their kids in an opulent home in the shadow of Auschwitz. It’s a positively chilling look at the banality of evil, and how regular people can do despicable things. One of the most striking artistic achievements of last year, and a film that has sadly only grown more relevant with the disturbing rise in antisemitism that we are currently seeing around the world. (Review)

#5: Killers of the Flower Moon

Like the previous entry on my list, Killers of the Flower Moon also explores despicable acts being carried out by seemingly normal men. This staggering latest film from Martin Scorsese explores a series of real life murders that took place in Oklahoma in the 1920s, when members of the Osage tribe were being killed for their oil money. Throughout every moment of the nearly three-and-a-half-hour running time, we are watching a master at work, with Scorsese building to one of the finest final sequences of any film last year. A compelling, sobering achievement that is both brilliantly crafted and performed. (Review)

#4: Oppenheimer

For his latest trick, Christopher Nolan crafts a riveting biopic of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. Nolan’s grand achievement follows Oppy (played by an awards-worthy Cillian Murphy) as he races to finish and test the bomb during World War II, giving a ticking clock element that drives this gripping opus. It’s a film that moves seamlessly despite running three hours, boasting some of the finest acting, production design, sound, editing, and music of 2023. The film got linked to Barbie due to sharing a release date, which can be credited with helping its success, but Oppenheimer stands tall on its own. (Review)

#3: Asteroid City

Asteroid City feels like Wes Anderson deconstructing Wes Anderson, pulling back the curtain to reveal that his meticulously crafted dioramas have always been a way for him to explore deeper themes, in this case grief and the passage of time. Through the story of a Junior Stargazing convention in the 1950s, Anderson crafts an ingenious nesting egg narrative that explores the very nature of storytelling and performance, brilliantly utilizing one of his finest ensemble casts ever assembled. This was a bridge too far for some more casual Anderson viewers, but as a longtime fan, it’s in the upper echelon of his work for me, and his best since The Grand Budapest Hotel. (Review)

#2: The Holdovers

Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers already feels like a new Christmas classic, or at least the closest we have gotten to one in quite some time. David Hemingson’s screenplay is one of the finest of the year, managing to be funny one moment and deeply heartfelt the next, with characters that we genuinely come to care about. Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa and Da’Vine Joy Randolph all perfectly compliment each other, delivering wonderful performances as the teacher, “holdover” student and school cook who all get stuck together over Christmas break at a New England boarding school. I watched this one twice during TIFF, which I normally never do. That’s how much I adored it. (Review)

#1: Past Lives

And here we have it, my number one pick for 2023 is Past Lives, the little film that could that has held onto this spot since I saw it back in May. Celine Song’s remarkable debut occupies the same space as films like Brief Encounter, the Before Trilogy and Lost in Translation, capturing a similar sense of romantic longing and wondering what might have been. It’s carried by a trio of deeply felt performances from Greta Lee as the woman stuck between two worlds, with Teo Yoo as the childhood friend she left behind in Korea, and John Magaro as her husband. The fact that this is Song’s first film ever (she never even directed a short before), just makes this assured work even more impressive. No other film left me sitting in the theatre when it was over wanting to cry like this one, and this emotional hold that it had over me is a big part of why Song’s tender, heartbreaking Past Lives occupies my top spot. (Review)