Films of the year / best films you saw for the first time this year

[Minami Minegishi]

I larfed.

Ahh, I thought Red Rooms had been out for a while. I wasn't being annoying film festival man, I genuinely thought some of 'you people' had seen it.

[Mister Six]

Shout out to the funniest thing I (re)watched this year - RDJ at the end of this scene:

[selectivememory]

Red Rooms is amazing. Thanks for flagging it up @Minami Minegishi !

[Minami Minegishi]

Red Rooms is amazing. Thanks for flagging it up @Minami Minegishi !

No problem - and it's nice to have another soul on my lonely little raft over here.

It's not for everyone, as I'm sure you will agree.

Spoiler alert

But it has one of my favourite look to camera moments in cinema history. When he finally looks at her as she gets dragged out of court and the soundtrack goes insane.   

[close]

[selectivememory]

Yeah, that whole sequence was extraordinary. Was just laughing in astonishment when

Spoiler alert

she revealed the school uniform and put in the braces.

[close]

[Minami Minegishi]

Yeah, that whole sequence was extraordinary. Was just laughing in astonishment when

Spoiler alert

she revealed the school uniform and put in the braces.

[close]

I'm glad I wasn't the only person laughing at large chunks of this. Especially that entire sequence.

I gave it a 4.5.

Spoiler alert

I was enjoying the misanthropic tone, so the resolution of her character actually doing some 'good' jarred with me a little. I gave Anatomy of a Fall the same score for a similar reason. That little shit in court at the end oi vey.

[close]

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

somewhat beating my record by watching over 200 movies this year (short movies included)

best new ones to me... hhmmm

Grim - Takashi Ito
The Secret Garden - Phil Solomon
The Dante Quartet - Stan Brakhage
Mysterious Skin - Gregg Araki
Alucarda - Juan López Moctezuma
Ants - Giuseppe Andrews
Submit to Me - Richard Kern
Crybaby - John Waters
Tetsuo the Iron Man - Shinya Tsukamoto
Phantasm - Don Coscarelli
Happy Go Lucky - Mike Leigh
The Hidden - Jack Sholder
Dr. Caligari - Stephen Sayadian
Lessons of Darkness - Werner Herzog
Stage Fright - Michele Soavi
Querelle - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Opening Night - John Cassavettes
The Lure - Agnieszka Smoczyńska
The Swimmer - Frank Perry
Orlando - Sally Potter
Billy Liar - John Schlesinger
Drowning by Numbers - Peter Greenaway
The Odd Couple - Gene Saks
Poppies - Rose Lowder
Atman - Toshio Matsumoto
BloodSisters: Leather, Dykes, and Sadomasochism - Michelle Handelman
Red Lips - Donald Farmer
Dreams - Akira Kurosawa
Psycho 2 - Richard Franklin
Crimes of Passion - Ken Russell
The American Friend - Wim Wenders
Xtro - Harry Bromley Davenport
Quartet - James Ivory
Blood for Dracula - Paul Morrissey
The Sentinel - Michael Winner
Night School - Ken Hughes
UFOs -  Lillian Schwartz

[selectivememory]

I gave it a 4.5.

Spoiler alert

I was enjoying the misanthropic tone, so the resolution of her character actually doing some 'good' jarred with me a little. I gave Anatomy of a Fall the same score for a similar reason. That little shit in court at the end oi vey.

[close]

Yeah, wasn't sure what to make of that ending. Feel like I need to rewatch it soon anyway just because there was so much to take in.

[Swift]

God, looking at my 2023 rankings on Letterboxd there's quite a few that I rated high in the immediate aftermath but wouldn't say they were my best films of the year. Mostly docs, I think I rate them high if they're decent and I have an interest in the subject (Wham!, Sly, Arnold etc) But I also highly rated a number of franchise films that I don't know if I would say were best of the year (MI, Spiderverse, Indy, GOTG)
So picking stuff that I think still holds up...

1. The Holdovers (easy #1, Alexander Payne film set in the 70s but also filmed as if it was made in the 70s too. Just a lovely throwback film. I just looked and it's not actually released in the UK until Jan, so here's my recommendation to go check it out)
2. Killers of the Flower Moon
3. Oppenheimer
4. The Romantics (a multi part doc series about legendary Bollywood director/producer Yash Chopra)
5. El Conde (Larrain's film portrays Pinochet as an actual vampire. I might be rating it a bit high but there was a stunning sequence of a character flying through the air that I absolutely loved)

Best first time watches...

1. The Quiet Girl (Bairead, 2022) - Heartbreaking
2. Heaven's Gate (Cimino, 1980) - Not perfect, but I'm starting to love the giant sweeping epic movies of the kind not made anymore.
3. Black Orpheus (Camus, 1959) - Gorgeous scenery, gorgeous dancing women, gorgeous music, loved it.
4. Under the Bombs (Aractingi, 2007) - Neo realist film shot in the aftermath of the 2006 Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, a mother looks for her missing son with the help of a taxi driver. Literally shot in actual bombed out locations, this pretty much feels like a documentary.
5. Top Secret! (Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker, 1984) - Love ZAZ movies but had never seen this one. Some great gags as you would imagine. Surprised to see Jim Carter in there.
6. They Came Together (Wain, 2014) - Paul Rudd & Amy Poehler in a very offbeat rom com. Really silly but unexpectedly hilarious.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I just watched Red Rooms and agree that it's really good so thanks for relentlessly nagging us to watch it Minami Minegishi. Reminded me of Kieslowski in places (particularly the intro). Interesting aspect ratio, 1.50:1, don't think I've ever seen that one before (although I guess technically it's just the same ratio as an open 35mm slide). It works, anyway and I'm sure was very carefully considered.

The bit mentioned was pretty out there, kind of Jam vibes a bit. A psychologist would have a field day with her character, so much about her behaviour to analyse and aside from the aforementioned end "gesture" it would seem to fit her character perfectly.

[AnOrdinaryBoy]

I had a three-year old, a full time job, a part-time distance learning MA and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to contend with this year, so I didn't watch many films at all. In fact, according to Letterboxed I have seen only 46 films for the first time this year, of which only five were released in 2023. Two of those were shit Netflix documentaries I had on in the background purely for noise. Ignoring those, my three best 2023 movies are

1. Oppenheimer
2. Killers of the Flower Moon
3. The Killer

As for good stuff seen for the first time, I would say Black Girl (Ousmane Sembène, 1966), A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956), Le Samourai (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967) and Sorcerer (William Friedkin, 1977) all stood out as excellent films which I wish I hadn't delayed so long in getting around to watching.

[Minami Minegishi]

I just watched Red Rooms...

Good call on Jam - I think that's what the film does really well. It hits that sweet spot of abject content framed in a comedic way (if your mind is open to such things). I imagine there will be folks who dislike it (and I can see from some reviews that that audio stuff has been problematic for a few).

[Rolf Lundgren]

Haven't watched enough new films this year but the best films I've watched for the first time this year in no particular order.

1. Elite Squad (Padilha, 2007)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four (Radford, 1984)
3. Limbo (Sharrock, 2020)
4. Dead Man's Shoes (Meadows, 2004)
5. Tyrannosaur (Considine, 2011)
6. The Apartment (Wilder, 1960)
7. Chopper (Dominick, 2000)
8. Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (Yamaguchi, 2020)
9. Whistle Down The Wind (Forbes, 1961)
10. I'm Alright Jack (Boulting, 1959)

[Minami Minegishi]

8. Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (Yamaguchi, 2020

I thought this was a fun time travel film with a good execution. Very low budget but worked well for me.

[Rolf Lundgren]

I thought this was a fun time travel film with a good execution. Very low budget but worked well for me.

Absolutely. I initially thought it was going to be confusing but they take you along with them and break it all down in an entertaining way. Hard not to love it.

[Dr Rock]

New Fillums

Sisu - one old Finnish fella with some gold, vs all the Nazis in his path. Spectacularly good.

The Banshees of Inisherin I'm not really interested in any subtexts and that, just so funny and so sad in equal measure.

Old Fillums I Just Saw

To Live And Die In LA. As recommended here. Miami Vice on steroids, I must watch it again.

Various Yorgos Lanthimos ones I hadn't seeen. The man is a genius.

I maybe saw The Skin I Live In in the last year. Even if you're lukewarm on Pedro Almodóvar, this is fascinating and macabre. Bloody macabre I'm telling you.

[Small Man Big Horse]

somewhat beating my record by watching over 200 movies this year (short movies included)

best new ones to me... hhmmm

Grim - Takashi Ito
The Secret Garden - Phil Solomon
The Dante Quartet - Stan Brakhage
Mysterious Skin - Gregg Araki
Alucarda - Juan López Moctezuma
Ants - Giuseppe Andrews
Submit to Me - Richard Kern
Crybaby - John Waters
Tetsuo the Iron Man - Shinya Tsukamoto
Phantasm - Don Coscarelli
Happy Go Lucky - Mike Leigh
The Hidden - Jack Sholder
Dr. Caligari - Stephen Sayadian
Lessons of Darkness - Werner Herzog
Stage Fright - Michele Soavi
Querelle - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Opening Night - John Cassavettes
The Lure - Agnieszka Smoczyńska
The Swimmer - Frank Perry
Orlando - Sally Potter
Billy Liar - John Schlesinger
Drowning by Numbers - Peter Greenaway
The Odd Couple - Gene Saks
Poppies - Rose Lowder
Atman - Toshio Matsumoto
BloodSisters: Leather, Dykes, and Sadomasochism - Michelle Handelman
Red Lips - Donald Farmer
Dreams - Akira Kurosawa
Psycho 2 - Richard Franklin
Crimes of Passion - Ken Russell
The American Friend - Wim Wenders
Xtro - Harry Bromley Davenport
Quartet - James Ivory
Blood for Dracula - Paul Morrissey
The Sentinel - Michael Winner
Night School - Ken Hughes
UFOs -  Lillian Schwartz

There's lots of great films on your list there, but I especially loved The Lure and Querelle.

My brain won't let me compile a list until after January 1st, because it's a tiresome cunt like that. But right now according to Letterboxd Molli and Max in the Future is the only film I rated 5 stars, and frustratingly that's still doing the festival circuit so I can't share it with anyone.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

There's lots of great films on your list there, but I especially loved The Lure and Querelle.

fuck yeahhh big gay sexy tragedies baybeyyyy

[jsgibble]

I don't make an effort to watch new films really, maybe that's something to try and change, the only films I saw from the past two years were Killers of the Flower Moon (great), Enys Men (great) and The Old Oak (surprisingly pretty good).

10 new-to-me films I loved:

A Pebble by the Wayside (1938) (dir. Tomotaka Tasaka)
The Red Shoes (1948) (dir. Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell)
In Two Minds (1967) (dir. Ken Loach)
Poor Cow (1967) (dir. Ken Loach)
Count Dracula (1977) (dir. Philip Saville)
ORG (1979) (dir. Fernando Birri)
Personal Problems (1980) (dir. Bill Gunn)
Artemis '81 (1981) (dir. Alastair Reid)
Toute Une Nuit (1982) (dir. Chantal Akerman)
Horse Money (2014) (dir. Pedro Costa)

[Mister Six]

My brain won't let me compile a list until after January 1st, because it's a tiresome cunt like that.

YESSSSS, mine too. Who are these maniacs, doing their "best of the years" before the year's even up?

But right now according to Letterboxd Molli and Max in the Future is the only film I rated 5 stars, and frustratingly that's still doing the festival circuit so I can't share it with anyone.

Ooh, please remind us all about this once it gets some kind of distribution!

[Small Man Big Horse]

YESSSSS, mine too. Who are these maniacs, doing their "best of the years" before the year's even up?

I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking these crazy monsters are doing something mad, though on the plus side it has highlighted a few films I'd have missed otherwise!

Ooh, please remind us all about this once it gets some kind of distribution!

I will do, and I'm really hoping Cory McAbee's Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences finally gets a release next year as well as that's been stuck on the festival circuit for a good year now.

[Icehaven]

Just watched Leave The World Behind, it was alright but a bit too similar to a lot of other things to stand out particularly.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It definitely reminded me of other stuff, but in a good way.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking these crazy monsters are doing something mad, though on the plus side it has highlighted a few films I'd have missed otherwise!

I will do, and I'm really hoping Cory McAbee's Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences finally gets a release next year as well as that's been stuck on the festival circuit for a good year now.

what's yer letterboxd, smbh? do i have it already?

[Small Man Big Horse]

what's yer letterboxd, smbh? do i have it already?

It's https://letterboxd.com/alexwfinch/ - And I'd really like to see yours too :)

[Dr Rock]

It definitely reminded me of other stuff, but in a good way.

It reminded me a bit of Miracle Mile, in some ways, if anyone's seen it. I enjoyed it.

[AliasTheCat]

I really wanted to chime in with this thread but I simply can't remember most of what I saw over the last year and I know I'd miss out something. How do you all do it, do you make notes?
As a result of thinking about this, I went to see a screening of A Year in a Field at the Curzon last night (I liked it, and it's interesting to see a project take shape over the course of it's length- it starts out as one thing and ends up as another in a way that feels organic) and made a few notes about it afterwards.

[twosclues]

YESSSSS, mine too. Who are these maniacs, doing their "best of the years" before the year's even up?

Yeah honestly, because UK and Ireland release dates tend to be so awkward around this time of year, I now consider the "movie year" to largely be from one Oscar ceremony to the next. Would feel weird to me to consider something like Tár a 2023 movie, and even though Poor Things or Zone of Interest don't come out here til 2024 I feel like they belong among this year's pack. Lists, very important business.

[Icehaven]

It definitely reminded me of other stuff, but in a good way.

I did have to laugh at the end when

Spoiler alert

the girl dealt with the impending apocalypse by eating loads of food and watching Friends,

[close]

because that's exactly what I'd do.

[Mister Six]

I really wanted to chime in with this thread but I simply can't remember most of what I saw over the last year and I know I'd miss out something. How do you all do it, do you make notes?

I was keeping notes on my phone, but there's a handy app called Letterboxd - it's basically Goodreads for films - that lets you log when you watched films, along with an optional review and score, and make lists.

This is my profile, if people want to add me: https://boxd.it/7kIo1