We all know the Oscars don’t really mean anything these days (it’s all just marketing and bureaucracy). So instead of talking about that, here are my favorite movies of 2023 that were not nominated. I do not pretend to be objective here, this is not a list of the best movies of 2023. This is solely what I enjoyed the most.
5. Inside – Vasilis Katsoupis
This movie is Willem Dafoes’ perfect one-man show. He plays an art thief that gets trapped inside a high tech apartment and ends up with a lot of time to ruminate on the importance of art and the meaning of life. I thought it was beautiful and thought-provoking without taking itself too seriously. I think it’s important to note that I saw this on a plane, which I think makes any movie more interesting because of the lack of distractions but I think it could be just as fun in other contexts as well.
4. Cocaine Bear – Elizabeth Banks
If you haven’t seen Cocaine Bear already then, I don’t know what to say except go watch Cocaine Bear. It is a perfect silly movie that is quite literally exactly what you would expect from a name like Cocaine Bear. It’s fun, action packed, and surprisingly uplifting. It’s a movie that knows what it is and does it well.
3. Rye Lane – Raine Allen-Miller
Rye Lane is the perfect modern rom-com. Mostly taking place over one day, Dom and Yas connect over their recent breakups and crazy exes in South London. This movie demands your attention with bright colors, witty commentary and fantastic sound design. The love that this movie has for its protagonists and its setting is truly palpable.
2. Reality – Tina Satter
The true story of Reality Winner, played fantastically by Sydney Sweeney, an NSA translator who leaked confidential government documents that confirmed Russia meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. The entire dialogue from the movie was taken word for word from the FBI transcripts of her arrest. Not only is this movie an awesome portrayal of American hypocrisy, it is also less than 90 minutes long. Awesome.
- How to Have Sex – Molly Manning Walker
How to Have Sex is unlike any movie I’ve seen before in the way it discusses sexual assault and victimhood in a completely non-sensationalized manner. The movie follows a sixteen-year-old on a girl’s trip to Ibiza where she gets sexually assaulted. Although it discusses sensitive subject matter it does so in a nuanced and non-graphic way. This movie is very accurate to my own experiences of the aftermath of sexual assault and I’m sure it speaks similarly to many other women as well. It shows how confusing and guilt-inducing these kinds of experiences really are. It doesn’t treat Tara as a victim but as a person who experienced something traumatic. She is a fully realized person and that makes the trauma hurt even more. I truly think the world would be better off if everyone saw this movie. It’s beautiful, it’s fun, and it’s also incredibly important.