Most Films of 2023

I was all set to do my usual year's best and worst movies of the year list, albeit with a few caveats - this was the year where my last remaining steady film reviewing gig stopped answering my emails, so I'd missed a few of the bigger big titles - when a film came along that redefined the very notion of "best". That film? 

Muzzle.

 

A sleazy right-wing gritty cop fantasy packed with plot points too demented to recount with a straight face - though Muzzle makes a good fist of it, being completely po-faced no matter how absurd the twist - it was in no way a "good film". But to me, and very possibly only to me, its delirious nutbaggery was consistently entertaining in a way many much better films couldn't come close to achieving.

That I often enjoy violent trash cinema is no surprise. But Muzzle was a reminder that year-end best-of lists - and critical opinion in general - are really nothing more than a way for a critic to try and explain what kind of person they are. The point is not so much "these are the films I thought were the best", as it is "I want to let you know I am the kind of person who liked these films".

Which is the whole point of the exercise, obviously: who want to take film recommendations from a critic they have nothing in common with? And thus freed from any requirement to present to you, my most likely non-existent reader, a list of films I think achieved some arbitrary benchmark of overall quality, here instead in no particular order are 25 films I saw for the first time this year (either at home or in the cinema) that I enjoyed more than usual. 

Hopefully there's some titles here you might be inspired to check out for yourself, if only to discuss the completely insane and totally terrifying camel attack (seriously!) in Naga.

*Mother’s Day (the violent Polish one)

 

*Master Gardener

 

*Furies

 

*Aftersun

 

*How to Have Sex

 

*Tar

 

*Jung_E

 

*The Locksmith

 

*Skinamarink

 

*Dead Shot

 

*How to Blow Up a Pipeline

 

*Silent Night

 

*No One Will Save You

 

*Fair Play

 

*Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

 

*Bottoms

 

*Plane

 

*Sisu

 

*The Royal Hotel

 

*Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance

 

*Night of the Hunted

 

*May December

 

*The Yellow Sea

 

*Naga

 

*John Wick: Chapter 4

Review: Coup de Chance

The skills required to be a first-class comedian often prove applicable in less overtly humourous ways - just look at the long list of comedians who've delivered powerhouse performances in dramatic roles. And so it is with Woody Allen.

A new comedy from the 87 year old hasn't exactly been cause for celebration for a while now. But with the French-language and (intentionally) laugh-free Coup de Chance, Allen shows that when he serves up a wry look at human failings, he's still got what it takes to make a killing.

Fanny (Lou de Laage) has it all. Decent job, well-off husband, big apartment in Paris. But when she bumps into old high school classmate Alain (Niels Schneider) after a decade, he's a living reminder of a path not taken. He's a writer living in a garret; her evenings are spent dining with the stuffy friends of her husband Jean (Melvil Poupaud), a man who makes "rich people richer".

Alain makes no secret of the fact he had a crush on her, and that his feelings haven't changed. Increasingly, Jean's controlling side stifles her; soon they're having a full blown affair. Jean is not the kind of man to dismiss minor clues, and he hires an investigator to find out what's going on. Once he's given the bad news, he hires someone with a very different set of skills.  

For a while it seems like Jean has (yet again?) pulled off the perfect crime, until an unlikely investigator arrives. Fanny's mother Camille (Valerie Lemercier) is someone who doesn't let things go, and the more she thinks about it the more she thinks Jean is up to something. But the closer she gets to the truth, the greater the obstacle she becomes to Jean - and we already know how he deals with obstacles.

At a time when it feels like being bombastic is the main requirement for a cinema release, this small scale tale of all-too-human ruthlessness and romance is a breath of fresh air. 

The contrast between the surface charm and the story's dark undercurrent is energising. There's always something compelling about seeing people propelled down a path because of their nature, and Allen retains a comedians eye when it comes to crafting engaging characters.

Likewise, his ability to conjure an lovingly idealised image of urban life is undiminished, even if here it's Paris rather than New York that's on adoring display. Putting good looking people in attractive locations will take you a long way in a movie; throw in a well-crafted plot with some sharp observations and you've got a winner.

- Anthony Morris

Review: Saltburn

Seems rich people are vapid, self-obsessed, thoughtlessly cruel, and often stupid: who knew? But don't worry, Saltburn also lets us know that poor(er) people are creepy, abrasive, socially inept and straight-out murderous. Lucky everyone is so good looking, hey?

Emerald Fennell's follow-up to Promising Young Woman once again wraps a story that wants to mean something but really doesn't in a very stylish package largely carried by the performances, though here there's also a collection of decade-old bangers on the soundtrack to keep you distracted. It'd be a case of style over substance, only there isn't any substance - but there is a bit of substance abuse that eventually becomes relevant to the plot.

Oxford student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) has no mates and no connections, which puts him perpetually on the outer at a university where either you're part of the elite or you're nothing. And at the center of the social swirl is Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi); women want him, men want to be him, and when Oliver lends him his bike so he can get to class on time, suddenly Oliver has an in with the in crowd.

Maintaining his status isn't easy, and even distracted viewers will rapidly pick up on the not-so-subtle clues that things aren't entirely as they seem with Oliver. No matter: a personal tragedy at just the right time scores Oliver an invite to spend the holidays with Felix at the family mansion Saltburn, and there the real fun begins.

Felix's parents (Richard E Grant and Rosamund Pike) are comedy buffoons; his sister Annabel (Sadie Soverall) is what you might call "a party girl". Fellow guest Farleigh (Archie Madewe) has a bully's eye for Oliver's weaknesses, partly because his family's standing (and wealth) isn't as solid as he'd like. As for Pamela (Carey Mulligan), she's a drip who doesn't seem to realise it's time to leave.

This stretch is the best in the film, mostly because stupid careless rich people are always entertaining even if there's absolutely nothing new being said. Fennell is at her best when she's merely suggesting that something isn't quite right, and the numerous scenes here where class and status is undermined and then re-enforced have an engaging energy to them.

But even the best parties have to end sometime, and gradually it becomes clear that Oliver's interest in Felix isn't merely friendship but runs on some unsettling parallel track marked obsession. Also, he seems surprisingly good at manipulating the other members of Felix's family (admittedly, not a tough job). What exactly is his end game, and why is he slurping up Felix's bathwater after Felix jerked off into it?

Unfortunately the answer seems to be "don't worry about it", because no sooner does the plot kick in than it becomes clear that Fennell is a lot better at coming up with striking scenes than she is with stringing them all together in a way that builds to anything, let alone makes sense. 

The film's shock twist conclusion pretty much contradicts much of what's come before and largely relies on you going "oh, it's an update of The Talented Mr Ripley, I'm quite smart for having realised that"; on whatever level you choose, the story doesn't work.

Overall it's largely forgettable and often silly, but there are a number of fun and effective scenes along the way. It definitely doesn't hurt that Keoghan - whose short stature is repeatedly emphasised here - is 100% going for it every chance he gets. 

There's not a lot of roles that require you to drop your pants and literally have sex with (not on - with) a fresh grave; the fact that's not the part of his performance everyone is talking about should give you some idea of what you're in for with Saltburn.

- Anthony Morris