The Best Films of 2023: A Year in Review

Let’s cross our fingers that 2024 is good for the movies. Just when it seemed like movie theatres were recovering from a few years of rolling COVID-precautionary closures, Hollywood executives brought their might and greed down against the writers and actors who helped make 2023 such a great year for movies. The guild strikes in response to the studios made for a pretty brutal Fall with festivals and releases generally offering limited coverage opportunities for dramatic films, which were already pretty tricky for anyone trying to make a living writing about movies in Canada. Some pretty great movies didn’t get their fair shake, especially since two (also pretty great) summer blockbusters, Barbie and Oppenheimer, overwhelmed the conversation and award season so far, setting up a lot of momentum for moviegoing on which Hollywood unfortunately failed to capitalise.

It’s therefore somewhat predictable that our collective list for the best films of 2023 leans early. Only four of the top ten films are fall festival premieres. Three more of the top ten—Past Lives, BlackBerry, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse—were on our list of 2023’s best at the mid-point. But scroll down through the individual lists and you’ll see a swath of titles that show what a strong year it was for movies despite Hollywood’s best efforts.

All contributors at That Shelf were invited to submit their picks for the top ten best films of 2023. We received 13 ballots with a spread of 55 different films receiving at least one vote. (Plus a bunch of films netting honourable mentions.) Please join us in celebrating the year in film!

The Best Films of 2023

1. Past Lives

The feature directorial debut of Celine Song topped our list with eight mentions and two number one placements. Past Lives marks Song a genuine talent to watch with its understated, but emotionally delicate portrait of Korean-American Nora (Greta Lee) caught between her love for her husband (John Magaro) and her Korean friend (Teo Yoo) who visits years after they parted and reignites old feelings. “Through deft glances and beautifully downplayed exchanges in which Nora juggles the roles of wife, friend, translator, and intermediary, Past Lives confronts the impossibility of having it all when it comes to life,” Pat Mullen wrote in our review of the film. “Past Lives takes audiences through the emotional roller coaster of the Before trilogy with the economy of Brief Encounter. There’s not a wasted second here, as is the case with loves that define our lives whether they stay or go. Eye-line matches and reaction shots reveal a delicate tango of love and loss.”

2. Oppenheimer

There wasn’t simply a winner in the Barbenheimer war here at That Shelf: there was a full-on slaughter. Oppenheimer nuked Barbie to smithereens. Christopher Nolan’s talky biopic scored seven mentions including one top spot, while Greta Gerwig’s Barbie only landed on three lists. “[I]n delving into the history of this incredibly complicated figure, Oppenheimer forces us to confront some of recent history’s greatest moral questions, and with them, our biggest failings,” wrote Emma Badame in our review of the film. “Not just with the ethics of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear deterrents, but in how we deal with differences of personality, and of thought and politics. As our contemporary world barrels both toward unprecedented change but also looks to regress to the politics of fear and division that marred the mid-20th century, it also makes us look far more intimately at ourselves and reflect on the kind of world we truly want to inhabit.”

3. Anatomy of a Fall

Forget Barbenheimer. 2023 was all about the “Sandra Hüller hates her husband” double bill of Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest. The former, this year’s Palme d’Or, features Hüller in a career performance as a woman on trial for allegedly killing her husband. (Although we all know that the dingo did it.) “This riveting, deeply affecting film takes on an odd-man-out quality both in terms of the children’s game and the eponymous artistic works (the play by Harold Pinter and the unrelated film by Carol Reed) where at any given point it rotates on an axis that lands on each victim,” noted Barbara Goslawski in our review of the film. “The parents battle each other but their only child who is caught in the middle ends up having a certain privileged vantage point. All members of this family are in actuality victims at any given time, depending on the perspective presented. Even the dog seems to know something.”

4. All of Us Strangers

There is no box of tissues in the world big enough to prepare Shelfers for the ugly cry inspired by All of Us Strangers. The film by Andrew Haigh topped the list for its deeply moving adaptation of the novel Strangers by Japanese writer Taichi Yamada. Haigh, who broke ground for queer cinema with 2011’s Weekend, offers a thoughtful consideration of lost time, regrets, and things left unsaid in this haunting ghost story that sees screenwriter Adam (Andrew Scott) reconnect with his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) who died when he was just a boy. Throw in a seductive performance by Paul Mescal as Adam’s dashingly handsome, if somewhat creepy, younger neighbour in an otherwise empty apartment building, and All of Us Strangers hits all the right notes with Haigh’s study of queer relationships, particularly the words passed from one generation to the next. Most refreshingly, Haigh’s script takes Yamada’s probing study of loneliness to assert that “the lifestyle” is anything but. It also rivals The Taste of Things for the best, er, food-on-film moment of 2023. (Opens Jan. 5)

5. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Just when super hero movies were starting to feel dead on arrival, and multi-verse stories were becoming way over done, seemingly appearing in everything, everywhere, all at once, along comes an animated lark that takes the trope to new heights with layers of animation. “Across the Spider-Verse is a glowing love letter to Spider-Man’s legendary mythology, and it’s bursting at the seams with homages and Easter eggs. An avid Spider-Man fan could watch this film 20 times and find something new with each viewing,” said Victor Stiff in our review of the film. “Across the Spider-Verse examines how much we can alter a classic character before they lose the essence of what we cherish. Must every Spider-Man story include a murdered uncle? Does Spider-Man always have to take s#!t from J. Jonah Jameson? By having Miles and Gwen confront these questions, the film digs into some weighty Shakespearean themes regarding fate, tragedy, and individual agency.”

6. BlackBerry

Move over, Transylvania! Waterloo shall henceforth be known as the place where the vampires are from. This made-in-Canada dramedy is a scrappy rise-and-fail tale that could only hail from the land of the maple leaf. Matt Johnson’s film brilliantly captures the unlikely success of underdog startup Research in Motion and its creation of the BlackBerry, which revolutionized technology for better and for worse (mostly worse) by putting email in the palms of consumers’ hands. Jay Baruchel gives quite possibly the most Canadian performance ever as Mike Lazaridis, the overly modest and deferential wizard to Glenn Howerton’s mercurial boss bitch Jim Basille. But it’s really the cinematic energy that sets BlackBerry apart from the pack this year. Johnson proves himself at the top tier of his generation by harnessing the jittery, fake-the-budget, go-big-or-go-home gamble that the RiM guys played while rolling dice with high tech. Finally, something good came from phones with email.

7. The Zone of Interest

Sandra Hüller (her again!) shows another side of her talents playing the “Queen of Auschwitz” in Jonathan Glazer’s chilling consideration of the normalization of evil in The Zone of Interest. “There are no brutal kill shots here. No chilling death marches. No gut-wrenching trips to the showers. The horrors of Schindler’s List and Son of Saul play offscreen here. The Zone of Interest is a Holocaust story, told through lunches, restless nights, and spoiled picnics,” noted Pat Mullen in our review of the film. “Hüller creates a woman of truly chilling coldness and detachment. Hedwig lives in an alternate reality where all is calm and merry. Germany is floundering in the war, but she speaks of a near future in which the Führer’s promise is reality. As with Glazer’s direction, Hüller’s performance is a masterclass in restraint.” Winner of Best Picture and Best Director from the Toronto Film Critics Association and a favourite at Cannes this year, The Zone of Interest is an audacious work of auteur cinema. See it in TIFF Lightbox Cinema 2 if you can.

8. The Holdovers

Paul Giamatti gives the performance of his career in The Holdovers playing a curmudgeonly teacher stuck babysitting some students over the holidays. “The Holdovers is an unabashedly old-school stock of Hollywood comedy. It evokes the best of Hal Ashby with the belly laughs of a John Candy film. Professor Hunham, perhaps, is the Uncle Buck of the cinematic literati. As played by Giamatti, he’s a pompous windbag who always has a useless fact up his pipe and a cheeky remark at the ready, yet the actor delivers even the deadliest of Hunham’s zingers without a trace of malice. Some of the toughest teachers can also be the best ones,” said Pat Mullen while reviewing the film. “In his hands, Professor Paul Hunham delivers his first true master class. This performance is one for the books.” So too is Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s scene-stealing force of heart and humour. She’s the film’s secret weapon.

9. Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Scorsese might leave audiences feeling conflicted with Killers of the Flower Moon and its true crime tale of the mass murder of the Osage tribe. However, it’s honest about its failures and earnest in its attempts to portray an honest account of colonial violence with its take on David Grann’s book about the case that inspired the formation of the FBI. “The adaptation goes into the homes of victims, survivors, and killers alike (as does Grann’s book). There’s no big reveal about, either, who the titular killers are. Scorsese and Roth instead unfold the machinery of organized crime. Scorsese, after all, is the king of mob movies. He recognizes Hale as a Mafioso of the West. This gripping true crime yarn fits firmly in Scorsese territory. It’s a violent tale of America’s decay and the men who consume all in their wakes,” observed Pat Mullen in our review of the film. “A pensive score by Robbie Robertson, a bittersweet finale in his long-time collaboration with Scorsese, adds a tone of simmering menace to the story. Drumbeats lend the film a suspenseful pulse as Killers asks what it takes to awaken to the violence of settler-colonial greed.”

10. Poor Things

Perhaps the wackiest, funniest, and most daringly unhinged film of 2023, Poor Things is the steampunk Nell remake we didn’t know we needed. “As Bella, Stone fearlessly embraces every single aspect of Bella’s evolution. She creates Bella’s journey from infantilized experiment to a fully developed, shrewd, sharp, and self-aware woman. Lanthimos smartly utilizes Stone’s natural gift for physical comedy, and aligns the star with Tony McNamara’s wry script and some career-best performances from one of the most talented casts assembled this or any other year,” wrote Mel Valentin in his review of the film. “Add Shona Heath and James Price’s hyper-stylized production design — inspired by Federico Fellini, Terry Gilliam, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, among others — and Poor Things is not just one of the most original films of the year, but also one of its most gleefully provocative works, too.”

More of 2023’s Bests

Best Lead Performance

2023 has been a stellar year for film, so it’s no surprise that there has been a steady stream of memorable performances over the past twelve months from both new talents and old stalwarts. That said, there have been quite a few that–according to our team–stood out from the pack. The one thing they all have in common? These performers so wholly inhabit each character that not only does it feel as if the parts were written for them, but that it’s well-nigh impossible to picture anyone else in their place. Perhaps no more so than the always excellent Andrew Scott as the protagonist of Andrew Haigh’s romantic fantasy-drama All of Us Strangers–itself an adaptation of the 1987 novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada. As lonely, creatively-blocked screenwriter Adam, Irish thesp Scott quietly commands every second he’s on screen, providing a masterclass in stillness and emotional catharsis opposite an equally attuned supporting cast of Claire Foy, Paul Mescal and Jamie Bell. There are no false or wasted moments; no lines or looks not informed by his character’s isolation, pain and loss. In a year filled with many thoroughly entertaining big acting swings, Scott stands out for the subtle and quiet perfection of his thoroughly excellent performance. He led our poll with three votes.

Speaking of big swings, Emma Stone has provided audiences with yet another riveting performance courtesy of her second collaboration with filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, as Bella in Poor Things, which got two votes. It seems unlikely that any actor had quite as much fun inhabiting a character as Stone seems to here, with her characters liberation from societal norms allowing her to run the full gamut of emotions from A to Z. Greta Lee and Cillian Murphy also landed two votes each, for their performances in Past Lives and Oppenheimer, respectively. Lee was enchanting in Celine Song’s original, romantic drama–catching the attention of fans and critics the world over, while Murphy’s long awaited epic take on J. Robert Oppenheimer lived up to, and even surpassed, all expectations. Lily Gladstone gained a vote for their turn in Killers of the Flower Moon–one of three impressive performances from the newcomer this year, while Paul Giamatti gained one for his lead role in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. Though the role of the academic curmudgeon was written specifically for Giamatti, the talented actor not only perfectly embodied the embittered private-school prof, but also managed to deliver a career-best performance. Carey Mulligan, finally, netted one vote for her turn as Felicia Montealegre in Maestro.

Best Supporting Performance

Ryan Gosling may be “just Ken” in Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s pink plastic magnum opus, but the Canadian actor brought so much heart, silliness, and beach to the role, our critics couldn’t get enough. Coming out on top of a year filled with performances ranging from the serious (Tatanka Means in Killers of the Flower Moon) to the deliciously sublime (Juliette Binoche in The Taste of Things), Gosling really lets himself get into Ken’s plastic (and empty) head. Capped off with a musical number inspired by Singin’ in the Rain, Gosling proved he really can do it all in Barbie.

Elsewhere in cinema, Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s moving performance as grieving cafeteria administrator Mary in The Holdovers is a quiet and heart-wrenching turn that’s not without its moments of lightness. Robert Downey, Jr. managed to stand out in a stuffed ensemble in Oppenheimer providing some true scene-stealing moments, while Glenn Howerton created a portrayal of businessman and entrepreneur Jim Balsilie in BlackBerry that defied all expectations. Standing out in an all-star cast, meanwhile, Danielle Brooks brought heart and soul to The Color Purple, reprising her 2015 Broadway revival role as the fierce and funny Sofia. Her performance of the song “Hell No!” is one of the best musical moments of 2023. Also getting one vote were Natascha Lyonne in festival favourite His Three Daughters and David Byrne’s oversized suit in Stop Making Sense.

Best Canadian Film

We’re not sure how many writers filed their lists via BBM, but Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry edged out Sophie Dupuis’ Solo six votes to four. The dramedy does Canada proud, especially for the meaty role it gives Jay Baruchel, who plays RiM CEO Mike Lazaridis and holds his own against Glenn Howerton’s larger-than-life performance by playing it subdued and straight. Solo, meanwhile, proves that Dupuis and star Théodore Pellerin are one of Canada’s best actor-director combos. Their third outing (after Chien de garde and Underground) is a lively, colourful, and vibrant tribute to the drag scene that boasts a true a-star-is-born performance from Pellerin. Rounding out the votes with one shout-out is Seagrass, Meredith Hama-Brown’s sedate but promising first feature.

Best Documentary

Contributors found truth in performance as Kaouther Ben Hania’s acclaimed fusion of documentary and drama Four Daughters topped our documentary poll with three votes. The film sees the director tell a family’s story with two of four daughters played by actresses, as well as a thespian playing mother Olfa when the story becomes too much for the woman to play herself. The film beautifully underscores the sense of loss that consumes the family as the actors and the participants eventually get to the truth behind the daughters’ disappearance. On a much different note, though, is runner-up Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make Believe, which scored two votes for its heart-warming portrait of the beloved Canadian TV icon. Coming in with one vote each, finally, were the vivacious portrait of Black trans sex workers in Kokomo City, the wild by true study of Satan Wants You, the gripping feat from the frontlines of 20 Days in Mariupol, the Tierra Whack profile Cypher, and Four Daughters’ co-recipient of the documentary prize at Cannes, The Mother of All Lies.

Best Television/Episodic

Succession’s final bow and season 2 of The Bear bow topped our critics’ poll with three and two votes, respectively. Succession delivered the perfect swan song for the Roy dynasty. The death of family patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) in episode 3 was like watching an acting masterclass pot on by one of television’s best ensembles. Meanwhile, with mouth-watering dishes served up in FX’s The Bear and bolstered by an incredible ensemble led by Jeremy Allen White and Eyo Edibiri, the sophomore season left audiences begging for seconds.

It’s no secret That Shelf digs Mike Flanagan’s horror films, but he continues to work his magic on the small screen, too. The writer/director continued his dark Netflix partnership with yet another skilled and haunting modern literary adaptation, this time with The Fall of the House of Usher. Our critics were also won over by the Pedro Pascal-led The Last of Us, Daisy Jones & The Six, and Blue Eye Samurai this year.

Best Festival Film Awaiting Release or Distribution

The best part of the movie-goer’s film festival experience is the discovery of those smaller cinematic gems that take you completely by surprise. The ones you cannot wait to show friends and family so that they can share in your excitement. One annoying obstacle that can stand in the way of sharing said favourites is if those fab flicks either fail to garner post-festival distribution or are, in fact, still awaiting a final distribution deal. Our team at That Shelf headquarters has likewise been stymied by the system, with each contributor picking a different festival fave they’d love to crow about to anyone who will listen—if only there was a way for others to watch it too.

In 2023, our frustratingly hard to find (in Canada) cohort includes titles starring A-listers (and past and future award darlings) like Jodie Comer, Lily Gladstone, Colman Domingo and Elizabeth Olsen (alongside the equally awesome Carrie Coon and Natasha Lyonne): The End We Start From, Fancy Dance, Sing Sing, and His Three Daughters, respectively. There’s also, perhaps surprisingly, a few films that already count themselves among this year’s award winners: Brazil and Portugal’s Toll (Pedágio), Canada’s The Burning Season, Japan’s Evil Does Not Exist (which has Canadian distribution and can be expected in 2024), and South Africa’s Milisuthando. But perhaps most egregiously, Canadian movie fans are also still waiting for a chance to see Wim Wenders’ latest, Perfect Days, which has been selected as Japan’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. (It opens in February.) The sooner wider audiences get a chance to take in these special cinematic treats, the better all of our contributors will feel. Let’s get this party started, distributors!

One vote each: The Burning Season, Sing Sing, The End We Start From (no Cdn), Evil Does Not Exist, Toll, Fancy Dance, Milisuthando, Perfect Days, His Three Daughters

Best “New to You” Film of 2023

With 2023 being a relatively slow year for movies in terms of things opening week by week, writers caught up with some oldies but goodies. Picks for the best ‘new to you’ movies of the year included Jonathan Demme’s mother of all concert docs Stop Making Sense, which offered a great intro in its new 4K restoration on the big screen. Other highlights included Noirvember essentials M and Dishonored, directed by Fritz Lang and Josef von Sternberg, respectively. One can never go wrong with Marlene Dietrich. Other classics on the list include Pulp, Mike Hodges’ 1972 crime comedy with Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney, along with the Barbra Streisand’s long-winded but timeless Funny Girl. On the contemporary side of things, our writers also caught up with Chan-wook Park’s The Handmaiden, David Robert Mitchell’s controversial cult hit Under the Silver Lake, Michael Mann’s ace-ensemble showpiece The Insider, and two of 2022’s highlights, Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun and Chandler Levack’s I Like Movies.

Most Anticipated Film of 2024

It’s no surprise that Denis Villeneue’s delayed Dune: Part Two is what our writers are most looking forward to. The film was hotly anticipated for release this year, and topped this question in 2022’s poll, but was delayed until March 15 due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike.

But there’s more to look forward to in 2024 besides Timothée Chalamet trudging through sand dunes. Cinephiles will be blessed with new films from Bong Joon-ho and Jordan Peele which also topped our list. Nothing has been announced about Peele’s upcoming project, but the idea of a new film by Peele is enough to get us salivating. Set for release on March 29, Bong Joon-ho puts Robert Pattinson in space in Mickey 17, a sci-fi tale about a disposable employee who is sent on a human expedition to colonize an ice planet and after one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of the original’s memories still in place. Also receiving votes of anticipation in a year full of familiar titles are Nosferatu and Inside Out 2.

Individual Lists for the Best Films of 2023!

Dakota Arsenault

Monster
The Teachers’ Lounge
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
BlackBerry
The Zone of Interest
Oppenheimer
The Killer
Evil Does Not Exist
The Royal Hotel
Fallen Leaves

Honourable Mentions: Asteroid City; Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret; Sometimes I Think About Dying; Satan Wants You

Emma Badame

All of Us Strangers
Oppenheimer
Anatomy of a Fall
Past Lives
Poor Things
American Fiction
The Holdovers
The Zone of Interest
The Royal Hotel
Rye Lane

Honourable mentions: The End We Start From, A Thousand and One, Nimona, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Colin Biggs

Oppenheimer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The Holdovers
Barbie
Poor Things
Maestro
When Evil Lurks
Asteroid City
Ferrari

Ethan Dayton

Theater Camp
His Three Daughters
American Fiction
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
May December
BlackBerry
Poor Things
Past Lives
Fair Play
Talk to Me

Honourable mentions: Bottoms, You Hurt My Feelings, Scream 6, Saw X

Marko Djurdjic

Maestro
When Evil Lurks
Asteroid City
The Killer
Anatomy of a Fall
Air
John Wick 4
Sick of Myself
Godland
Stop Making Sense

Honourable mentions: Blue Jean, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Larry Fried

Past Lives
Ferrari
BlackBerry
The Holdovers
The Peasants
Dream Scenario
All of Us Strangers
The Iron Claw
Perfect Days
Society of the Snow

Honourable mentions: Oppenheimer; Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret; Godzilla Minus One; May December; American Fiction

Jason Gorber

The Zone of Interest
20 Days in Mariupol
The Taste of Things
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Maestro
The Holdovers
Perfect Days
Asteroid City
Poor Things

Barbara Goslawski

Perfect Days
Anatomy of a Fall
Fallen Leaves
Past Lives
Passages
The Mother of All Lies
All of Us Strangers
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
The Zone of Interest
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

Honourable mentions: Four Daughters, Afire, The Teachers’ Lounge, May December, American Fiction, Poor Things, Kokomo City, Joyland, The Taste of Things, The Mountains, Solo, Someone Lives Here, Killers of the Flower Moon