Best Films Of 2023

The global film industry is not standing still, and 2024 is already heralding loud premieres, but can we keep up with all the significant films of the past year in these races? If not - now is the perfect time to finally watch all those acclaimed films that we simply didn't have time for in 2023. Here's a list of the most interesting ones.

Adventures of Hercule Poirot in Venice, Bollywood-style feminist kung fu, murder investigations among oil-rich Indians, the highest-grossing film about World War II, and the poignant story of treating Parkinson's disease with humor and the return of the creative duo Payne-Giamatti. All this and more must be seen to understand what 2023 was like in the world of great cinema.

Best Drama

"Anatomy of a Fall," by Justine Triet, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2023. But what makes this film the best of the year is not just the gripping trial, when the viewer first sympathizes, then becomes angry that he was made to sympathize, so many times in a circle. And not even the flawless performance of "German Meryl Streep" Sandra Huller. It's that disturbing and frightening thought you leave with, like: it's really hard for the court to understand who stands before it - a villain or an innocent. But can I myself say that I really know that stranger who has been living in my apartment for many years and even sleeps with me in the same bed?

Best Comedy

Director Alexander Payne is known for his satirical films about American society. In his 2004 film "Sideways," one of his best roles was played by actor Paul Giamatti. And now, twenty years later, their new joint work has been released - the tragicomedy "The Holdovers." In Dirfield Academy, they call students who couldn't go home for Christmas "the holdovers." According to the plot, a teacher who is not popular with teenagers is given the task of supervising one of them. The boy turns out to be very rebellious, so soon the local cook Mary volunteers to help the teacher.

Best Thriller

Staff writer for The New Yorker David Grann published his documentary novel "Killers of the Flower Moon" in 2017 - and it immediately made it to the bestseller list, and last year Martin Scorsese's screen adaptation with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role was released. This story has everything you need for a real hit. Judge for yourself: the beginning of the 20th century, in the oil-rich Osage County, locals begin to mass murder Indians, so the newly created FBI, represented by agent Tom White, must prove: taxpayer money is not spent on him in vain. However, it will be very, very difficult to do this...

Best Detective

Agatha Christie's novel "Hallowe'en Party" is notable for featuring Hercule Poirot collaborating with mystery writer Ariadne Oliver. In the adaptation titled "A Haunting in Venice," she was played by Tina Fey, and the role of the famous detective himself was played by Hollywood's leading Shakespearean Kenneth Branagh ("Henry V", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Hamlet") - who also directed. According to the plot, while on vacation in Venice, Poirot's writer friend drags him into a spiritualistic séance to expose the medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh). However, the séance unexpectedly ends with the murder of Reynolds herself.

Best Action

If you love contemporary feminism, Hong Kong kung fu, Bollywood dance extravaganzas, spaghetti westerns, and Jane Austen novels - you'll love the debut of British director Nida Manzoor "Polite Society." It's the story of London and two Pakistani-origin teenage sisters, whom old-fashioned parents push towards respectable careers and finding good marriage partners - except the girls aren't interested. Rhea wants to become a stuntwoman, and Lena - an artist. For a while, they fight together for the right to live their lives, but Lena eventually succumbs to family pressures. Now Rhea's main task is to save her sister, who refused to follow her dream.

Best Historical Film

Nolan's "Oppenheimer" surpassed his own "Dunkirk" for the top spot, grossing nearly twice as much - $951 million. However, what helped the film gain traction was not even Cillian Murphy in the role of the "father of the atomic bomb," but an internet phenomenon dubbed Barbenheimer. The fact that anticipated but radically different films - a heavy drama and a fantasy comedy "Barbie" - were released on the same day sparked lively discussions on social media. People decided to buy two tickets at once and go see the movies "back-to-back" in one day, creating extreme emotional pop-cultural roller coasters for themselves. Try combining them yourself.

Best Cinematic Portrait

American actor Michael J. Fox gained worldwide fame in 1985 after the release of the film "Back to the Future." By 1991, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. For a while, the actor refused to believe that something was wrong with him, then he started drinking, then with the support of friends managed to quit, and finally embarked on treatment and even founded a foundation to help all those with the same problem. However, the disease has progressed relentlessly over the past 30 years, essentially putting an end to his film career. Davis Guggenheim's film "Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie" is a poignant story about how sometimes simple human humor becomes the only remedy in the world that truly helps to withstand the hard blows of fate.

Best Love Story

The semi-autobiographical directorial debut of Canadian-Korean Celine Song - the romantic drama "Past Lives" - caused a real sensation at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023. It's the story of two classmates whose first romance was cut short when the girl had to emigrate from her native Seoul to North America. Twelve years later, they found each other on social media, starting a new romance - this time via Skype. But it also ended abruptly when the girl switched from her online lover to a "material" American and then married him. And what do you think? Another twelve years have passed - and now her high school ex-boyfriend has flown to New York...

Best Animation

"Mavka. The Forest Song" is the first Ukrainian animated film to be released worldwide (translated into 32 languages and shown in 140 countries), and eventually topped the list of the highest-grossing national film projects. However, watching this adaptation of Lesya Ukrainka's drama-fairy tale is worth it because sometimes we need some truly bright, good, humane, and yes - fairy-tale experiences. This folklore-fantasy story about the love between a young villager and a forest nymph perfectly addresses the question for those who would like to forget about all their problems and misfortunes for at least an hour and a half in the evening.