For many of the 158 critics and journalists who voted in IndieWire’s 2023 critics survey to determine the best movies and performances of the year, the wait was worth it. Six years since Martin Scorsese was first attached to “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and four years after it went into active development, the film topped our poll — in fact, even more decisively than Todd Field’s “TÁR” did in last year’s survey.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” appeared on 94 of the 158 ballots, a little over 59 percent. The critics who voted last year only mentioned “TÁR” on 45 percent of their ballots, and we declared that a landslide at the time. Scorsese’s film also received 25 first-place votes naming it the best film of the year, the most first-place votes in addition to the most overall mentions. Scorsese himself also topped Best Director voting. “Killers of the Flower Moon” previously had appeared at number 15 on the IndieWire staff’s own list of the best movies of 2023.
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The film cleaned up in other categories beyond Film and Director also: Lily Gladstone placed second for Best Performance of the Year, Rodrigo Prieto’s cinematography came in third, and the screenplay placed sixth.
Writers for IndieWire, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, BBC Culture, Vanity Fair, and Harper’s voted, as well as freelance and staff journalists for newspapers, magazines, and websites, from across Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australia — in addition to all over the U.S. and Canada. All participants were required to vote only for films that received theatrical, streaming, or VOD releases in the U.S. over 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 Film category is home to the biggest overall landslide. Asked to pick just one title that’s a director’s feature debut, “Past Lives” received 40 percent of all mentions, about as enthusiastic a response as “Aftersun” received last year. Celine Song’s film also placed at number four on the overall Top 10 list for Best Film, number seven for Best Director, number nine for Best Performance for Greta Lee (tied with Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction”), and number two for Best Screenplay.
And you better believe Barbenheimer was well represented. “Oppenheimer” placed second on the Best Film list, with 69 overall mentions and 17 first place votes. Christopher Nolan was also number two on the Best Director list, Cillian Murphy was fourth for Best Performance, and the screenplay placed eighth. Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography came in first, however, the one category “Oppenheimer” topped outright. “Barbie,” meanwhile placed at number eight on the Best Film list, at number six on Best Director for Greta Gerwig, at number seven on Best Performance for Ryan Gosling, at number six for Prieto’s cinematography (doing double duty with “Killers” this year), and tied at number nine on Best Screenplay.
The number three movie on the Best Film list, “Poor Things,” came in number one on the Best Performance list for Emma Stone’s extraordinary, inventive turn as a dead woman reanimated Frankenstein-style who rediscovers life anew. Her director, Yorgos Lanthimos, placed third on the Best Director list, while Robbie Ryan’s cinematography came in second, and the screenplay was seventh.
The number five movie on the Best Film list, “May December,” also topped Best Screenplay outright, for debut feature screenwriter Samy Burch’s remarkably perceptive script.
As for the rest of the Top 10, number six choice “The Zone of Interest” also had its director, Jonathan Glazer, place at number three on that list. It also came in second on the Best International Feature list, and placed at number four on Best Cinematography. Number seven on Best Film, “Anatomy of a Fall,” topped Best International Feature outright, put Sandra Hüller at number three on Best Performance, and landed Justine Triet ninth on Best Director, and the film’s script came in third on Best Screenplay. Number nine title “The Holdovers” also received spots on Best Performance, for Paul Giamatti, and Best Screenplay. And “Asteroid City,” the number 10 title, placed on Best Screenplay — as well as Best Director, for Wes Anderson. “Kokomo City” topped the Best Documentary list.
What’s exciting about this year’s list is seeing how many titles that failed to crack the Top 10 on the Best film list appeared elsewhere in other categories. Films like “Pacifiction,” Albert Serra’s immersive, Tahiti-set thriller, which made the Best Director, Best Performance (for Benoit Magimel), and Best Cinematography lists in addition to Best International Film. Or Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction,” which placed on Best Performance (for Jeffrey Wright), Best Screenplay, and Best First Feature. Or Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” or Raven Jackson’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” with two acknowledgments each.
That such a wide range of films pops up throughout the various lists on this year’s poll is a testament to what a strong year in film it really was, perhaps the strongest since before COVID. Time and again on individual critics’ ballots we saw attempts made to cast a wide net and acknowledge a variety of movies. But a couple commonalities do emerge. Many of the year’s best performances were about characters coming to terms with some horrible revelation, perhaps previous denied. Whether Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Murphy in “Oppenheimer,” Hüller in “Anatomy of a Fall,” Charles Melton in “May December,” or Magimel in “Pacifiction,” some new realization greets each of these characters, whether because of their own actions or external circumstances, that rocks their understanding of their lives. Even Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers” and certainly Ryan Gosling as Ken in “Barbie” reach dramatic inflection points where the way things have always been suddenly isn’t any longer. Perhaps the rupture of all our lives in 2020 finally flowered thematically onscreen this year.
It’s a theme that carries over into at least two of the films on the list of Best Films Opening in 2024, topped by Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man,” as well: Bertrand Bonello’s “The Beast” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist.” Those are films very, very much worth looking forward to.
But in the meantime, we hope this critics survey for the best in film from 2023 will help you get caught up on the year’s cinematic bounty and point you toward titles that might have been blindspots. Happy viewing.
Best Film
1. “Killers of the Flower Moon”
2. “Oppenheimer”
3. “Poor Things”
4. “Past Lives”
5. “May December”
6. “The Zone of Interest”
7. “Anatomy of a Fall”
8. “Barbie”
9. “The Holdovers”
10. “Asteroid City”
Best Director
1. Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
2. Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
3. Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
4. Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”
5. Todd Haynes, “May December”
6. Greta Gerwig, “Barbie”
7. Celine Song, “Past Lives”
8. Wes Anderson, “Asteroid City”
9. Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”
10. Albert Serra, “Pacifiction”
Best Performance
1. Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
2. Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
3. Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”
4. Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
5. Charles Melton, “May December”
6. Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”
7. Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”
8. Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”
9. TIE: Greta Lee, “Past Lives”; Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
10. TIE: Glenn Howerton, “BlackBerry”; Benoit Magimel, “Pacifiction”; Koji Yakusho, “Perfect Days”; Franz Rogowski, “Passages”
Best Documentary
1. “Kokomo City”
2. “Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troisgros”
3. “20 Days in Mariupol”
4. “De Humani Corporis Fabrica”
5. TIE: “Four Daughters”/”The Eternal Memory”
6. “Our Body”
7. “Beyond Utopia”
8. “A Still Small Voice”
9. “The Mission”
10. “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
Best Cinematography
1. “Oppenheimer”
2. “Poor Things”
3. “Killers of the Flower Moon”
4. “The Zone of Interest”
5. “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”
6. “Barbie”
7. “Pacifiction”
8. “El Conde”
9. “Godland”
10. “John Wick: Chapter Four”
Best Screenplay
1. “May December”
2. “Past Lives”
3. “Anatomy of a Fall”
4. “The Holdovers”
5. “American Fiction”
6. “Killers of the Flower Moon”
7. “Poor Things”
8. “Oppenheimer”
9. TIE: “Barbie”/”The Zone of Interest”
10. “Asteroid City”
Best International Film
1. “Anatomy of a Fall”
2. “The Zone of Interest”
3. “The Boy and the Heron”
4. “Perfect Days”
5. “Fallen Leaves”
6. “The Taste of Things”
7. “Pacifiction”
8. “Godzilla Minus One”
9. “Afire”
10. “The Eight Mountains”
Best First Feature
1. “Past Lives”
2. “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”
3. “A Thousand and One”
4. “American Fiction”
5. “The Settlers”
Best Films Opening in 2024
1. “Hit Man”
2. “The Bikeriders”
3. “The Beast”
4. “Evil Does Not Exist”
5. “Green Border”
Click to the next page to see a list of critics who voted.
Continue Reading: 2023 Critics Poll: The Best Films and Performances, According to 158 Critics from Around the World
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