Our writers share their favourite films of 2023, from raunchy comedies to historical dramas and stylised sci-fi.
Bottoms (dir. Emma Seligman)
As a big fan of really clever stupid films, Bottoms was always going to be a winner for me. Directed by Emma Seligman (Shiva Baby) and starring Ayo Edebiri (The Bear, Theatre Camp) and Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby, Bodies Bodies Bodies), Bottoms follows two “ugly and untalented” lesbians as they form a fight club in order to sleep with their cheerleader crushes.
The concept is simple and echoes a basic formula, but this is not your older brother’s teen sex comedy. The goofy humour is top tier, the violence gets way out of hand, and the number of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it background jokes make for instant rewatchability.
Further highlights are Ruby Cruz’ adorably naive bomb obsessive, a soundtrack composed by Charli XCX, and the funniest monologue about repressed Christian sexuality ever improvised. Bottoms is a chaotic, horny, bloody mess, and I highly recommend it.
Words by Camille Murray
Scrapper (dir. Charlotte Regan)
It goes without saying that the UK market for cinema is huge and yet it seems rare that a film feels truly representative of the culture. Raine Allen Miller’s Rye Lane is a prime example of this from 2023, but Scrapper, the feature-length debut of Charlotte Regan, is my favourite from this year.
Comparisons have been drawn between Scrapper and Aftersun (2022), and whilst the majority of these are due to both films being debuts from women called Charlotte, it is something else that links the two for me.
Frankie Corio was absolutely brilliant last year alongside Paul Mescal and she put on one of my favourite performances of 2022. Lola Campbell as Georgie in Scrapper matches this highest of highs from a child actor, and her on-screen chemistry with Harris Dickinson is wonderful.
Scrapper strikes a balance between laughter and tears—so much fun can be had with this film, and yet you still leave the cinema feeling both raw and fuzzy. I feel as if I want to watch it again and again, and any opportunity to see Harris Dickinson on the big screen is a blessing.
The icing on the cake for this film was that Louisa Harland, who plays Orla in Derry Girls, was also in my screening for this film!
Words by Jamie Rooke
Asteroid City (dir. Wes Anderson)
I sincerely and wholeheartedly adore Jeff Goldblum’s Alien. That is the key sentiment I recall from what is easily Wes Anderson’s most lightly entertaining film since Fantastic Mr Fox (2009). After the release of The French Dispatch (2021) there were doubts as to whether his time in the sun was over; that Anderson had simply ‘out-Andersoned’ himself in putting together an overwhelming and inaccessible ensemble film that neglected audiences. But unlike many other auteurs who block out the noise, Anderson seemingly took Asteroid City as an opportunity to go back to what made him so revered in the first place: aesthetically pleasing, narratively undemanding charm.
Starring Scarlett Johanson and Jason Schwartzman, the former of which notably accepted less than $20,000 for her role just to work with Anderson, Asteroid City covers the strange events surrounding a youth astronomy convention held in the titular fictional desert town. As usual, the cast is filled to the brim with talent and the film benefits massively from its single setting, allowing audiences to truly take in the masterfully produced set pieces. Using a retro-futuristic style and relishing in loose, breezy visual humour, Asteroid City is simultaneously simple yet sophisticated, sitting comfortably in the upper echelon of 2023’s releases.
Words by Ben Carpenter
Creed III (dir. Michael B. Jordan)
It was hard to know what to expect from Creed III, seeing as Michael B. Jordan was making the film his directorial debut, Sylvester Stallone had no involvement in the film for the first time in the entire Rocky franchise, and the film involved Jonathan Majors, who carries the connotations of his off-screen legal troubles.
However the film’s ambitious opening scene, which delved further into Adonis Creed’s past and established Majors’ character Damian Anderson, placed us in steady cinematic hands. And as the film grows into a deeply moving tale of two deeply traumatised men becoming rivals, Jordan uses the basis of the Rocky structure to investigate his characters and to question masculine standards.
The film is intensely entertaining and important in what it says regarding modern masculinity and overcoming childhood trauma, all while maintaining the quality of the Rocky franchise.
Words by Reece Beckett
Killers of the Flower Moon (dir. Martin Scorsese)
In a year where cinema’s future came under existential threat—actors and writers striking for better pay and better job security against the looming backdrop of artificial intelligence and the streaming boom—it’s fitting that my favourite film of 2023 was a late-career masterpiece from one of the industry’s most revered and fierce defenders of the medium as an art.
Killers of the Flower Moon is an extraordinary period epic that systematically examines the industrialised gangsterism behind the 1920s Osage County murders to powerful effect. Over the course of three and a half hours, Scorsese and screenwriter Eric Roth dramatise David Grann’s novel of the same name in three parts: Ernest Burkhart (a weaselly Leonardo DiCaprio) being accepted into the community and marrying his Native American wife Molly (a fearsome Lily Gladstone); the gangster plan being ruthlessly carried out as the Osage tribe are dispatched and the community becomes gentrified by American capitalism; and finally the BOI investigation that leads to retribution and justice. It’s a phenomenal, perfectly paced film, beautifully shot by Rodrigo Prieto and with an atmospheric score by Robbie Robertson. It gives a voice to the Osage people while recognising the lack of awareness many years later and the devastating effects that have lasted for a century. A monumental work that left me shaking and contemplative.
Words by Theo Smith
Past Lives (dir. Celine Song)
In recent years, there have been some great, timeless romance films in which the main couple doesn’t end up together (La La Land, Portrait of a Lady on Fire). Adding to the trend this year was Celine Song’s Past Lives, a film that slowly creeps up on you, then sticks to your skin in a way that lasts long after the credits roll.
Beautiful, tender and magical, it is a film that explores the question of ‘what if’ with life-altering clarity, always grounded in reality. It’s a film about the choices we make, the paths life could inevitably have led us down, and how to reconcile them even when it hurts to do so. In its pondering on the doors we open and close, it leads the viewer to consider these things in their own life.
For people of colour in particular, it shows how the duality of immigrant experience affects our lives in the day-to-day, and that we can’t ignore our cultural identity in our handling of romantic relationships. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made my heart feel so full of emotion it could burst.
Words by Rehana Nurmahi
A Man Called Otto (dir. Mark Forster)
My pick of the year is A Man Called Otto, an American remake of the 2015 Swedish box-office hit A Man Called Ove. It tells the healing story of how Otto (Tom Hanks), a grumpy widower who attempts suicide several times, gradually re-embraces his life after the arrival of new neighbours. All the characters are ordinary people who share food and help each other park their cars, but these small acts of kindness are redemptive.
Life is never easy, but it is also a cycle of struggles and joys. This film reminds us to appreciate any lovely moments in everyday life, and assures that the snow will definitely stop one day. Although we are not heroes, we can be kind people who bring a ray of sunshine to the terrible world. The storytelling of this film is serene yet powerful. The moving and hilarious interaction between the characters left me laughing with warm tears in a January evening that has stayed with me all year.
Words by Angel Sun
Pacification (dir. Albert Serra)
Set amongst the rolling, threatening waves of the South Pacific, Albert Serra’s criminally under-seen Pacifiction follows De Roller (Benoît Magimel), a corrupt steward of French control of an unnamed island. With rumours bubbling of a renewed French interest in nuclear testing, De Roller’s grip on the native population loosens amongst a series of hazy, dream-like sequences that gently nudge towards a larger conspiracy.
Much like the tiny islands that sit in an inconceivably large ocean, De Roller’s influence pails in comparison to machinations much larger than he. Despite enlisting the help of hotel receptionist Shannah (a film-stealing Pahoa Mahagafanau), De Roller can’t find back the tide of change that begins to overwhelm his psyche.
In a year where our news cycle reminded us of just how powerful our oceans can be—with the tragic implosion of the Oceangate Titan submersible dominating feeds in June—there was also a cinematic reminder of nuclear testing and its devastating consequences in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Pacifiction‘s story then, centred on a renewed interest in nuclear weaponry amongst the vast Pacific ocean, becomes all the more frightening with this in mind. A luminous yet ominous film for our times.
Words by Jeremy Arblaster
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.