BEST OF 2023
by
OJO
Our picks for the best films of 2023
January, 2024
From the beginning of the end to the end of that one life. Perceptions that led to the endless hunt on emptiness or maybe the inexplicable transcendence of one’s own meaning. Hallways that didn’t forget and the perpetual dream that couldn’t end (start). A fantasy of normality when the night was just next door, or just by your side. A side that fell turning down to ashes, the idea of union and morale. But how can others live by the komorebi and search for purpose in the weightless companion that we all have? Could it be that those same leaves found each other and got something in a timeless reality? Aliens and atomic bombs! There are still so many things I don’t know. Perhaps everything was just a play that I don’t understand.
Studio Ghibli ©
X
THE BOY AND THE HERON
HAYAO MIYAZAKI
Loss, grief and transcendence. Understanding the meaning of one’s own life below the shadow of hopelessness. A self-assuring film that takes us beyond the heat of this world to find the origin of a fire that still hurts.
A24 ©
IX
PAST LIVES
CELINE SONG
What was, what we have, and what we could have had. The past lives that never ended, our own lives that ended but could never die, those that couldn’t exist, and the perhaps of what can be in this moment. Life as a long walk home where the forks in the road also end up forking our hearts.
MUBI ©
VIII
FALLEN LEAVES
AKI KAURISMÄKI
A story about people falling in the smoke of loneliness, the dependance on what is certain and the rigidity of normality, but even though the air outside is rushing, perhaps that fall was meant to be the change of something greater and the discovery of novelty, or simply the story of two ordinary people just falling for each other.
Apple ©
VII
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
MARTIN SCORSESE
Endless nights of terror that led to the understanding that the worst of evils was by your side. Hatred under the see-through veil of a false love and admiration. Lies and montages of those whose only objective was to tear others apart.
MUBI ©
VI
PERFECT DAYS
WIM WENDERS
A film where nothing happens and nothing is said. The beauty of everyday, plain and boring. Routine as a mean to find happiness. Calmness, companionship in solitude and connection with art. Cassette tapes, photographs, books, a hot bath, good architecture, sunlight leaking through trees and deep down, the pain of existence, loneliness, regret, and the feeling that life is too much and too short to let it pass without enjoying it, because when we leave, we will leave without knowing too much and perhaps without living in our attempt to live. Simple and quiet.
NEON ©
V
LA CHIMERA
ALICE ROHRWACHER
A dream about meaning and love by the lenses of life and death, the realization that the power of finding is not enough to find what really matters. Afraid of emptiness and the perpetual fall of everything that defined you. Is there a way (to the) past? Were we too sure of the sun?
NEON ©
IV
ANATOMY OF A FALL
JUSTINE TRIET
The sad and complex mystery of a death with a family drama at its center. A glimpse into the complexity of relationships, family, the creation and destruction of individuals and their ideals in the pursuit of a better life. Dreams and giving up on dreams, personal fulfillment, time, sacrifices, pain, and regret. It reminds us that it is difficult to grow with another person without growing apart.
Universal ©
III
OPPENHEIMER
CRISTOPHeR NOLAN
An epic tale about dying stars, love, ambition, a hidden world at the verge of destruction, chains and fire. A poem in motion, a sound montage about a brilliant mind tangled between power and fame, science and war, the race for eternity and indelible traces of blood.
Indian Paintbrush ©
II
ASTEROID CITY
WES ANDERSON
A story within a story within a story, as if each layer was an attempt to get close to a truth that can’t be reached. An existential questioning at the core of fear, insignificance, fragility, melancholy and the search for a greater purpose beyond our ephemeral condition of living. Style over substance or substance over style, equally elegant and irreplicable.
A24 ©
I
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer
A silent nightmare that doesn’t let you see what’s happening. Evil when it rests from work, at home, surrounded by silence. The end without justifying the means. A song that whispers, that oppresses you in quietness, where nothing happens and where nothing is seen but where everything is understood through smoke and ashes and tears, silence and screams.
Our pick for the best film of the year.
by
OJO
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