1) Monster Who is the monster? Not surprisingly, they crop up everywhere in this ever-shifting mystery.
2) Fallen Leaves A gloriously low-key romance.
3) The Delinquents: Sublime absurdity served in generous helpings
4) Anatomy of a Fall I plead guilty to finding a kindred spirit in Sandra.
5) Showing Up: Portrait of an artist as a human being.
6) Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. A pitch-perfect coming-of-age story, expertly cast and nimbly executed.
7) All of Us Strangers Healing grief through paranormal activity. Gut-wrenching and optimistic!
8) The Eternal Memory Chronicle of a Chilean journalist and his wife living with Alzheimer’s overwhelms with heartache and humanity.
9) Past Lives Talk about husband of the year, although he did write a novel called Boner, so who knows?
10) American Fiction These scathing delights have hilarious ends.
Near Misses: El Conde, The Zone of Interest
Most Overrated: The Holdovers
Most Underrated: The Adults, Full Time, R.M.N.
Wild Card: So many wonderful strikes! Never for one moment get duped into believing multinational corporations, er, I mean movie studios, are ever losing money. Now do health care and education.
Acting Kudos (Male): Glen Howerton (BlackBerry), Peter Sarsgaard (Memory)
Acting Kudos (Female): Paula Beer (Afire), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)
Best Director: Aki Kaurismäki (Fallen Leaves), Ira Sachs (Passages)
Best Original Screenplay: Yûji Sakamoto (Monster), Justine Triet and Arthur Harari (Anatomy of a Fall)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Kelly Fremon Craig (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.), Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers)
TV Series/Event: Swarm: Unhinged fandom is the only fandom worth having. Brilliant television.
Worst Film: Hypnotic: Something about the convergence of the brain-dead, derivative script, a constipated Ben Affleck, and the lack of anything remotely resembling style, sent me into a protracted state of despondency. What even are movies?
The Little Film That Could: Chile ’76: A near perfect psychological thriller absolutely the most satisfying time I spent in the cinema this year.
Josh Kupecki’s Top 10 Films of 2023
A version of this article appeared in print on Dec 15, 2023 with the headline: Josh Kupecki’s Top 10 Films of 2023
This article appears in December 15 • 2023.