PMA Films: The Best Films of 2023
PMA Films Specialist Chris Gray OFFERS A (HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE) TAKE ON THE YEAR IN FILM
In our biweekly PMA Films newsletter (link to subscribe above!), I offer some streaming recommendations that allow me to evangelize for some of the best films we’ve shown here, as well as others that head to other local theaters or straight to streaming. I also publish an annual Best of the Year list, which you can read below. While list-making season has long past, I was only able to catch up with The Zone of Interest recently, and I’m glad I waited to see it before publishing this.
1) Pacifiction (directed by Albert Serra)
A French diplomat based in the Philippines manages an uneasy colonial détente and fields rumors of impending nuclear tests in Serra’s astonishingly beautiful film, an uncanny mood piece that evokes both Miami Vice and the masters of slow cinema.
Pacifiction is available to rent and streaming on Mubi.
2) The Killer (directed by David Fincher)
A monkish, Smiths-loving assassin loses his edge in Fincher’s devastatingly funny satire of the modern gig economy, a film that comments potently on the degradation of good work amid a series of impeccable action set pieces.
The Killer is streaming on Netflix.
3) Fallen Leaves (directed by Aki Kaurismäki)
Another film about the daily indignities of capitalism, Fallen Leaves balances its hard-earned cynicism with an unexpectedly moving romance that feels like an iceberg melting before your eyes.
Fallen Leaves is available to rent and streaming on Mubi.
4) May December (directed by Todd Haynes)
Haynes makes a triumphant return to his roots in semiotic melodrama with this tonally audacious comedy/tragedy/horror story, a film that is always asking the viewer how and why they identify with its characters, and whether you should feel like you can relate to them at all.
May December is streaming on Netflix.
5) Our Body (directed by Claire Simon)
Simon’s observational documentary, set in the gynecological ward of a public hospital in Paris, takes on a capacious definition of womanhood and almost imperceptibly charts a path from birth to death, asking what good care looks like along the way.
Our Body is not yet available on streaming platforms.
6) Killers of the Flower Moon (directed by Martin Scorsese)
As an origin story of American evil, Scorsese’s epic is devastatingly inevitable and relentless, perhaps the most exhaustive examination of racist exploitation and corruption ever put to film. Its expressionistic flourishes, and the unforgettable expressions of its cast, take it to another level.
Killers of the Flower Moon is available to rent and streaming on Apple TV+.
7) Ferrari (directed by Michael Mann)
In Mann’s meditative biopic in miniature, Enzo Ferrari is the conductor of a dangerous symphony, navigating personal tragedy, the profit motive, and the drive to make his death traps even more competitive. It’s a film that never forgets the compromises made for technological progress.
Ferrari is available to rent.
8) The Zone of Interest directed by Jonathan Glazer)
Perhaps the most unorthodox film ever to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, Glazer’s carefully considered study of a family literally living off the atrocities at Auschwitz is difficult to like but impossible to ignore, a remarkably precise inquiry into the horrors we are willing to tolerate.
The Zone of Interest is playing in theaters.
9) Asteroid City (directed by Wes Anderson)
Anderson is well past courting an eager audience, leaning far into intricate framing devices with alienating distancing tactics; it’s a marvel, then, that Asteroid City manages to land its expansive exploration of grief, denial, and catharsis.
Asteroid City is available to rent and streaming on Amazon Prime.
10) Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troigros (directed by Frederick Wiseman)
I am rarely a fan of art about food, but Wiseman’s preternaturally elegant approach nudges you into an overwhelming appreciation of the community and collaboration behind what lands on your plate.
Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros will begin streaming through PBS on March 1.
11) The Outwaters (directed by Robbie Banfitch)
Another interesting year for microbudget horror (Skinamarink) is highlighted by this brazen, found-footage freakout about a group of friends who shoot a music video in the desert and find themselves under siege. Banfitch is a real sicko, but his command over what we can only imagine is undeniable, not to mention terrifying.
The Outwaters is available to rent and streaming on Tubi.
12) The Delinquents (directed by Rodrigo Moreno)
A heist movie that blooms into an existential fable, Moreno’s film is uniquely literary and a lovely, rambling gem.
The Delinquents is available to rent and streaming on Mubi.
13) Afire (directed by Christian Petzold)
Heavily indebted to the work of Éric Rohmer, Petzold’s latest entwines observations about love, art, snobbery, and the apocalypse into a sneakily profound parable.
Afire is available to rent and streaming on Criterion Channel.
14) A Thousand and One (directed by A.V. Rockwell)
An incredibly assured and ambitious debut feature, Rockwell’s melodrama charts three decades of progress and gentrification in New York City while following a woman who kidnaps her son from foster care and attempts to raise him with the constant threat of prosecution or eviction. It’s unsentimental but immensely moving.
A Thousand and One is available to rent and streaming on Amazon Prime.
15) Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (directed by Kelly Freamon Craig)
Freamon Craig won my heart with her last film, the unusually sharp high school comedy Edge of Seventeen, and here she takes the mantle of mentor James L. Brooks as a master of messy and emotionally complex but thoroughly mainstream comedies.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is available to rent and streaming on Starz.