10. The Secret Agent (dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho)
The title is something of a misnomer. Wagner Moura’s Armando doesn’t really do much espionage. But as someone who refused to roll over to corruption in the authoritarian government of Brazil, a clandestine life becomes necessary. It would be an oversimplification to say the point of the film is that fascists suck and movie theaters are awesome, but apparently we need reminders of both these days.
9. No Other Choice (dir. Park Chan-wook)
A pitch-black comedy from a master director, No Other Choice will surely be relevant to anyone who’s been laid off and/or had to sift through hundreds of job postings on LinkedIn. After an American conglomerate buys the paper company Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) has devoted his life to, he’s distraught and can’t find work. Months after his worst-case scenario has come to pass, he gets a novel idea: eliminate his competition. It’s nasty, thought-provoking and often hilarious, as most of Park’s work is.
8. It Was Just an Accident (dir. Jafar Panahi)
I’ve not seen any of exiled Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s earlier work, and apparently this one is atypical for him. A relatively straightforward thriller with knotty emotions and morality, It Was Just an Accident explores what happens when revenge meets reality, and whether our oppressors deserve the mercy they never showed their targets.
7. Bugonia (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
Emma Stone continues her fruitful run with Yorgos Lanthimos, delivering another performance for the ages. As the She-EO Michelle, her icy and off-putting demeanor has her employees on edge. When two ill-prepared doofuses kidnap her, she assumes they want a ransom. But no, they’re convinced she’s an alien and they want to travel onto her mothership. What follows is a tense and devastating battle of wills that keeps you guessing until the very end.
6. Sinners (dir. Ryan Coogler)
To anyone who’s going to complain this isn’t higher… it’s my list! Make your own!
Anyway, Coogler’s wildly ambitious musical horror film has higher highs – including the audacious number pictured above – than just about anything this year. It overflows with ideas about race, identity, music, religion, assimilation, community, and more. They don’t all get fully explored, but what a great problem to have! At a time when so many big budget movies don’t have two brain cells to rub together (looking at you, Jurassic World Rebirth), this truly original work gives me hope. It’s no surprise audiences responded so favorably.
5. The Life of Chuck (dir. Mike Flanagan)
The most moving experience I had in theaters this year. A rare film without an ounce of cynicism or disgust. I wholeheartedly bought into its mix of science fiction and coming-of-age drama, bridged by an absolutely electrifying dance number. Yes, it’s corny to wear your emotions on your sleeve like this. But like the meme says, “I am cringe but I am free.”
4. Eddington (dir. Ari Aster)
And now we have the opposite: a deeply cynical film that has nothing but disgust for humanity. Set during the peak of the COVID pandemic in a fictional small town in New Mexico, Eddington has nothing but contempt for both the conspiracy-addled MAGA CHUDs and the hypocritical wealthy liberals that run this place. That Aster would dare criticize the latter got the movie dinged at both its Cannes premiere and its stateside release. But history has already vindicated him, particularly for that big protest scene and that haunting ending.
3. Marty Supreme (dir. Josh Safdie)
The best film any Safdie has made. Timothée Chalamet gives his best performance to date as the arrogant ping pong prodigy. Like past Safdie protagonists, there’s no low he won’t stoop to, no connection he won’t exploit, in trying to get more money. Something about Timmy’s charisma keeps Marty from being as totally irredeemable as Harold and Connie, despite committing just as many unforgivable acts. It’s an absolute rollercoaster ride that keeps your eyes glued to the screen even as you want to look away.
2. Blue Moon (dir. Richard Linklater)
Is the best part of my life over, or is there still hope to accomplish great things? That’s the existential dilemma at the core of this historical dramedy, and one that hit me like a ton of bricks. Ethan Hawke gives his best performance to date (which is really saying something!) as Lorenz Hart, the alcoholic lyricist forced to watch as his former creative partner (Richard Rodgers, played beautifully by Andrew Scott) launches the biggest success of his career with a new collaborator (Oscar Hammerstein II, in a jolly performance from Simon Delaney). Throughout the night he has reminders of how he screwed up everything in his life, and puts all his hopes on a new romance, despite all evidence that this won’t pan out. It’s been six years since my uncle passed away, but I truly believe he would have adored this movie.
1. One Battle After Another (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
It was true when it opened in September and it’s still true today: This is the movie of the moment, and it’s extraordinary. Though it’s been pilloried for its racial and sexual politics (valid) or for not, uh, giving a clear blueprint how far-left revolutionaries can defeat fascism (what?) it’s still shocking a mainstream movie was allowed to even be this radical. Paul Thomas Anderson was already one of the best directors working today. But he’s taken another leap, depicting an America covertly and overtly run by white supremacists, and the people who put in the work to undermine them. (Unsurprisingly, it’s not the dude laying on his couch.) Real life may be horrifying, and while this film has its unsettling moments, it’s also extremely funny throughout, including pretty much every character choice Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn make.
Honorable Mentions
Black Bag (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Cloud (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Eephus (dir. Carson Lund)
Friendship (dir. Andrew DeYoung)
Hamnet (dir. Chloé Zhao)
Highest 2 Lowest (dir. Spike Lee)
A House of Dynamite (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
The Naked Gun (dir. Akiva Shaffer)
The Phoenician Scheme (dir. Wes Anderson)
Sentimental Value (dir. Joachim Trier)
Sirāt (dir. Óliver Laxe)
Sorry, Baby (dir. Eva Victor)
Train Dreams (dir. Clint Bentley)
Wake Up Dead Man (dir. Rian Johnson)
Weapons (dir. Zach Cregger)
Didn’t Watch but Probably Would Have Loved
Caught by the Tides (dir. Jia Zhangke)
Cover-Up (dirs. Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus)
Eternity (dir. David Freyne)
The Mastermind (dir. Kelly Reichardt)
Nouvelle Vague (dir. Richard Linklater)
Pavements (dir. Alex Ross Perry)
Predators (dir. David Osit)
Resurrection (dir. Bi Gan)
The Shrouds (dir. David Cronenberg)
The Toxic Avenger (dir. Macon Blair)
Did Not Release in Time
The Chronology of Water (dir. Kristen Stewart)
Dead Man’s Wire (dir. Gus Van Sant)
Pillion (dir. Harry Lighton)
The Plague (dir. Charlie Polinger)
The Testament of Ann Lee (dir. Mona Fastvold)