Top Films of 2023

 Top Films of 2023

Honorable Mentions:

Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse - Dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, & Justin K. Thompson

It is becoming increasingly popular for filmmakers to make 'glitch' films for Gen-Z audiences. These 'glitch' films, as I call them, deal with a revolving door of visual imagery, visual styles, and glitches between varying genres. A prime example of that is last year's "Everything Everywhere All at Once." When watching that film last year, I believed that the 'glitching' aspect of the film's visual style was due to the short attention span of its viewers. However, I have come to believe that the more likely explanation is the way in which modern audiences experience media - through the revolving door of social media. With our daily interactions with social media, we are becoming more and more engrained in the kaleidoscope of varying content that exists all within an inch of each other. Like "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse" uses the multiverse concept to enact its revolving kaleidoscope of visual imagery. Hidden within the vast array of colors, content, gags, and glitching goodness lies something pure and emotional about the nature of growing up and discovering who you really are.

Godzilla Minus One - Dir. Takashi Yamazaki

In the latest iteration of the 'Godzilla' franchise, Japanese cinema has retaken the titular monster back into its hands from American Hollywood iconography. It also has once again reinstalled the thematic meaning behind the story and the monster: the anxiety of atomic warfare and destruction. Taking place in post-war Japan, the film documents the post-war trauma of an entire nation as it grips with the devastation of its nation and its people. In facing this new existential threat in Godzilla, our cast of characters must look deep within themselves and what they're capable of as a nation of citizens working together in order to take on this overwhelming challenge. In the end, its a story of rebuilding a better future from the wreckage of a dead world. Its a story that is ripped straight from the 1940s but is as powerful and impactful today than ever before.

American Fiction - Dir. Cord Jefferson

In this adaptation from Percival Everett's 2001 novel "Erasure," "American Fiction" finds a contemporary author exasperated by the depiction of black Americans in today's culture. As a lark, he writes a fake novel depicting the downtrodden stereotypes that many Americans view their black counterparts. Unexpectedly, the novel becomes a huge success. "American Fiction" unravels the racism that lies at the heart of our modern 'inclusive' culture and how much of it is another form of white saviorism. Rather, Cord Jefferson's film depicts a far more complex and nuanced depiction of black life and black culture that is far from the depictions of drug dealers, slaves, and gangsters that are being peddled by a white American that sees its black culture fitting into these tight and narrow categories. 

The Holdovers - Dir. Alexander Payne

Alexander Payne's new film, "The Holdovers" plays like a forgotten film from the 1970s. Starring Paul Giamatti as a curmudgeon who must look after one of his students during the Winter Break, the film oozes with late 20th century charm. Rather than being focused on the nostalgia from this time period, the film instead borrows this aesthetic to iterate something for more important about the sentiment of this kind of film. During a time when everyone in 2023 is at each other's throats, the film demonstrates in Dickensian fashion that one must see others, all their faults and frailties, as something to foster and look after, not something to abandon all together.

Napoleon - Dir. Ridley Scott

In this 2023 version of the story of Napoleon, Joaquin Phoenix turns what would normally be a cut-and-dry biopic war epic into something much more interesting. With Ridley Scott at the helm, "Napoleon" hits the typical beats in Napoleon's life, all the while maintaining a sense of intimacy with our egotistical main protagonist. Although there plenty of battle scenes to go around, the crux of the story rests far more on the relationship between Napoleon and his lifelong love interest, Josephine. With this relationship explored, Scott's scope, and Phoenix's complex portrayal, the viewer comes to know Napoleon, with all his egotism, insecurity, and blatant idiocy on full display. One can't help to wonder if this perspective of this powerful figure is an exercise in exploring the absurdity of our modern political monsters. 

RANKED:

25. Monster - Dir. Hirokazu Koreeda

Hirokazu Koreeda's filmography often deals with desperate people finding families in each other. His 2023 film, "Monster" tells a slightly different story. Told with a "Roshomon"-style narrative, this drama tells the story of differing perspectives on the hardships by a young boy attending school. The boy's mother believes her teacher is abusing him. The teacher believes the boy is bullying other students. However, the real truth is something more complex than both realize. When it is all said and done, we see a tapestry of lies and shame that covers up real emotional distress. None of the characters in the film are actually the monsters others accuse them of being. In the end, unearthing the true perspectives of the incident creates the greater context necessary to see the people as the human beings they are, not the warped characterization that are placed on them. 

24. El Conde - Dir. Pablo Larrain

In his 2023 neo-expressionist work, "El Conde," Pablo Larrain takes historical figures and treats them as fantastical ones. In this case, the fantastical vampire proves to be the best suit for 20th century Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Larrian paints the bloodsucking political figures in his film as hollow, selfish and, aided by the bleak Expressionistic black and white, drained of any life. Not only are they pillaging the rest of the world, but the notion that they are doing it hollowly makes it even more stark. Larrian tells a classic horror fantasy story through the lens of familiar modernism and demonstrates how horrifying our leaders are, how uncaring humanity is, and how life itself can be drained of any care.

23. La Chimera - Dir. Alice Rohrwacher

On the surface, Alice Rohrwacher's 2023 film "La Chimera" is about a tomb-raiding English archeologist searching through Eturian graves in Italy. However, the film slowly begins to reveal itself to you as a film about immense grief and the clawing and scraping to find something to satiate its gnawing presence. With subtle hints of magical realism, "La Chimera" takes us on a journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, and all the intertwined destinies of the characters as they all search for 'La Chimera,' or, that which one always tries desperately to achieve but will never actually find.

22. Perfect Days - Dir. Wim Wenders

In this meditative feature by famous German filmmaker Wim Wenders, "Perfect Days" tells the story of a toilet cleaner as he goes about his days, enjoying the small moments and listening to classic American rock. In the hands of another director, the film would explore the economic disparity felt by this lowly toilet cleaner. In the hands of Wenders however, the film is more about the simplicity in appreciating life, regardless of what you're doing with it. Despite the circumstances, there is beauty everywhere you look around you - in nature, in new technology, and in people.

21. The Taste of Things - Dir. Tran Anh Hung

One would think that simply watching people cook would come across as boring or uninteresting. However, in this romantic drama from Tran Anh Hung, it's an art. Taking place in 1889, "The Taste of Things" tells the story of a romance between a cook, played by the incomparable Juliette Binoche, and the gourmet she works for, played by Benoit Magimel. In between the romance, drama, and tragedy of the film is long, beautiful scenes of preparing culinary arts. It is perhaps some of the most insanely relaxing and hypnotic feeling to watch these characters perform their craft. Through the craft, they are able to truly express themselves and the art of life itself.

20. Barbie - Dir. Greta Gerwig

Stepping up her directorial efforts away from indie and into the mainstream commercial market, Greta Gerwig decides to tell a much bigger story. With "Barbie," she crafts a film of the current contemporary moment. On the surface, the film is simple story about the gendered relationship between men and women. However, Gerwig throws something far more complex into the equation. When Margot Robbie's 'Generic Barbie' leaves Barbieland and enters the real world, she believes that the two could not be more opposite. However, it appears that they are more alike than one would imagine. In both worlds, people live by the stereotypes that are given to them (and that they give to themselves). These stereotypes inherently put individuals in a tiny box, conditioned to live according to the stereotype within the context of the overarching system. However, as ALL of the characters come to realize, these stereotypes are not only NOT who they really are, but are inherently creating conflict externally with others and internally within themselves. Sure, the overall system is flawed, but it's only flawed because we as individuals must learn how to break free from these prescribed labels that chain us to it. Once we learn how to do this, we can begin to actually make change in our world. On top of these narratives lies something even deeper with regard to the current crisis facing our modern world. The film came during the WGA and SAG strikes protesting against studios' use of AI in the new film medium. The idea that artificial intelligence could create film follows thematic revelations found in "Barbie" that the artificial world is no substitute for human life. Barbie's world is perfect and unflawed and yet she feels a sense of unease about this, a hollowness. When she sees the elderly woman in the real world, she realizes that she is beautiful and tells her such. It is in this moment that Barbie realizes the beauty in the imperfect. She discovers that death, aging, and cellulite are beautiful, despite her fears. The imperfection of life has heartache, fear, and trauma. But these are the very things that make you human. The flaw within the artificiality of her world is that the 'perfection' that it derives is inherently hollow and lifeless. With the oncoming threat of AI and 'artificial art,' "Barbie" is a staunch reminder that beauty lies not in perfection, but in the flaws that only a human being can provide.

19. Priscilla - Dir. Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla" acts as a quiet rebuttal to Baz Luhrmann's maximalist "Elvis" film from the previous year. Adapted from Priscilla's 1985 autobiography "Elvis and Me," Coppola's film portrays the young, 14-year-old Priscilla being swept away by the powerful and charming Elvis Presley. Watching the film is like slowly sinking in quicksand until eventually being suffocated by it. Priscilla never actually has autonomy in her own life and moves from her military family control over to the Presley family's control, all the while being under control of the Catholic school she attends. Her feelings of being trapped eventually reach a boiling point, as she must free herself and become her own person. However, this feeling of catharsis is only bittersweet, as she must leave the husband she once loved behind to let him slowly sink away under the burdens of his own trapped situation (by both fame and the Colonel). Overall, Coppola demonstrates the fallouts of our collectivized idolization of both Elvis and Priscilla and how Priscilla's story is a reflection of the female experience in the 20th century. "Priscilla" acts as a self-reflection regarding the control we have in our own lives and the necessity to regain that control and more importantly, regain ourselves in the process.

18. The Beast - Dir. Bertrand Bonello

It would not be a falsity to say that Bertrand Bonello's 2023 film "The Beast" is a difficult watch. It spans timelines, technology, narrative, and generally has an ambiguous nature. It centers on a woman living in the year 2044, as she is attempting to wipe her DNA of ancestral components in order to rid her body of emotion for a new AI world. Through his DNA wipe, she experiences past lives through dream sequences. It is difficult to pin down what exactly "The Beast's" thematic point is. Perhaps it is a commentary of the terror humans face with their diminishing relevance. Perhaps it reflects our own increasingly cold, automated, and emotional world. Either way, Bonello infuses the film with red herrings, blind alleys, and unexplained deviations, making "The Beast" one of the more mesmerizing and baffling experiences in the cinema in 2023. 

17. Close Your Eyes - Dir. Victor Erice

With his 2023 film "Close Your Eyes," Victor Erice returns to filmmaking after a 40 year hiatus to make what is seemingly a swan song. The film centers on a filmmaker searching for a friend and former actor who had disappeared twenty years prior during the middle of shooting a film. Through this search, Erice uses the film medium to convey the ambiguity of film, along with life, identity, memory, and death. Although Erice has only made four films in his entire life, "Close Your Eyes" seems to make up for all that potential work with something full to the brim of existential pondering. What's great about the film is that it provides no answers, nor really asks any questions. Merely, it attempts to sit with these sentiments of regret, anguish, and time slipping away between your fingers and forcing you to cling tightly to the insignificant moments of life. As the filmmaker's editor says in the movie, "cinema lost its magic when Dreyer died." Perhaps this is true, but Erice makes a final attempt to capture the magic of cinema.

16. The Killer - Dir. David Fincher

On the surface, David Fincher's 2023 film "The Killer" just feels like a standard assassin film, done in Fincher's directional style. Well, that kinda becomes the point. Fincher seems to use his direction to convey this notion. "The Killer" seems to convey this repetitive, cold, and unsympathetic world we find ourselves in. The habits we have accustomed ourselves to day in and day out have now become mundane and empty. We now live without any passion as we hollowly check the to-do boxes of our daily routines, are surrounded by the cold and uncaring corporate world around us, and feel ourselves become more and more distant from our fellow human beings. Even Fincher seems to out-Fincher himself in "The Killer" with his direction, which seems to align with the hollow repetition the film comments on. We've all seen this movie before, we all know the monotony of every plot point, and we know how it all is going to end. Which is the point. "The Killer" seems like an adequate reflection of humanity in 2023, as we slowly become just as cold, uncaring, and repetitive in our work and our lives as the world around us. As the film seems to suggest, we are simply the updated products of a industrialized corporate age.

15. May December - Dir. Todd Haynes

Taking direct inspiration from the true crime story of Mary Kay Letourneau, Todd Haynes film "May December" like a daytime soap, full of camp and melodrama. This sense of sensationalism echoes our own sense of sensationalism and entertainment-like obsession with true crime stories. But, as Haynes dissects further, underneath the tabloids and intrigue lies trauma and shattered lives. Our obsessions with these stories only perpetuate this repeated trauma. However, we cannot help but pick things apart and dive into the realms of what would make a person do something so vile. In doing so, we cannibalize their identity and play with it like an actress playing a role. With "May December," Haynes makes a film that dissects the roles we play in our lives and in the lives of others, questioning abuse, performance, and the act of stealing people's lives and identities.

14. Beau is Afraid - Dir. Ari Aster

In what Ari Aster calls a "nightmare comedy," "Beau is Afraid" stars Joaquin Phoenix as the pathetic, frightened, infantile Beau, who panickily and passively plods through the strange and chaotic circumstances of getting home to his mother. The film is an examination of the psyche of a man with 'mommy issues,' and perhaps even Aster himself (as well as many watching the film). The psychological mindset of Beau permeates the whole film, as the audience wanders through the madhouse of emotional distress that lies at the heart of Beau and his troubled relationship with his smothering and controlling mother. Aster uses the film medium as a surrealist journey to paint a tapestry of images and situations that gets to the heart of fear and anxiety and, in the process, examines the psychological limitations of our deep-hidden paranoia and terror of our external landscapes. "Beau is Afraid," despite being an existential fever dream/nightmare, allows for a sense of self-examination and perhaps even a catharsis of our internal fears and anxieties.

13. Afire - Dir. Christian Petzold

German director Christian Petzold's 2023 film "Afire" is a contemplative look at the director through a self-reflective lens. A rather critical lens, on top. The story is about writer who spends his summer at a friend's holiday home near the Baltic Sea attempting to finish his book. However, the distractions of life get in the way. While everyone is enjoying their time and 'working' in a different, more productive way, our protagonist can no nothing but be awkward and grumpy about everything. All the while, a raging forest fire raises concerns for the group's stay. Not only is "Afire" a self reflection for Petzold, but a contemplative look at how we should be spending our time amongst the chaos of our modern world. Rather than being wrapped up in your own self-interests, cold to everyone around you, and displeased about every little thing, perhaps we should all take some time to enjoy life and the people around us.

12. About Dry Grasses - Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan

It's hard to say what exactly about Nuri Bilge Ceylan's 2023 Turkish film "About Dry Grasses" is so mesmerizing, haunting, and beautiful. The film centers on a teacher in a remote village who becomes utterly disillusioned when a young student accuses him of sexual misconduct. Through this 3 and a half hour story, we find our characters caught in a web of secrets, lies, trauma, and other assortments of how each one deals with their reality. Through the breathtaking landscapes of the cold, barren wasteland of the environment, our protagonist must deal with the moral apathy of everyone around him, including himself. This, along with the confusion that comes from actions without reason, opinions with no code, and decisions with no clear explanations, we are felt with no real answers to the nature of the film, along with the nature of humanity itself. The film is sprawling, intimate, and unusual. But, it certainly packs a punch that leaves you utterly reflective. 

11. Evil Does Not Exist - Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi

One thing is certain about Ryusuke Hamaguchi, he will make slow-paced, still, and meditative/contemplative films. His 2023 film "Evil Does Not Exist" is no exception. Taking place in a small village, the village's inhabitants become concerned when a glamping site proposal is introduced that would deeply affect and pollute the environment around them. These glamping sites will offer city residents a comfortable escape to nature. The film captures the inhabitant's concerns, along with the incoming company's two representative as they try and connect more with the people and the environment around them. With a deeply ambiguous and engaging ending, it is uncertain of how nature and man can ever coexist together.

10. Green Border - Dir. Agnieszka Holland

In a film that demonstrates a crisis for our times, Agnieszka Holland's "Green Border" details the events of a family attempting to get into Poland through the Polish-Belarusian border. The only problems is that Belarus is using them as immigrant weapons against Poland and Poland continues to send them right back to Belarus. With the horrible mistreatment they face from both the Polish and Belarusian forces and constantly being pushed back across borders, these families are caught in geo-political trap and a humanitarian crisis. The story's narrative dips in and out of these families' border struggles, while also showing the different humanitarian groups trying to assist, a lowly therapist trying to act outside the legal barriers, and a Polish soldier struggling with the realities of what he's doing. All in all, "Green Border" is a film of our time and showcases the global immigration crisis, the lack of human respect even by Western actors, and the general fallout of the common global community from the escalation of our current Cold War.

9. Fallen Leaves - Dir. Aki Kaurismaki

Aki Kaurismaki's 2023 entry into his already impressive filmography, "Fallen Leaves" is a film that is seemed with contemporary sentiments. It also happens to be my pick for the "Von Sternberg" film of the year. In it, we follow two lonely characters, each hollowed out by their respective low-paying labor jobs, as they grow increasingly more depressed by our modern world, including being bombarded with radio broadcasts of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These two lost souls are cogs in the machine of modernity, which is only draining them more and more each day. Like Fincher's "The Killer" from this year, "Fallen Leaves" does an impeccable job of iterating the contemporary sentiment of the hollowness and emptiness that our modern and decrepit "utopia" is providing us. 

8. Poor Things - Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

With his most ambitious film to date, Yorgos Lanthimos expands upon themes and ideas from his previous work with 2023's "Poor Things." With our protagonist Bella Baxter, Lanthimos takes a Frankenstein's monster and shows her a world full of rules and manners. As she goes out to explore the freedom life affords, she begins to realize the inherent lack of freedom offered. Lanthimos infuses Bella's world with an impressionistic view of a colorful, exciting, and fantastical lens. As she progresses throughout the landscape, she is molded and formed by it. Despite taking place (seemingly) in the Victorian era, the problems Bella faces are not dissimilar to our modern world. As she faces "polite society," social norms, and gender standards, the bright, colorful, and limitless possibilities turn to harsher realities and colder outlooks. Bella learns how to live in the modern world and the frustrating compromises it takes to be a modern women.

7. Asteroid City - Dir. Wes Anderson

With "Asteroid City," Wes Anderson takes his typical aesthetic style and boils it down to its bare essence. He even goes so far as to metatextually examine these artistic stylings. The conceit of the story is that it is a fictional play within a 50s television program going behind the scenes of the play's participants. The play, set in the small New Mexico town of Asteroid City, allows Anderson to use his typical rich, pastel world as a symbolic nuclear test city. Despite taking place in the 50s, the anxieties of this closed town mirror our contemporary world: nuclear testing, the increasing capabilities of technology, government overreaching, and even alien invasions. As he traps his characters within this bubble to play out these anxieties, Anderson begins to question the very nature of artistic expression and what purpose it serves in an increasingly hopeless world. What is expressed seems to be a lack of passion, as the characters are desperately searching for meaning and purpose in their lives. There is, however, no meaning to be found. In fact, things only get more confusing the more you examine them. Which is precisely what happens: Anderson questioning his own art and what it means only to confuse himself even more in the process. Anderson seems to come to the same conclusion his characters do. In essence, a lack of understanding. But, the final conclusion he seems to draw is best said by Adrian Brody's character: "It doesn't matter if you don't understand, just keep telling the story."

6. Past Lives - Dir. Celine Song

Ever wonder what your life would have been like had you done things differently? What if you had stayed where you grew up? Or chosen a different career path? Or chosen a different life partner? Celine Song's "Past Lives" ponders these same questions through the life of its protagonist, Nora. When she is reunited with her childhood sweetheart visiting from her homeland of Korea, Nora begins to muse upon the ever-shifting nature of life and the infinite "what-if" questions. What would seem like a romantic and dramatic affair, Song turns the film into a quiet meditation on tiny moments that change a person forever. Hidden within the confines of every moment lies an entirely different person with an entirely different life. Our decisions have ripple effects that constantly move us from one life to the next. Who we are, where we live, and who we're with are defined by these small moments. The infinite possibilities of what 'could be' are lost in these moments, forever drifting in a state of unreality, left for us to ponder. 

5. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World - Dir. Radu Jude

Radu Jude's latest entry into his filmography, "Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World" is a film drenched in contemporary malaise and frustration. It centers on an overworked and underpaid production assistant who travels all over Bucharest to shoot a workplace safety video commissioned by a multinational company. What Jude does interesting in the film is the way in which he textures the form of the film, often interweaving the images with an old Communist propaganda film. All the while, our protagonist shoots racy, raunchy TikToks as a character similar to Andrew Tate. Jude's neo-realist snapshot of modernity can hit pretty close to home. The suffocating way in which corporations are slowly taking everything from us, while we can't help but to frustratingly 'take it up the rear end,' while we express ourselves in more aggressive ways not to these very people and companies, but rather to each other. "Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World" is a snapshot of modern life and a bleak realization of the slow death of society.

4. Anatomy of a Fall - Dir. Justine Triet

As you progress deeper into Justine Triet's "Anatomy of a Fall," you begin to realize that the "fall" from the film's title not only refers to the literal fall of the film's deceased husband and father, but the fall of a relationship, the fall of the lives of these people, and the fall of our own humanity and morality. In the film, we as an audience (along with the courtroom) must issue a judgement after each new piece of information comes forward. Our judgements continue to morph and change, demonstrating our own sense of fickleness with what we believe to be true. When it's all said and done, we have all the information EXCEPT what actually happened. Because of this, we must fill in the blank ourselves. We still have to issue judgement one way or another. "Anatomy of a Fall" analyzes our own sense of judgement and the moral compassion those judgements hold, or lack thereof. In our contemporary society, all of our moral indiscretions become analyzed, amplified, and define who we are. Triet uses this film to analyze this collective moral fallout within our society and our collective need to issue harsh moral judgments despite not knowing the full story. When truth becomes what we make it, why do we choose to tear each other down and assume the worst in each other? On top of this, because this perspective is starting to shape in our society and legal system, what hope do we have?

3. Oppenheimer - Dir. Christopher Nolan

Coming out during the WGA and SAG strikes against films studios' new AI initiatives, "Oppenheimer" is a stark reminder of the consequential fallout of human beings utilizing newfound technology to change the dynamic of the entire landscape of civilization. Throughout the film, Nolan continuously reminds us, through the characters, of the risk that pressing the button on igniting the atomic bomb could start a chain reaction that would destroy the entire world. And at the end of the film, Cillian Murphy's Robert Oppenheimer believes that's exactly what he did. Nolan's intercutting of timelines, characters, and moods, along with his sporadic editing, visualizes this 'chain reaction' created by one man. Every single decision made by Oppenheimer was consequential: to himself, to the people around him, and to humanity (and the future of humanity) as a whole. A single moment effected every other moment. Decisions that are made in a single moment effect every single moment thereafter. "Oppenheimer" is a tapestry of people making moral decisions that had everlasting and ever reaching consequences. Their lives were a chain reaction that never stopped. Characters cheated on each other, pushed each other, switched sides, switched ideologies, stabbed in each in the back, and created so much destruction for themselves and the people around them. Small, insignificant moments led to lifelong resentments, trauma, and fallout. Not only was this true about the individual characters, but the overall landscape of America. The McCarthyism of the 50s and the assassination of Oppenheimer's reputation led to the 'heated young senator - some unknown named John F. Kennedy.' Every moment was a chain reaction that created the future of what was to come. At a time when AI is taking over jobs, new tech is becoming dangerous, and countries are threatening to utilize atomic weapons, "Oppenheimer" reminds us that our own destruction lies in the little moments in which we must make decisions. What we do matters. Our choices are not insignificant. In fact, a single choice can change the fate of the entire human race.

2. Killers of the Flower Moon - Dir. Martin Scorsese

It comes at no surprise that towards the end of his long and storied career that Martin Scorsese would deliver one of his most seminal pieces, "Killers of the Flower Moon." Centering on the Osage murders in 1920s Oklahoma Osage County, Scorsese uses these real events to depict themes that are crucial to his career's oeuvre. The unspeakable evil that lives at the heart of every human is completely unrestrained in this picture. Even more so, it's deliberate, maniacal, and insidiously seeps into one's soul. These men took everything for themselves and pulled life and beauty from the Earth just to do it. Obviously, this film resonates with contemporary issues, as Scorsese masterfully centers the beauty and vibrancy and our natural Earth at the heart of this story and demonstrates how our corrupt and amoral selfishness turns that beauty and vibrancy into a decaying and soulless wasteland. "Killers of the Flower Moon" is not just about the senseless mutilation and destruction of a people, but of our very humanity. 

1. The Zone of Interest - Dir. Jonathan Glazer

"The Zone of Interest" is a film that stays with you long after the final credits roll. The frames of the film never leave you and, in fact, you start to find that you yourself continue to inhabit the frames long after it's over. The film portrays the Hoss family, a family whose dream domestic life has been attained in a small plot directly next to the Auschwitz concentration camp in the early 1940s. As you watch the commander of Auschwitz and his family's domestic life, the thing that is withheld from you is the true horror of what lies beyond their gates in the camp. Despite this withholding, you can still see the camp just over the fence. You can also hear the screams and terror that lurks there. What begins to happen is that you start to witness the dehumanization of our humanity and the way in which we cannibalize each other in order to achieve domestic utopia. It becomes clear after watching "The Zone of Interest," the film isn't about the Nazis and how 'evil' they are. Rather, the film is about you and how complacent you are to tuning out the horrors that your comfort affords. Whether its your cheap clothing or iPhone, the modern luxuries of our Western society come directly from the carnage and cannibalization of fellow human beings. "The Zone of Interest" comes without frivolity and frills and cuts directly to the point: like the visual congruency of the Hoss family's domestic paradise directly connected to the haunting, screaming camp, so too is your Western domestic lifestyle directly connected to horror and suffering. The true area of interest lies in our ability to tune it out.