On the back of last week's Friday Five, which was actually a top ten, I am doing another for the first Friday of the year. These are my favourite films I have seen in 2023 that were released in 2023 in the country in which I am living. The films are listed in alphabetical order.
- Asteroid City: Wes Anderson creates another post-modern take on post-modern films. Full of sharp lines (visual and verbal), heightened realism, Brechtian (and other) alienations devices, and a stellar cast. "I still don't understand the play." "Doesn't matter. Just keep on telling the story".
- Bank of Dave: A beautiful feel-good film about the power of a caring and cohesive community in 'a northern shithole taking on the entitled wankers of the financial institutions. There's a lot of north v south cliches, more than a passing nod to Local Hero, a cute background romance, and the ever-brilliant Rory Kinnear. I don think Sean Dyche should stick to his day job, though.
- EO: I watched this on a plane and I absolutely adored it. Life as seen through the eyes of a donkey is full of kindness and cruelty, and the donkey is a creature of plodding wisdom who makes their own decisions. Gentle and delightful with moments of heartbreak and profound empathy.
- The Great Escaper: "If you want to flog chocolate, don't start a bloody World War". Michael Caine explains why he doesn't rate Cadbury's Black Forest in a wonderful Sir Michael caper about the futility of war and the restorative power of tolerance, understanding and kindness. Glenda Jackson is radiant in her last role, with a timeless compassion. Clearly a British film on account of the self-deprecating humour, the quiet smugness and the dodgy teeth.
- Leave the World Behind: When good holidays go bad. Eerie, tense, unsettling, stylishly directed and well acted. Shot with intriguing angles and heightened with a deeply disturbing score, it's as if Don't Look Up met Us with a dash of Killing a Sacred Deer. Part thriller, part examination of the human psyche, part absurdist drama, the film questions what it would take for humanity to destroy itself. Spoiler: we're almost there.
- Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One: Kitsch action fun - when you've got a formula that works, why would you change it? Great set pieces in stunning locations with superb stunts and some self-effacing references. Tom cruise is masterful at this stuff.
- Northern Comfort: Starts out being a film about a disparate foursome afraid of flying and turns into a black comedy in an Icelandic wellness hotel. Imagine Force Majeure crossed with Death at a Funeral and add an unhealthy dollop of Timothy Spall. Probably don't watch as in-flight entertainment.
- The Old Oak: Ken Loach films may be grim, but he always finds the humanity. Life may be sh*te for those in the NE English village destroyed by post-industrialisation and the closure of the pit, but there are still some strong moral values at play. If the workers understood the power they have in unity, then they could take on the system, but on the verge of Brexit they turn their disenfranchised anger on the defenceless and vulnerable - in this case the Syrian refugees. Our shame is that in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, people have to make the choice between feeding their family or heating their home. Inequality is a disgrace. And that poor daft little dog!
- Oppenheimer: Bringing in the sheets. So much symbolism and intelligent wordplay.
- Women Talking: But, as is so often the question, is anyone listening? Powerful subject; great cast; devastating dialogue well delivered. Would make a terrific play with the right direction.
- Emily: Still not my favourite Bronte, although Emma Mackey is brilliant and the moors look pretty.
- EO: What with Banshees of Inisherin, this may be the Year of the Donkey.
- The Fablemans: The making of an auteur. It's clearly very autobiographical and gives away a few secrets (putting pinholes in the film; allowing light through to simulate flashes from gun-shots). The personal and insular focus, with specific parental relationships, is the same kind of film-making therapy as demonstrated in Honeyboy. Lock-downs clearly led to lot of navel gazing and subsequent oversharing. This is great if you want to know all about your directors/ actors/ film practitioners, but a bit self-indulgent if you don't.
- Marcel the Shell with Shoes on: A cute and quirky animation in which a shell tries to find his family. As well as exploring the sense of identity and belonging to a community, the film also addresses the issue of on-line fandom and virtue-signalling activism. It's far more affecting than it has any right to be.
- M3GAN: Science-fiction horror, which is also funny and cine-literate with self-aware references to previous works in the AI-companion-goes-feral genre.
