As 2024 draws to a close and Best of 2024 Film Lists are published,
I am finally ready to publish an updated Best of 2023 list. It has taken me
almost two years to catch up with many of the worthy 2023 films. This list updates the previous 2023 list.
Best Films of 2023
1. Past Lives (USA/South Korea, Celine Song)
A tender emotionally beautiful film. Like a soothing piece of music.
2. La Chimera (Italy/France/Switzerland/Turkey, Alice Rohrwacher)
A warm shape shifting film that tugs at both the mind and heart.
3. Close Your Eyes (Spain/Argentina, Victor Erice)
Erice returns after a long spell to deliver pure cinema! A
film that reminds of cinema’s power to evoke memories. The kind of cinema that
feels rare nowadays.
4. Eureka (Argentina co-production,
Lisandro Alonso)
Another exciting cinematic work from a master filmmaker.
Alonso expands his lens in a manner that recalls the hyperconnected world of
Eduardo Williams' The Human Surge.
5. The Taste of Things (France/Belgium, Trần Anh Hùng)
A lovely film that takes us on a food journey from growing ingredients
to careful food preparation ending with pleasures of food consumption. The film
is also a tender love story forged over food and extends the statement “that
the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Because in this film, a man
also cooks for a woman, thereby making the kitchen an equal space for men-women
to neatly perform their food dance.
6. Godzilla Minus One (Japan, Takashi Yamazaki)
Shin Godzilla was about logistics and problem
solving while Godzilla Minus One smartly builds on that and
depicts how to use engineering to solve a very large Godzilla problem.
7. Laapataa Ladies (India, Kiran Rao)
Kiran Rao and writers Biplab Goswami, Divyanidhi Sharma, Sneha Desai have done
an outstanding job by seamlessly stitching socially relevant topics within the
fabric of a humorous comedic film.
8. The Delinquents (Argentina/Luxembourg/Brazil/Chile, Rodrigo Moreno)
Takes the bank fraud at core of the 1949 Argentine film Apenas un
delincuente and transforms it into a languid stroll through the
countryside.
9. How to have Sex (UK/Greece/France/Belgium, Molly Manning Walker)
At first, this appears to be cut from the same cloth as Spring
Breakers but the film digs deeper into how men can still
circumvent consent in a post #MeToo world.
10. 12th Fail (India, Vidhu Vinod Chopra)
It is hard to believe that Vidhu Vinod Chopra, a major name in Indian Cinema,
has made one of the best films of his career at the age of 70 (he is 71
now). 12th Fail is a film stripped of any fat and with
a singular focus. The struggles of exams and getting a job in India have been
documented in cinema before but Chopra has infused the film with plenty of
hope. Part of the reason for that could be that the film is based on the
real life story of Manoj Kumar Sharma and Shraddha Joshi and highlights how
that there was always a ray of hope around the corner for the main character
despite many pitfalls.
Honourable Mentions (in order of preference):
Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (India, Arjun Varain Singh)
A highly relevant contemporary film that depicts impact of social media on
current generation. The film is set in Mumbai but the scenarios and characters
can be found in most internet-connected nations around the world.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Vietnam co-production, Thien An
Pham)
An earthy interpretation of Apichatpong’s spiritual cinema.
La Cancha (Canada, Mustafa Uzuner)
Mustafa Uzuner lovingly depicts how a community basketball court in Montreal
can be a meditation on life and social connections. Pure cinema.
Io Capitano (Italy/Belgium/France, Matteo Garrone)
A film that goes beyond the headlines and depicts the perilous journey of its
two characters from Senegal to Italy. Garrone also shows how communities spring
up and sustain characters in cities/nations that find themselves at centre of
migration.
Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (Romania co-production, Radu Jude)
One of the funniest films of the year that manages to take a dig at lengths
corporations go to manufacture/sustain their social image. The constant social
media attention of main character means she wouldn’t be out of place with the
characters in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan.
Mast Mein Rehne Ka (India, Vijay Maurya)
Samsara (Spain, Lois Patiño)
Blackberry (Canada, Matt Johnson)
The Settlers
(Chile co-production, Felipe Gálvez
Haberle)
About Dry Grasses (Turkey/France/Germany/Sweden, Nuri
Bilge Ceylan)
Worthy 2022 films seen in 2024:
Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (India, Lijo Jose Pellissery)
Trenque Lauquen (Argentina/Germany, Laura Citarella)
The Beasts (Spain/France, Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
Showing Up (USA, Kelly Reichardt)
Zwigato (India, Nandita Das)
Uses an example of a food
delivery worker to provide a smart commentary on plight of workers in our
current tech savvy app driven world.
