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Song of the Day #5,711: ‘Studying Gracie’ – Michel Legrand

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2023
#12. May December

Todd Haynes’ thinly veiled exploration of the Mary Kay Letourneau scandal is a darkly comic, but deeply sad, look at our fascination with celebrity and the complicated truths buried beneath the tabloid surfaces.

Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton form one of the year’s best trios — I’m still bummed none of them were Oscar-nominated. Each is doing something entirely different but it somehow all gels. Melton, in particular, bares the damaged soul of his character so completely that you feel guilty for enjoying the campy perfection of his co-stars.

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Song of the Day #5,709: ‘Warning Signs’ – Derek Ted

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2023
#16. You Hurt My Feelings

Before this one, I had somehow never seen a film by writer/director Nicole Holofcener, a blindspot I’ve been meaning to remedy through a deep dive of her filmography.

Well, this was a great start. A hilarious and smart movie about the white lies we tell the people we love, You Hurt My Feelings is buoyed by a wonderful lead performance by Julia Louis Dreyfus.

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Song of the Day #5,708: ‘A World of Your Own’ – Timothée Chalamet

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2023
#18. Wonka

I didn’t go into this musical prequel to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with high expectations, which is part of why I came out so charmed. I should have put more faith in writer/director Paul King, who worked similar unlikely magic in the Paddington films.

Timothée Chalamet added musical comedy to his growing bag of tricks, fully committing to the whimsy. If his kinder and gentler version of Willy Wonka seems a far cry from the mischievous crank of the original film — a common criticism — that just makes me curious to see a follow-up movie exploring his character development.

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Song of the Day #5,707: ‘Destroyer of Worlds’ – Ludwig Goransson

Last year’s movie slate wasn’t high in quantity (a residual effect of the pandemic, I suspect) but it made up for that in quality. I saw 30 fewer films in 2023 than in the prior year, but had an even harder time cramming those titles into a year-end top ten list.

In order to shout out as many good movies as possible, I’m going to dedicate this week to the films in my 11-20 slots, before getting to my top ten in the weeks leading up to the Oscars. Seven of this year’s Best Picture nominees are in my top 20, which is a pretty decent showing by their standards (“you know the Academy, Charlie…“).

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