2023 might be one of my favorite years at the movies.
So many films delivered exacting performances dealing with nuanced emotions and human experiences. Despite the obvious success of Barbie and Oppenheimer, the other movies that premiered this year held my focus more than the summer blockbusters. Here is a small collection of truly exceptional films that I believed hallmarked an extraordinary year in film.
P.S. I do love to see films at Film at Lincoln Center. Generally quiet theaters, never really jam packed and the movie starts at the showtime, genius.
Talk to me
I am not a horror genre fan, typically. What Talk to me brought to the table this year is a fresh perspective on possession. (I never thought I would ever write that sentence in my life). The filmmakers are Australian and they seem to really know this genre well. Leading up to the feature presentation they show their process of selling the film to A24. The filmmakers general excitement added another level of suspense. To have that seal of approval from A24 for a film is huge. This film delivers the framework of a proper possession film coupled with trauma and some therapy elements. In a therapized world, the directors captured the audience with believable performances that catered to the fearful/hurt parts within us.
Close
Admittedly, I am a sucker for foreign films. The emotional landscapes and rather messy human experience captured in foreign films is what draws me in. This one hit different though. Two young boys growing up together in rural Belgium attend high school and their relationship changes. The two main characters have a tender fondness for each other. Their dialogue is often poetic and dream like. However, once they start attending high school, peer pressure begins to settle in rocking the foundation of their loving friendship. The performances are raw and often hard to watch. The polarizing affects of masculinity on young boys is devastating. This film captures a youthful experience with grief that reminds me of childhood.
Afire
In German, Rotter Himmel is an exquisitely shot film. Tonally, the film has this laidback European vibe that is at times aspirational. Leon, the main character, is an author experiencing some difficulties finishing his novel. He takes refuge in the woods where he finds that one of the rooms in the house is being occupied by someone that he didn’t know would be there. Often pessimistic, Leon is a victim as everything around him is causing him to not complete his dull novel. An impending forest fire is the antagonist of this film. The looming fire and the tragedy that ensues is inevitably what brings the characters closer. Having the shared experience together they learn and grow in a beautiful way.
Passages
Surprise, surprise, another foreign film. Surprise, the film is equally spoken in English as it is in French. The clothes, locations and acting are all textured, literally and figuratively. At the center of the film is a rather narcissistic man, Tomas (Franz Rogowski). Tomas is an up-and-coming film director about to release a critically acclaimed film and he’s having a manic episode. He is in a relationship with a man whom he lives with but is becoming infatuated with Agathe (played by the stunning Adèle Exarchopoulos). Tomas is a man who believes he can have it all. His world is there to tell him that he cannot. Both his lover Martin (played by Ben Whishaw) and Agathe are pretty strong in their own values and Tomas’ lack of boundaries causes a dramatic riff. Sexy, stylistic, this film is electric.
Anatomy of a fall
Wow! I have freshly seen this film and it lives in my mind daily. Sandra Hüller’s performance is mature and quite frankly a masterclass in acting. The film begins with a chilling death of Sandra’s husband as he is found laying in the snow appearing to have fallen. Quickly and without great explanation Sandra is treated much like Amanda Knox. The French court system adapts the narrative that Sandra must’ve done the bidding of killing her husband. As the film digs in to the intrinsic nature of partnership, having a child, setbacks, frustration and self worth we see Sandra emerge as this vulnerable yet composed woman. I saw so much of my mother in this character. She takes things on and frames her experience not with strong emotions but with recounting a lived experience. Sandra’s character does something quite rare in film, she takes accountability. The French courts want her to be a broken woman capable of such crime, rather she’s completely human and acutely aware of her own image making the film compelling. I didn’t want to be a jackass during the film, but I wanted to stand up and applause many times over.
Killers of the Flower Moon
By now a lot of the history surrounding this movie has been told. I trust Martin Scorsese because at the age of 81, this is the movie he is looking to make. Sure, there’s Goodfellas and The Departed, all masterpieces in their own regard, but his vision for Killers of the Flower Moon is genuinely haunting. Audiences have come to love the combination of a director and their chosen actors, this movie is no exception. High wattage performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are a given. What is perhaps the most screen stealing performance is Lily Gladstone’s. Lily’s character, Mollie, is aware of the unspeakable evil creeping it’s way to her front door. Mollie is astute when it comes to the company she keeps. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest, a charming character though flawed by his lack of intelligence and foresight. The highly discussed length of the film was in service to the story that was being told. History, especially the Osage murders that founded the FBI, has to be told with true Hollywood experience. Only the kind the Martin Scorsese can deliver.
Toasted Walnut Cesar
A well made salad is about proportions. Vegetation, crunch, dressing, garnishes all need to be taken with surgical grade care. The toasted walnut cesar is not a punchy, bright, in-your-face kind of salad. It elegantly postures and decidedly has no desire to upstage. Traditional cesar salad is raw garlic forward making you an obvious red flag when you’re on a date with an emotional vampire. The toasted walnut cesar is here remind you of why we eat cesar in the first place, an excuse to eat more cheese.
Please feel free to use different types of lettuces, the ones listed are just a guideline.
Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
1/4 loaf country bread most of the crust cut off, cut into 1 inch thick pieces
150ml, plus 2T extra virgin olive oil
50g walnuts, lightly toasted in a 325ºF oven for 8-10 minutes.
1 garlic clove, core removed
2 anchovy fillets
juice from half a lemon
1 large egg yolk
1tsp dijon mustard
two dashes of tabasco, or other hot sauce (preferably vinegar based)
two dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1 head of frisée lettuce, trimmed, washed and pat dry
1 head of little gem lettuce, trimmed, washed and pat dry
1 head of radicchio, trimmed, washed and pat dry
1 hunk of parmesan for grating
flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Method:
Preheat oven to 325ºF.
In a large bowl, evenly coat the cut bread in two tablespoons of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Spread out on sheet tray and bake in the oven for roughly 10-15 minutes, until crispy and browned.
In the base of a food processor add walnuts. Pulse and grind the walnuts down to the texture of coarse polenta. Set aside in a large bowl. Add garlic, anchovy, lemon juice, egg yolk, dijon mustard, tabasco and Worcestershire. Pulse the mixture together to combine. Stream in remaining extra virgin olive oil slowly. The mixture could come together in the food processor, but if it doesn’t don’t panic, thats what the walnuts are here for.
Whisk the dressing into the walnuts, adjust with a few drops of cold water and a light drizzle of some more extra virgin olive oil. The dressing should coat the back of a spoon and have similar viscosity to mayonnaise.
In the largest bowl, add frisée, gem and radicchio. Season the roughage with flaky salt and black pepper. Spoon the dressing carefully over the salad, resist overdressing. Toss the salad together with the addition of the croutons, see if the salad needs more dressing by tasting. Season and adjust as you toss aiming to evenly coat.
Plate the salad by spreading it out or stacking it high. Take a box grater or microplane and grate a copious amount of parmesan over the salad, finishing with more freshly ground black pepper. Grab the forks.