The best of Hollywood and beyond

Even as popular auteurs return to the big screen with sweeping three-hour-plus historical epics, the streaming world has given us films that are brief, contained, and equally poignant. In other words, movies were back in the business, as demonstrated by the phenomenon that was Barbenheimer. The biggest box office battle in recent history was Greta Gerwig’s exploration of the human condition, set in the very pink world of Barbie, pitted against Christopher Nolan’s moody biopic of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atom. bomb. BarbieArmed with an influencer-led promotional campaign, It became the highest-grossing film of 2023, despite mixed reviews, and is the fastest film by a female director to reach $1 billion. Nolan’s magnum opus came close to reaching that magical number (but stalled at around $954 million). It also topped our list of our favorite English films of 2023. Read on for the entire list.

One of Christopher Nolan’s most astonishing achievements – a stunning, thrilling, deeply intimate story about a world that sometimes can’t see its own greatness, often can’t see beyond it, and, unfortunately, can’t convince people to believe it when it does. The director’s films were, in one way or another, about men trying to control vast cosmic forces far greater than they are now—time, science, space—and calculate the ramifications of their actions. Over his last few films, he has broadened his focus, moving from individual obsession to the destruction of the planet on a massive scale – climate change Interstellar (2014) and Tenet (2020). Oppenheimer Integrates both of his substantive interests. The end result is the alchemy of one man’s quest for scientific advancement, and the use of a force he cannot control, setting the Earth on fire.

The events take place in the 1920s, Moonflower Killers The film revolves around a dark period in modern American history when the Osage Indians discovered oil on their lands and became the richest people per capita in the world. Soon after, the Osages were murdered, manipulated, and deceived by white Americans. As with much of Martin Scorsese’s work, Moonflower Killers It feels all the more urgent because it is rooted in history. The plight of the Osage can be seen through a number of minor characters, but the centerpiece of the film is Molly (Lily Gladstone). Her powerful performance elevates Molly from a supporting character who moves in and out of the narrative, to the beating heart of the story. Moonflower Killers. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, a vision Moonflower Killers Mostly through Ernest’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) narrow perspective, viewers may be left feeling uncomfortable, but Scorsese is on fine form here.

Asteroid city It may be one of Wes Anderson’s most vulnerable films, but it’s also the hardest to untangle, easier to feel than understand. Her characters exist in a movie about a TV show about a play, the messy overlapping layers of art and life difficult to keep track of, even if they allow for the delightful conceit of actress Scarlett Johansson, who plays an actress playing an actress. . Anderson’s ability to conjure mood and memory, and to evoke real emotion, transcends the artifice upon which it is built, even as he enhances it through behind-the-scenes cuts to the play. in asteroid city, The characters stare up at the night sky but are more preoccupied with trying to navigate the vast emptiness of life stretching out before them. Reflecting the audience’s confusion, they may not fully understand the play they are playing, but that does not stop them from feeling their way through it. In art, as in grief, there are no easy answers. Asteroid City isn’t real, as the movie repeatedly reminds us. But that doesn’t make the experience of visiting it any less rewarding.

Long before Marvel took the cinematic concept of a multiverse down a predictable path of nostalgia-bait, endless cameos and the eventual end to any sense of closure, there was Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse (2018). In an age of unimaginative superhero saturation, if any movie is going to resist the idea of ​​what a standard superhero story should be, Spider-Man: Through the Spider-Verse, with its ambitious and unrestrained canvas, was always the best. Like before, Through the spider verse It’s beautifully shot and strikingly written, with the kind of world-hopping sequences that can only be achieved in animation. It’s not just that the colors pop so vibrant on screen or that the various animation styles contrast and play off each other so nicely, it’s also the small textural details that make a movie such an immersive experience. Through the spider verse He refuses to adhere to the idea that every hero’s journey should follow the same path, and in doing so, insists on breaking canon at a time when other superhero films are trying to establish it.

Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret.

As is her directorial debut Edge of seventeen (2016), Kelly Fremon Craig highlights anxiety and embarrassment in adolescence Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret. Set in the 1970s, 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is coming of age — literally, getting her period in the film’s final scene — amid concerns about her faith, friendships, and family. The adults in the film also come of age in a way, especially Margaret’s mother (a wonderful Rachel McAdams), who finally begins to put her own desires first by the end of the film. “We must! We must! We must increase our bust!” chant Margaret and her friends as they teeter on the edge of femininity, longing to cross to the other side. What’s striking is that girls’ desire for breasts is less about meeting the male gaze than it is about By wanting to feel grown up, mature and what they believe is the best and most beautiful version of themselves.Despite the old clothes, fine hair and dark brown colour, Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret It is a beloved, timeless ode to the universal female experience.

Booked by Two Departures, Celine Song’s meticulous first film past life, Where a woman finds herself torn between two men, It’s not about longing for someone you moved away from as much as it is about the version of yourself you left with them. The characters talk about fate and fate, concepts that cede control of their circumstances to the universe, as a comforting countermeasure to the consequences of their actions. They are often framed through the windows of cars, trains, and houses, looking through portals into another life, wondering “what if”. How does first love shape the subsequent paths you take? How do you reconcile the need to move forward with the urge to keep looking back? The song compares the flexibility of identity to the difficulty of knowing who we really are. Past life The depiction of loneliness is so intense—a shimmering cityscape at night, a vacation spent almost alone in a hotel room—that it doesn’t matter which version of ourselves we move from, only that there were people to share those versions with.

Nimona

What’s better than a brooding knight with Riz Ahmed’s velvety, raspy voice? Pink-haired, fang-toothed, shape-shifting with multiple piercings and a delirious evil attitude (thanks to Chloë Grace Moretz who excelled as a voice actress). Meet Nimona, who refuses to be forced into classification and defies definition. One moment she’s a huge unicorn, the next she’s a girl with freckles and a mullet, and before you know it, she’s an armadillo, a bear, a bird, an otter, and then a gorilla. Based on the fantastic webcomic turned graphic novel by N.D. Stevenson, Nimona It is a bright film about the friendship between two fugitives. One of them is Ballester Boldhardt (Ahmed), the former knight accused of killing the Queen. The other is Nimona, who appears mostly as a teenager and is forced to hide because her power terrifies people. Within this exhilarating (and often funny) adventure is a paean to gender fluidity and trans identity (Stevenson came out as non-binary and transmasculine after writing the storyboard. They served as co-producers on the film). If you’re looking for layers and subtext, Nimona It reveals itself to be a poignant and powerful story about fear, manipulation, ignorance, and hope. However, its greatest strength is that even without overthinking, Nimona It’s fun to watch. This film is beautifully shot, imaginatively presented and full of great action It was the best kind of adventure. Dear Santa, please give us a sequel?

The premise is familiar: hunter becomes hunted, becomes hunter. But there’s a self-reflexive — and strangely poignant — relationship with storytelling, at the heart of this hackneyed film. To understand the slow subversion of the killerSo, it’s important to look at it through the narrative lens of its director: David Fincher. The film’s hero is not your average cold-blooded killer. He waits a lot. His musings are philosophical, told through an exhausting voice-over. It’s as if he knows we’re watching him. In other words, Idle Mind is Fincher’s workshop. The presence of the hired killer indicates that what these films do not show us – the ordinary stillness before or after the extraordinary event – is what determines the skills of these people. the killer It is as tender as it is violent. He finds the will to summon a love story between the in-between and the landmarks; Personal and public; Existence and action; The killer and his ideology. But most of all, it becomes a tragic love story between the artist and his refined ambition.

Ray Lynn

In the cinematic landscape of gritty action shows of the past few years, there has been a glaring hole in the romantic comedy genre. Ryan Allen Miller fills that gap and how, with her directorial debut, Ray Lynn. The film, about a chance encounter between two complete strangers, is anchored by a refreshing screenplay and thriving performances by David Johnson and Vivian Opara. South London comes alive as well Ray LynnThe film’s charming protagonists wander around the city and, unknowingly, embark on an exhilarating journey of love and self-discovery. The cinematography is lively and whimsical, from the use of fisheye to the dynamic visual re-enactments of the tales being told. Elegant, funny and hopeful, Ray Lynn It’s arguably one of the best modern rom-coms we’ve seen in a while. Watch for the appearance of an OG romantic hero guarding a roadside burrito stand called Love Guac’tually.

fair play

A twisty and elegant relationship drama about the secret thrills of a workplace relationship that turns into a psychological thriller fueled by the prickly insecurities of having to report to your partner in Chloe Dumont’s film. fair play. The film reimagines the workplace as a gladiatorial arena, and business as a blood sport. By showcasing the gender dynamics in a toxic workplace, Dumont sets up the power plays that will define this twisted relationship. fair play The combination of male fragility and workplace sexism simmers until the film becomes horribly tense. Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich are great sparring partners, revealing as much inadvertently as they carefully conceal. Even when it descends into a cat-and-mouse game of psychological warfare, the film remains rooted in an intelligent understanding of the delicate balance in any relationship.

With inputs from Gayle Sequeira, Dipanjana Pal and Rahul Desai.