2023 was an exceptionally good year for films. Any one of my top six films could’ve easily been a number one in any given normal year, and I can picture them all in the running to make the best of the decade list. Yet somehow I struggled to get to ten to fill the list. There are a few notable films I still need to see that could help me fill it (The Zone of Interest, Godzilla Minus One). And there were others that I had high hopes for but fell short in my mind (Priscilla, Barbie). And there’s one that’s been raved about but I have no desire to ever see (Poor Things). So, the surprise this year is that number ten has been marked TBD. But I am very confident in the top six I have listed here.
- Past Lives – d. Celine Song
- Anatomy of a Fall – d. Justine Triet
- American Fiction – d. Cord Jefferson
- Oppenheimer – d. Christopher Nolan
- Killers of the Flower Moon – d. Martin Scorsese
- The Holdovers – d. Alexander Payne
- Asteroid City – d. Wes Anderson
- Elemental – d. Peter Sohn
- May/December – d. Todd Haynes
- TBD
The Schleicher Spin 
Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon, in my top ten too. Anatomie d’une chute surely not. I have to watch May December and Past Lives.
Not a fan of Anatomy of a Fall, eh?
Not really. 😉
Oppenheimer is still tops for me. I rewatched it last weekend and I’m still in awe at what a well-made film that is on every level (and that cast!). Past Lives was beautifully made, and The Holdovers was wonderful (I’m still pulling for Cillian Murphy as Best Actor, but if he loses to Paul Giamatti, I won’t be mad). I didn’t like Asteroid City or May December at all. Both felt like cynical art-film experiments with no soul. I also have little desire to see Poor Things (Lanthimos’s other movies were so putrid I can’t bring myself to get excited about anything he puts out). One of my favorites that flew under the radar last year was The Iron Claw. I remember watching those old Von Erich family wrestling matches in the 80s and their tragic story was well told in that film.
You and I feel the same about Lanthimos, though I did think the Favorite was watchable and had some degree of appeal. I feel like it was an accident on his part.
Updates: Having finally seen Godzilla Minus One, that would slide into number 7 pushing the remaining ones down one notch, and The Zone of Interest would tie with May/December as the last entry.