Jenny Nulf’s Top 10 Films of 2023

1) Poor Things A sexy, sublime twist on the Frankenstein mythos, adapted from Alasdair Gray's acclaimed novel. Rich and textured, this film is unlike anything you'll see all year.

2) Past Lives The final shot of this movie will be on my mind until the end of time: the quiet grief of what could have been.

3) Godland One of the film's final lines, "We don't need more men," still haunts me to this day.

4) Oppenheimer Christopher Nolan concocted one of the best cinematic experiences of the year. The kind of dark academia that I can get behind.

5) The Boy and the Heron Miyazaki's endless imagination will always draw me in, and The Boy and the Heron felt like such a masterful return to form for him after a ten-year hiatus.

6) Priscilla Sofia Coppola is the queen of feminine loneliness.

7) May December Twisted, funny, and sharp – a film that is less interested in answers and ethics, and more interested in the Performance.

8) Killers of the Flower Moon A devastating piece of work, anchored by a phenomenal performance by Lily Gladstone.

9) The Five Devils A smoking gun of a time travel thriller. Everything about this movie feels magical.

10) Return to Seoul It's the not knowing that haunts us forever. Park Ji-min is so magnetic in this coming-of-age story about a young woman who is searching for her biological parents in a country that is unknown to her.

Near Misses: Barbie, Monster, The Holdovers

Most Overrated: Talk to Me

Most Underrated: Rye Lane, Joy Ride

Wild Card: Ayo Edebiri fully stole the show in not just one, but five features (Bottoms! Theater Camp! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem! Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse! The Sweet East!) and a television series this year (The Bear season 2!). Extremely funny, Edebiri is not just a brilliant actress, but also a brilliant writer. She's the real deal.

Acting Kudos (Male): Charles Melton (May December), Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Lee Byung-hun (Concrete Utopia)

Acting Kudos (Female): Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Unknown Country), Alina Khan (Joyland), Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Best Director: Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things

Best Original Screenplay: Hlynur Pálmason, Godland

Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony McNamara, Poor Things

TV Series/Event: The majority answer would be Succession, but deep in my heart one of my favorite, more rewarding TV experiences of the year was Swarm – a trippy, boldly sketched out miniseries with a dynamite performance from Dominique Fishback, who toggles the line of admiration and obsession so finely.

Worst Film: It's obvious that Rachel Fleit wanted Bama Rush to be in the same vein as the vastly superior Cheer series, but her ego got in the way when she spiraled after losing subjects and supporters. A train wreck of a documentary where the director is more interested in fitting in with her subjects than listening to their pain.

The Little Film That Could: Waiting for the Light to Change is an understated indie debut from the brilliant Linh Tran, who fully encapsulates the feeling of being depressed by a lake in your 20s.