And we are officially now done with 2023! As is our tradition each season, we turn the tables back on myself for whom I would've nominated. I will start out right away saying the clause I put on all of these-while I watch every film that was eligible for the OVP, I don't watch every film that came out in 2023. If there's a picture that missed with both Oscar and myself, call me out in the comments as it's possible I just need to see it. But overall, I feel good (I saw a lot of pictures last year), and think that this is honestly a bang-up Top 10 list (one of my favorites we've done so far). I will be headed on vacation for the next week, so not only will I not be writing more OVP's this week, but other than our Saturdays with the Stars article (which is pre-scheduled to close out our month on Doris Day), I will actually be going blank for the next week on the blog. We'll return with Season 26 of the OVP (and our first foray into the 1990's!) in mid-June. With that said, please enjoy my lineup for the best of 2023-links to all of our Oscar contests and all of my past My Ballots at the bottom...this is my favorite article series to write, so I hope you enjoy!
Afire
All of Us Strangers
Bottoms
The Eight Mountains
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Killers of the Flower Moon
May December
Of an Age
Priscilla
The Zone of Interest
Gold: All of Us Strangers is, for my money, the best film of the admittedly still-young decade. The movie combines a gothic horror onto two tales-one, a growing romance between two lonely men, and a second, that lonely man exploring the relationship with his parents that he was never able to have. Andrew Scott, Claire Foy, Jamie Bell, & Paul Mescal are a quartet for the ages.
Silver: Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest is an uncanny look at the depths of fascism, and the reality (but not humanity) behind it. The film's most provocative aspect isn't just that it makes cruelty feel like a to do list item, it's that it shows an historical picture, but one that we recognize every day in the present.
Bronze: Sofia Coppola continues her quest to be our most thoughtful director looking at the travails of young women. The way that she takes Priscilla Presley, perhaps the most famous "doormat" feminine figure of the 20th Century, and gives her a rich (but true-to-spirit) portrayal is proof that biopics don't have to be dull if you are willing to get creative.
Sofia Coppola, Priscilla
Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers
Christian Petzold, Afire
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Gold: I'm going to be honest-we're getting (I believe) our first exact carbon copy between Picture and Director in 2023 (boring, I know). But hear me out, and I'll tell you why. First, we have a beautiful ode to lost childhood from Andrew Haigh. Haigh's mastery of direction comes from the way he lets his leading actors play with sorrow and process it in different ways, and the camera learns from Andrew Scott's character's tale...Haigh's direction is so in-depth.
Silver: Second we have Jonathan Glazer's dark take on World War II. Here, the directorial style that Glazer has become known for (cold, detached, measured) is used to full force in his best picture to date. The use of technical elements in the film like art direction & sound mixing only underscore how much Glazer understands you have to use every aspect of the picture to terrify the audience.
Bronze: And then we have Sofia Coppola, whose Priscilla takes a look at the way that we give our heart before we know what we're getting in return (or before we want to know). I think the use of shade (for a woman who is always in another man's shadow) in select scenes compared to sunnier ones when the Priscilla comes out are just some of the ways that Coppola makes sure every angle in this movie comes to life.
Tom Blyth, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Thom Green, Of an Age
Barry Keoghan, Saltburn
Thomas Schubert, Afire
Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers
Gold: Andrew Scott's devastating work in All of Us Strangers is so full because it is brimming with life. Watching a man who feels dead in the opening scenes, cut off (literally & figuratively) from himself, and then the way that he opens up is breathtaking. This will join the pantheon of "the best performances never nominated for an Oscar" relatively soon.
Silver: Barry Keoghan's schtick as a totally unpredictable onscreen performer has put him in a position where he's now one of our most exciting actors. I loved the way that he handled the twists & turns of Saltburn, giving us a character whose motives are there the whole time, but even the audience gets caught up in the construction.
Bronze: Tom Blyth's work in Hunger Games is 100% the performance on this list I'm most shocked is getting a medal (if you'd told me a year ago I'd be doing this, I would've said you were mad). But this is proof that great acting can come in any film. His diabolical, evolving, sexy turn as the future-President Snow is hopefully the proclamation of an emerging star...Hollywood, hire him please.
Paula Beer, Afire
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Natalie Portman, May December
Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla
Rachel Zegler, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Gold: Tight race here, but I'm going to go with Lily Gladstone for the gold (the only Oscar acting nominee I'm giving the top prize to). This is a case where a performance grew on me in the months after I saw it. That's what subtle work will do to you, especially her final interrogation of Leonardo DiCaprio...you understand her better the further you get away from the fire.
Silver: Cailee Spaeny's work in Priscilla is another announcement of a new talent. Like Gladstone, she's playing a woman stuck in an abusive marriage that society sees as ideal for her situation. I love the ways we catch peeks of Priscilla behind the veneer, her true self starting to come out even as Elvis covers her with cookie cutter plastic.
Bronze: Every few years, Natalie Portman comes out and shows us why she's one of the great actors of her generation. Usually Oscar pays attention, but for some reason (maybe too many actors seeing themselves in this character?) he skipped this one, but I am not so foolish. The way she plays vapid-but-calculating is delicious.
Jamie Bell, All of Us Strangers
Robert de Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Charles Melton, May December
Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers
Gold: Paul Mescal's sexuality in All of Us Strangers sets this apart. We see the shifts between his first scene (what stays, what goes), but it's the way that he uses his charm, allure, even his body to entice his way through. In a world where loneliness prevails, I love the touches he makes in trying to find ways to make people like him, even with a man like Andrew Scott who is openhearted enough to want all of him.
Silver: In a year with a lot of really strong dialogues, no actor nails his better than Jamie Bell. Now on the flip side of Billy Elliott (here he is trying to understand having a son that is different, whereas he was once the son that was different), he shows what a reliable character actor he has become with sob-inducing grief & regret. Few films have captured the feelings of a father's love & expectations for his son better.
Bronze: Robert de Niro is an acting god, so him showing up here is not surprising. What I think is surprising about his work in Killers of the Flower Moon is how an actor, one who has spent much of this century playing up his serious early work, shows that he still has the ability to simmer, calculate, and menace even into his 80's.
Penelope Cruz, Ferrari
Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers
Sandra Huller, The Zone of Interest
Julianne Moore, May December
Tilda Swinton, The Killer
Gold: Julianne Moore can do things with her voice that no other actor in the world can do. The way she inhabits a monster, one that is so human you'll start feeling sympathy for her (even if you shouldn't-the final scene proves you've always been sleeping with a viper), you understand so much in the way she approaches her voice: reserved, choosing, never showing what might be real behind a woman who is all illusion.
Silver: Sandra Huller's work in The Zone of Interest announces a major talent on the global stage. She is sublime as a housewife who has become obsessed with the concept of perfection, of creating a home in the middle of a war zone, anyone who gets in her way literally damned.
Bronze: The best part of Claire Foy's work in All of Us Strangers is the unease. She's suddenly put into a situation where she's a ghost, where she doesn't know what's happening, and she's still a younger woman who has a son who is older than her. Finding that balance with such rich characterization is fascinating-at some point the Oscars needs to recognize she's become one of our best actresses.
All of Us Strangers
The Eight Mountains
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
The Killer
The Zone of Interest
Gold: Andrew Haigh's films are quietly devastating, showing the world a different aspect of loneliness. In this case, though, he adds a supernatural element, and then sort of lets it simmer in the background. I love the way the script handles this, where we don't know what or who is in control of what's happening, and it makes every bit of dialogue feel far more poignant.
Silver: Jonathan Glazer's screenplay in The Zone of Interest is quietly devastating. In many ways, it recreates the set design, the way that you see pops of the horrors happening behind this veneer of domesticity. Look at how casually they discuss the deaths of a neighbor, the humanity so stripped from their conversation it almost feels commonplace (which is the point).
Bronze: The Hunger Games adaptation is a bit of a miracle. Taking a YA novel, the fourth in a series that never really impressed me, and seeing it as a musical, one that shows how one man can lose all of his grace while pursuing fame, greed, & power (if he had any grace to begin with...a good question from this picture) is sublime. Proof that any book is not only adaptable, it can also be an improvement.
Afire
Bottoms
May December
Of an Age
Past Lives
Gold: The latest installment in what is hopefully going to be a quartet of movies about the power of the elements, Christian Petzold's Afire is a jarring look at the writing process (topical, given the category) as well as our own humanity. We don't oftentimes get characters that are so unlikeable (and yet so familiar) in a movie.
Silver: I love a ticking clock romance more than just about any other genre, and that's definitely what's happening in the confines of Of an Age, a movie that shows the way that our hearts can change (and how they stay the same) the longer we live, and the better we understand the most romantic portions of our souls.
Bronze: Hands-down the funniest movie of 2023, Bottoms is a raunchy Gen Z masterpiece, giving us a smart, clever sex comedy that actually feels authentic to a new group of voices in cinema (and not just another Mean Girls retread). Bonus points for making the shocking ending both telegraphed and totally unhinged.
The Boy and the Heron
Robot Dreams
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Gold: I will totally own that this is my least favorite of all of the lineups I've seen in the past decade for Animated Feature, as usually at least the gold medalist is in contention for the Best Picture lineup (or already in it), but that's not the case in 2023. Still, Robot Dreams is definitely a special movie, one that doesn't have the glorious animation of some of its peers, but instead gives us a truly meaningful look at what loneliness can look like as an adult.
Silver: We are moving into one of the most unexpected nominations on this list next. I saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on a whim (wanting to celebrate the theatrical experience at the height of the strike), and lo-and-behold it's a genuinely funny flick, with a distinctive & pleasurable animation style.
Bronze: The one film on this list that I would've guessed a year out, The Boy and the Heron, is proof that even when he's only going in second gear, Hayao Miyazaki can still create something lovely. The messaging here (about how you're willing to escape the world before admitting someone you love is gone) is done really touchingly, and if it's a bookend for his career, it's a worthy one even if it's not his best.
The Eight Mountains
Godzilla Minus One
The Killer
The Taste of Things
The Zone of Interest
Gold: The thing about The Zone of Interest is, it's maybe the only truly great film where the first attribute you're going to cite that makes it a masterpiece is its sound design. The way that we can hear behind the wall the horrors of the Holocaust while on the other side you have discussions of gardens & remodels...the banality of evil has never been more chilling.
Silver: David Fincher's movies always sound divine, and a good example as to why is on-display in The Killer. You have the ticking clock narrative that feels like it's actually ticking, silences used as ways to not only heighten tension, but also to extend the audience's pondering of the plot-what is happening in this man's methodical imagination?
Bronze: The warm sounds of the kitchen in The Taste of Things are as essential as the food being cooked. We get every crackle, every crumble, every turned on oven. It's often said we eat with our eyes, but let's be honest-The Taste of Things proves we eat with our ears as well.
The Creator
Ferrari
Godzilla Minus One
The Killer
The Zone of Interest
Gold: It apparently takes slicing 90% of your budget to make a movie like Godzilla sound as good as we expect a Hollywood big-budget epic to sound. The way that it unfolds, especially during the water sequences, is fantastic, using the distinctive calls of Godzilla as a weapon, a jump scare, & a way to show how much he means in the cinematic pantheon all in one.
Silver: Slightly down the list (but only slightly) is The Zone of Interest. The editing is very effective in this movie, giving us a rich bit of offscreen terror, added in, frequently without the help of a score. The only reason that this isn't higher is because there's not nearly as much as Godzilla, so it's like comparing the climbs on Everest to Denali. Godzilla is too good too often.
Bronze: While I think there was the occasional hiccup with the mixing in Ferrari (which is why I didn't include it there), there's nothing to complain about when it comes to its editing. The roaring engines, the thunderous crowds, the staggering drop of the score when the film's most jaw-dropping twist happens...it's all worthy of such a car brand.
All of Us Strangers
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Past Lives
Saltburn
The Zone of Interest
Gold: A score doesn't need to be omnipresent, or even the only music in the film, to be memorable and captivating. That's the case with All of Us Strangers, which peaks out in key scenes of the movie to give us a sense of the dramatic and changing tides of the picture, and works brilliantly alongside existing music from the Pet Shop Boys and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Silver: That doesn't mean that a score that takes over the film can't occasionally be welcome. Saltburn's biggest weakness as a film is the script, but it weirdly works better with the help of Anthony Willis' giant score, announcing in gargantuan, church organ-style pronouncements new chapters in the picture. Sometimes I'm all about a big orchestration, and this is a case of that.
Bronze: Past Lives is not a big score, but it is lush & romantic. The film is predicated on you feeling the passage of time, that you understand what can stay and what can leave in your life as you move forward, and the music, rich with continual themes and softness, brings that to life.
"The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird," The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
"Can't Catch Me Now," The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
"Dance the Night," Barbie
"Quiet Eyes," Past Lives
"What Was I Made For," Barbie
Gold: A very tight battle for gold & silver here, but I'm going to give it to "The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird" in part because I liked The Hunger Games more than Barbie, but also because it's so unexpected. The music is fantastic, but it also sets up both of our characters-the knowing puppet and the evolving puppetmaster...for the rest of the movie, you're not entirely sure who is in control.
Silver: Behind it, though, you have "Dance the Night" in all of its glossy delight. That this didn't even get nominated at the Oscars proves how silly the "only two nominees" rule is because this is the song and the scene from Barbie that ten years from now everyone will associate with it. A perfectly coordinated dance routine...it's a fully-fledged musical number by the end of it.
Bronze: Billie Eilish's lovely lament "What Was I Made For" is a fitting accompaniment to Barbie's realization scenes at the end of the picture. Eilish is such a fine vocalist & writer (for my money, she's the most innovative new voice in pop music in the past 5 years), and understands the exact tenor Gerwig is trying to achieve, giving us a really strong piece of music.
Barbie
Ferrari
Saltburn
The Taste of Things
The Zone of Interest
Gold: Stepping into the dream house, you understand Greta Gerwig's vision in every corner of Barbie. The production designers here use the tactile nature of toys to their advantage, building actual sets (it shows) and even relying upon practical effects (to minimize CGI) to better get us things like the modes-of-transportation scene with actual vehicles. What you end up with is a glorious pink wonderland, in many ways reminiscent of the fantasy heydays of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings for this category.
Silver: The Zone of Interest's greatest asset might be its production design. Look at the way that the camera is constantly trying to juxtapose this house & gardens, built to the exact specifications of Sandra Huller's Hedwig, against the atrocities happening just beyond the wall. The way that it feels so exacting, as if she's living her dream, makes the house's unique design more chilling.
Bronze: If you want to go big-and-bold, you can't go wrong with Saltburn in this field. The titular house itself is opulent, with its ornate hedge mazes and vaulted bathtubs, it gives a constant sense of "you can't afford this," that would drive someone a bit mad...
All of Us Strangers
Fallen Leaves
Oppenheimer
The Taste of Things
The Zone of Interest
Gold: As I said when we wrote the Oscar article, it's not just about pretty pictures with Best Cinematography-it's also about telling a story through the imagery. That's what's happening with The Zone of Interest, the way that we get wide shots and unyielding long takes to give us a sense of the scope and immediacy of a genocide (literally) right in the backyard of the film's protagonists.
Silver: The rich golden hour beauty of All of Us Strangers is so intoxicating. Look at the way that the film changes its camera angles from the sensual lensing of Paul Mescal to the more nostalgic feel whenever we see Claire Foy or Jamie Bell. It's a tricky, subtle trick and makes all of the actors look that much better.
Bronze: I am enthralled with what the camera does in The Taste of Things. The cooking projects like an oil painting, rich with hues and textures, always trying to invite in an a new sense. The movie flows so beautifully that you are never exhausted even as you watch a literal meal cook, sometimes in real time.
Asteroid City
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Priscilla
Saltburn
Gold: A beautiful cascade of designs, from neon yellow rollerblades to gorgeous beachwear to an iconic fur coat, Barbie gives us an entire world from your toy chest come to life. Every corner of this movie is genius designs that feel like homages (but of course real world ones) to the universe Mattel put into our childhoods.
Silver: For a movie about a "trophy wife" the costumes in Priscilla need to be exact, showing us looks that feel like they were structured to accentuate a man, not to allow a woman her own individuality. The buttoned-up, hyper-fashionable dresses worn by Cailee Spaeny in this film are grand recreations of a style icon.
Bronze: I loved the way that Saltburn uses its costumes to inform the viewer. We know this is circa 2006, and we're watching all of the characters with too much money spending lavish amounts on ultra-trendy looks that will be traded in a season later. Particular points for the way that Jacob Elordi looks like he's about to cause people to audibly moan with every flawlessly-tailored look.
All of Us Strangers
The Eight Mountains
The Killer
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Zone of Interest
Gold: Editors need to know how to make a scene work, know how to slice it and look away at just the right moment. But the opposite is true too, and we see that in The Zone of Interest. This is a movie where you can't help but stare, wanting to pull from the scene as a reprieve, but they keep it focused, your eyes never leaving the horror in front of you.
Silver: All of Us Strangers gives us a sense of memory, of the way it flitters around us, and the reality that days of our life are far more memorable than full years of it. I loved how we get a sense of Adam's childhood without the need for flashback...we are all kids again when we get to be with our doting parents.
Bronze: I adore how Thelma Schoonmaker uses the length of Killers of the Flower Moon to her advantage. We have a film that stretches for hours, but she uses things and character traits early on, telegraphs them (without us even knowing), and brings it back later. Look at the way that Robert de Niro's villainous uncle seems to give us everything that'll happen next...the actor has no greater friend in his strong performance than the editing room.
Barbie
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3
Nyad
Priscilla
Saltburn
Gold: The looks of Priscilla are so marvelous, and are honestly a vital plot point. Look at the way that Jacob Elordi's Elvis stays consistently himself, while Cailee Spaeney tries to escape under the increasing control he elicits over her appearance, showing her to be his fantasy, while he remains the world's.
Silver: I am one of those people who thinks that the Makeup & Hairstyling looks don't just have to be ugly or prosthetics-they can be just beautiful. That's the case with the looks of Barbie, forming the characters from the toys themselves, plastic but still unique in each actor's two-dimensional ensemble. Bonus points if they did, in fact, paint on Ryan Gosling's abs.
Bronze: That said, prosthetics have their place if you want to impart some sort of knowledge to the audience. That's the case with Nyad, where we understand as Annette Bening's body is subjected to saltwater and intense sunlight for days on end the extremes of her endeavor, and we see the intense (yet subtle) damage to Bening's skin as she inhabits the titular swimmer.
The Creator
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Godzilla Minus One
Oppenheimer
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Gold: I am a total sucker for visual effects where you see every dollar on the big-screen. Godzilla Minus One is not Avatar, with the GDP of a small country projected in your theater, but you still get exactly what you need-a realistic-looking monster storming a believable city. Bonus points for the water effects, which I honestly assumed were entirely on the open ocean they felt so plausible.
Silver: The Creator is one of those movies where you spend much of it wishing it had a better script, because you want to play in this world for longer. The way that they use the CGI to make the empty-heads on the robots look totally plausible (even on real-world actors) is maybe the best single effect of 2023.
Bronze: Again, I'm not above picking the film with the smaller budget. Oppenheimer gets its only medal in this article (and just under the buzzer) as we see the dynamism and horror of the atomic bomb throughout the picture, and then with the explosions, the audience is subjected to its terrifying, all-encompassing threat.
Also in 2023: Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, International Feature Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound, Original Score, Original Song, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Previously in 2023
2 comments:
I'm glad to see the love for May December on your list. It's such a shame the Academy didn't give it more love!
I agree. I will admit that Melton ALMOST didn't make it (he was in fifth, and it felt wrong to also snub Jacob Elordi, who I thought was so good in Saltburn and especially Priscilla), but I had to make room. One of the prime examples of "just because it's not Top 5 doesn't mean it's not good."
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