Critics’ Poll of the Year’s Best Movies and Shows – IndieWire

For many of the 158 critics and journalists who voted in IndieWire’s 2023 Critics Poll to determine the year’s best films and shows, the wait was worth it. Six years after Martin Scorsese first came on board for Killers of the Flower Moon, and four years after it began active development, the film tops our poll — in fact, more decisively than Todd Field’s TÁR in last year’s poll. .

The phrase “Moonflower Killers” appeared on 94 of the 158 ballots, or just over 59 percent. Critics who voted last year only mentioned “TÁR” for 45% of their votes, and we declared that a landslide at the time. Scorsese’s film also received 25 first-place votes, making it the best film of the year, the most first-place votes as well as the most overall mentions. Scorsese himself also topped the Best Director vote. “Killers of the Flower Moon” previously appeared at No. 15 on IndieWire’s staff list of the best films of 2023.

The film cleaned up in categories other than cinematography and director as well: Lily Gladstone took second place for best performance of the year, Rodrigo Brito’s cinematography came in third, and the screenplay took sixth.

Writers from IndieWire, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, BBC Culture, Vanity Fair and Harper’s, as well as freelance journalists and staff at newspapers, magazines and websites, have been voted in from across Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australia. As well as throughout the United States and Canada. All participants were asked to vote only for films that received theatrical, streaming, or VOD releases in the United States within the past calendar year.

All of the top 10 films of 2023 appear in other categories as well. As has become common in recent years, the Best First Picture category is home to the largest gross landslide. When asked to choose just one title as a director’s feature debut, “Past Lives” received 40 percent of total mentions, matching the enthusiastic response that “Aftersun” received last year. Celine Song also ranked No. 4 on the top 10 list for Best Picture, No. 7 for Best Director, No. 9 for Best Performance by Greta Lee (tied with Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction”), and No. 2 for Best Screenplay. .

And you better believe Barbenheimer was a good actor. “Oppenheimer” finished second on the Best Picture list, receiving 69 overall mentions and 17 first-place votes. Christopher Nolan also ranked second in the list for best director, Cillian Murphy came in fourth place for best performance, and the screenplay ranked eighth. Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography came in first place, but one category, “Oppenheimer,” topped outright. Meanwhile, “Barbie” ranked eighth for best picture, sixth for best director for Greta Gerwig, seventh for best performance for Ryan Gosling, and sixth for Britto’s cinematography (he did double duty with “Killers” this year). . year), and won ninth place in the Best Screenplay Award.

The number three film on the Best Picture list, “Bad Things,” came in at No. 1 for Emma Stone’s extraordinary and innovative turn as a dead woman who revives Frankenstein-style and rediscovers life again. Its director, Yorgos Lanthimos, won third place on the best director list, while Robbie Ryan’s cinematography came in second place, and the screenplay came in seventh place.

Also topping the list at No. 5 on the Best Picture list is “May December,” the best screenplay of all time, from debut screenwriter Sammy Burch’s strikingly perceptive screenplay.

As for the rest of the top ten, number six pick “The Zone of Interest” and its director, Jonathan Glazer, took third place on that list. It also came in second place in the list of best international film, and in fourth place in best cinematography. “Anatomy of a Fall” ranked seventh in the Best Picture category, topped the list of Best Live Action Film, Sandra Holler placed third in the Best Performance category, Justin Tritt ranked ninth in the Best Director category, and the film’s screenplay came in third place. In the Best Screenplay category. The ninth title, “The Holdovers,” also received points for Best Performance by Paul Giamatti and Best Screenplay. Asteroid City won tenth place in the Wes Anderson Award for Best Screenplay and Best Director. “Kokomo City” topped the list of best documentary films.

What’s interesting about this year’s list is seeing how many of the titles that failed to make it into our top 10 list have appeared elsewhere in other categories. Films like “Pacifiction,” the immersive thriller set in Tahiti by director Albert Serra, which won awards for best director, best performance (by Benoît Magimel), and best cinematography, as well as best international film. Or Cord Jefferson’s “American Imagination,” which won Best Performance (for Jeffrey Wright), Best Screenplay, and Best First Film. Or “Perfect Days” by Wim Wenders or “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” by Raven Jackson, with two acknowledgments for each.

The appearance of such a wide range of films on the various lists in this year’s survey is evidence of how strong the year was in cinema, perhaps the strongest since before the coronavirus. We’ve seen time and again, in individual critics’ surveys, attempts aimed at casting a wide net and acknowledging a diverse range of films. But some commonalities emerge. Many of the year’s best shows have been about characters coming to terms with some terrible, perhaps previously dismissed, revelation. Whether it’s Gladstone in The Moonflower Killers, Murphy in Oppenheimer, Holler in Anatomy of a Fall, Charles Milton in May December, or Magimel in Peace, some new awareness welcomes each of these characters. Whether it is due to their actions or external circumstances, they shake their understanding of their lives. Even Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers, and certainly Ryan Gosling as Ken in Barbie, reach dramatic inflection points where things suddenly aren’t the same as they always were. Perhaps the disruption of all our lives in 2020 has finally blossomed thematically on screen this year.

It’s a theme that carries over to at least two of the films on our best-of list opening in 2024, headlined by Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man,” as well: Bertrand Bonello’s “The Beast” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist.” . “These are films that are very much worth looking forward to.

But in the meantime, hopefully this critics’ poll of the best film from 2023 will help you recognize the year’s cinematic bounty and point you toward titles that may have served as blind spots. Happy watching.

the best movie

1. “Moonflower Killers”
2. “Oppenheimer”
3. “Poor Things”
4. “Past Lives”
5. “May December”
6. “Area of ​​interest”
7. “Anatomy of a Fall”
8. “Barbie”
9. “The Remainers”
10. “Asteroid City”

Best director

1. Martin Scorsese, “The Moonflower Killers”
2. Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
3. Jonathan Glazer, “Zone of Interest”
4. Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”
5. Todd Haynes, “May December”
6. Greta Gerwig, “Barbie”
7. Celine’s song, “Past Lives”
8. Wes Anderson, “Asteroid City”
9. Justin Treat, “Anatomy of a Fall”
10. Albert Serra, “Peace”

Best performance

1. Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
2. Lily Gladstone, “The Moonflower Killers”
3. Sandra Holler, “Anatomy of a Fall”
4. Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
5. Charles Milton, “May December”
6. Paul Giamatti, “The Remainers”
7. Ryan Gosling for “Barbie”
8. Andrew Scott, “We Are All Strangers”
9. Tai: Greta Lee, “Past Lives”; Jeffrey Wright, “The American Novel”
10. Ty: Glenn Howerton, “BlackBerry”; Benoit Magimel, “Peace”; Koji Yakusho, “Perfect Days”; Franz Rogowski, “Passages”

Best Documentary Film

1. “City of Kokomo”
2. “Delightful Menus: Les Troisgros”
3. “20 days in Mariupol”
4. “De Inhumane Corpores Fabrica”
5. Tay: “Four Girls”/”Eternal Memory”
6. “Our body”
7. “Beyond Utopia”
8. “A Still Young Voice”
9. “The Mission”
10. “Still: The Michael J. Fox Film”

Best cinematography

1. “Oppenheimer”
2. “Poor Things”
3. “Moonflower Killers”
4. “Area of ​​interest”
5. “All dirt roads taste salty.”
6. “Barbie”
7. “Peace”
8. “El Conde”
9. “God’s Land”
10. “John Wick: Chapter Four”

Best scenario

1. “May December”
2. “Past Lives”
3. “Anatomy of a Fall”
4. “The Remainers”
5. “American Imagination”
6. “Moonflower Killers”
7. “Bad Things”
8. “Oppenheimer”
9. Ty: “Barbie”/“Area of ​​Interest”
10. “Asteroid City”

Best international film

1. “Anatomy of a Fall”
2. “Area of ​​interest”
3. “The Boy and the Heron”
4. “Perfect Days”
5. “Falling Leaves”
6. “The Taste of Things”
7. “Peace”
8. “Godzilla Minus One”
9. “Fire”
10. “Eight Mountains”

Best first feature

1. “Past Lives”
2. “All dirt roads taste salty.”
3. “One Thousand and One”
4. “American Imagination”
5. “The Settlers”

The best movies opening in 2024

1. “Hit Man”
2. “Motorcyclists”
3. “The Beast”
4. “Evil does not exist”
5. “Green Border”

Click on the next page to see the list of critics who voted.

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