2023 was one of the most tumultuous years in Hollywood history: Warner Bros. basked in Barbie’s glow while going bust trying to keep The Flash afloat, the Marvel Cinematic Universe may finally be slowing down, and Martin Scorsese looked his own mortality dead in the face. Oh, and almost the entire filmmaking community stood tall in the SAG-AFTRA strike while studio executives stayed money-hungry jackals. As chaotic as the year was, 2023 was also one of the best years at the movies in a while. It felt like the year’s most ambitious and creative films were more widely available, whether they be three-hour epics of one man’s guilt or the worst results of narcissism. Even comedies had a helluva year, whether they were in documentary or animated form. The strike definitely slowed-down Hollywood’s plans for 2024 so before we hit that drought, let’s toast to the plethora of great cinema in 2023.
But first…
Honorable Mentions
They can’t all be great, but some deserve a treat
- Bottoms: Emma Seligman (Shiva Baby) and co. throw everything at the wall in this aggressive high school comedy. Not all of it sticks, but the ones that do make for a good time.
- Scream VI: We don’t need any more Scream movies (especially now), but at least it was fun to watch a fun coming-of-age NYC drama occasionally interrupted by Ghostface lurking about.
- Talk to Me: Can you believe Blumhouse got Universal to spend $400 million for the rights to The Exorcist IP when it could’ve just scooped this spooky teen ghost story for a nickel? Also extra points for having one of the best final scenes of 2023.
- Napoleon: While Scorsese and Spielberg contemplate their legacies, 86-year-old Ridley Scott charges on, guns blazing, by making one of history’s most infamous leaders look like an emo teenager trying to find a true friend while conquering the world. Fair warning to fans of horses, as Scott sees them as casualties of war.
- Theater Camp: The best Christopher Guest movie Christopher Guest never made. Cheers to Molly Gordon and Noah Galvin for not finally giving the theater kids their own version of The Mighty Ducks.
- Poor Things: Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone turn Frankenstein feminist with a good balance of messaging and mayhem. Bonus points for King Doofus Mark Ruffalo.
Wild Card Pick
Beef
It’s hard for me to keep up with the plethora of TV shows that roll onto airwaves any given year, so it’s a major moment when one show is so incredible it goes from being “good TV” to “cinema-level drama.” Lee Sung Jin’s 10-episode series not only breezes by in a few sittings, but also uses that brief window to tell a jaw-dropping story of two characters that go from likable to despicable back-and-forth in an even flow. You can start by rooting for struggling contractor Danny (Steven Yeun) and how his drive for success can ruin lives, or see how long you like self-made entrepreneur Amy (Ali Wong) before her broken upbringing lead to a hollow marriage she’d love to burn down in a heartbeat. Beef can be very funny, super mean, and surprisingly heartfelt at just the right moments thanks to expert storytelling and lead actors firing on all cylinders (especially Wong). Having some of the best needle drop moments of 2023 doesn’t hurt either.
Anywho…
20. Ferrari
The men in the movies of Michael Mann are always complicated. Some can’t find their own freedom (Heat), some keep losing battles in an impossible war (The Insider), and some just don’t know when to quit (Public Enemies). In Ferrari, Mann found a man who had all three problems, so it’s no wonder this has been a passion project for him since the ’90s. Mann’s man this time around is Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver), who bet his namesake company and his own reputation on the thousand-mile Mille Miglia race in 1957. His business is losing money, his wife Laura (Penélope Cruz) is holding control of the company (and the death of their son) over his head, and his mistress Lina (Shailene Woodley) is wondering when he’ll acknowledge their own young son still unbeknownst to the rest of the world. Mann moves Ferrari at the pace of its titular sports cars, but the classic style of ’50s Italy doesn’t overtake the director’s focus on a man desperately fighting to keep his life on track while keeping the dignity on his face. Driver has the steely-eyed intensity of Mann’s best protagonist, but it’s Cruz who’s the strongest in the show as she stares down Ferrari’s hypocrisy. It’s one of Mann’s most personal films to date while still having the intensity of a hot engine.
19. Air
2023 was the year when movies about famous products became as prominent as movies about famous people. But like all movies, the best ones thrive when they have great moving parts surrounding and supporting the story itself. Because who makes a movie about a shoe? Honestly? Ben Affleck does, apparently. The story of how Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), Phil Knight (Affleck), and a smattering of Nike associates turned the Air Jordan sneaker line into a cultural phenomenon. Affleck has directed movies with far more interesting premises before, but the energy and actors he brings to table make commercial warfare and shoe imagery more exciting than ever before. Air is a fun ’80s time capsule that’s edited like a sports drama to make you root for the multi million-dollar corporation to become a billion-dollar corporation. Weird, but it works! Especially when you don’t show Michael Jordan’s face but fill the void by casting Viola Davis as his mom.
18. Joy Ride
As mentioned above, 2023 was a great year for comedy. And not just in the indie world of off-kilter dark humor, even the standard road trip comedy had a comeback. Case in point: Adele Lim’s wild Joy Ride that takes the Girls Trip formula and brings a new twist to it. There is the formula though: Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola) are childhood BFFs, despite being near-polar opposites in terms of work ethic and social skills. Audrey is going to China for a major business meeting and brings Lolo with her for fun. The duo link up with Lolo’s awkward cousin, Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), and Audrey’s famous friend, Kat (Stephanie Hsu) to make the adventure extra special. Of course, hijinks ensue and the girls end up on a wacky journey learning more about each other and themselves. Yes it sounds cookie cutter and overly-sentimental, because it is. Or at least, it knows when to be. Lim, who also co-write the script, knows that mainstream comedy formulas are outlines with plenty of room to fill in the gaps with distinct character. And Joy Ride has plenty of distinct characteristics, like when the girls manage to ingest an entire pharmacy’s worth of drugs (and have trouble getting them back out). The raunch comedy is spaced-out well and performed by four capable leads, especially Hsu who proves her Everything Everywhere All at Once hype was not a fluke.
17. Polite Society
On the wackier side of things, we have another debut comedy feature that somehow comments on female independence and parental expectations by using…martial arts. Or rather, Hollywood stunt work specializing in martial arts. How’s that for breaking from formula? Polite Society follows British high schooler Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) who dreams of being a stunt woman and practices her kung fu skills in her backyard (and her imagination). She looks up to her older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), who just met a charming rich bachelor and is set to be wed to him so her life can get back on track. Ria isn’t amused, not just because she’s losing her fiercely independent sister, but there’s something suspicious about her soon-to-be mother-in-law (Nimra Bucha) and the plans she has for Lena. With the help of her two best friends and a vivid imagination, Ria plans a heist for the wedding to save her sister. Writer/director Nida Manzoor (We Are Lady Parts) makes a spunky impression in her debut feature that’s bubbling with energy and heart. She lets her actors embrace the wacky concept with glee and is not too shabby directing the movie’s bouncy fight scenes. Kansara should be considered one of 2023’s breakout stars, with grounded likability like any great teen comedy heroine while also having instant charisma any time she’s on screen.
16. Maestro
Bradley Cooper knows how to rise to the occasion. He can take on a variety of acting challenges and turn it into Hollywood gold, whether it’s with an emotionally-stunted sniper, an alcoholic rockstar, or a douchey talking raccoon. He also has a good eye behind the camera, specifically mixing raw emotions in musical performance with the artful canvas of filmmaking. Maestro is his greatest challenge to date, orchestrating the story of Leonard Bernstein and his sweet (if not strange) marriage with Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). If you’re looking for a look at everything Bernstein did or what motivated him to create such a staggering body of work (from West Side Story to the New York Philharmonic), it’s not here. Instead, you get a look at two incredibly driven people figuring out how much damage they’re willing to inflect on each other in a rocky romance for the sake of not being forever alone. From his swinging, breathless performance as Bernstein in front of the camera to the lush looks and sweeping moments he captures behind the camera, Cooper might as well be the perfect avatar for Bernstein’s endless love for creating art. The real crescendo of Maestro is how despite all Cooper’s efforts, it’s Mulligan who brings everything home with the bravest of brave faces despite fighting whether to support her best friend or demand love from her husband.
15. Saltburn
It was a strange phenomenon last year to see people online trying to name the most unnecessary sex scene in a movie. Was there a secret celibacy movement among movie fans? But as Newton’s Third Law says, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so here’s 131 minutes of mind games, decadence, high-class ignorance and aggressive sexual tension. Granted, Saltburn isn’t the most original story: poor unassuming Oxford student Oliver (Barry Keoghan) befriends rich pretty boy classmate Felix (Jacob Elordi) and gets an invite to hang at the titular sprawling estate for the summer. Is the quiet Oliver just a play thing for Felix and his wealthy family, or is Oliver more cunning (and cruel) than he’s actually letting on? Writer/director Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) pulls quite the magic trick with Saltburn by using the gorgeous vistas of the English estate, the glossy mid-2000s soundtrack, and the chiseled faces of her actors to go hog wild on how luxury can make the most depraved human actions bubble to the surface like bubbles in champagne. Maybe Keoghan should’ve played the Joker after all? If you love watching horrible people do horrible things to each other, it’s rarely looked better than in Saltburn.
14. Sanctuary
Speaking of sexual mind games, who would’ve thought someone could get so far ahead in life just by kink-shaming? Sanctuary is really about career management, in that dominatrix Rebecca (Margaret Qualley) learns that one her wealthiest clients Hal (Christopher Abbott) is cutting ties because he’s about to take over the family business and doesn’t want their freaky escapades getting public. But Rebecca is a working girl, so she threatens to blackmail Hal if he doesn’t keep paying her bills with or without the scripted foreplay. Essentially an off-broadway play with more explicit undertones, Sanctuary gets all of its mileage on its two leads who switch roles between cat and mouse so well, you don’t know whether they should run away together or kill each other. Abbott knows exactly how to take Hal from being a lonely afterthought of a man to increasingly unhinged while still maintaining a sense of pathetic desperation for control of his own mess. And then there’s Qualley, innocent in the face but devious in the head as she makes you wonder if this is all a ploy for a payday or if she genuinely sees a real connection with another person emotionally crippled by their job title. It’s back and forth between the two and all-around thrilling, maybe even romantic if this kind of foreplay gets you off.
13. Creed III
The lines between Adonis Creed and Michael B. Jordan are starting to blur. After rising through the ranks in Hollywood with wins and losses, Jordan went full underdog in taking the director’s chair of a beloved legacy franchise after its original namesake left the picture. Now he and his movie mirror are both champions as Creed III proves that Jordan’s career path is bigger and brighter than we thought. Which is odd since the story (co-written by Ryan Coogler) sees Adonis retiring from in-ring competition and looking to secure his legacy as a guiding light for other struggling fighters. Until an old friend from his past (Jonathan Majors) appears out of nowhere and is looking to reconnect. He also wants to get in the ring and has an aggressive nature that Adonis can’t seem to grasp. Whatever the new plot twist is, it’s still easy to predict how Creed III will play out. What’s impressive about the picture is how confident Jordan is as a director. In his first feature behind the camera, Jordan nails the intensity needed for a boxing movie, presents a new antagonist that is both grounded and fearsome, and somehow throws his love of ambitious anime fight scenes into the punch outs. It gives Creed III much more personality than a second sequel to a near 50-year-old franchise has any right having and shows that despite being in the business for over 20 years, he’s just getting warmed up.
12. Barbie
Is it perfect? No. Did Hollywood learn all the wrong lessons from its success? Probably. Does that take away from the refreshing sensation on display? Not at all. It’s hard to teach a feminist lesson in a summer blockbuster, let alone one revolving around a toy that’s been beloved and criticized in equal measure over the years. Somehow, co-writer/director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) saw the solution as throwing Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) into the real world to both make fun of what they represented and see them as a stepping stone to become something more. Cheesy, yes, but nonetheless inspiring, especially in a climate when the right lessons about supporting women and letting them make their own purpose can often be drowned under nightmarish online arguments. And even all that aside, Gerwig’s love of handcrafted moviemaking and heartfelt delivery are a marvel to see in a blockbuster climate sanded-down by the Marvel era. Whether it’s the genuine invitation to dance the night away or “I’m Just Ken” winking at you in ridiculous glory, Gerwig and co. did something damn-near impossible: a summer movie event that asked an audience to feel.
11. How to Blow Up a Pipeline
And then there are movies that dare you to act. Not that co-writer/director Daniel Goldhaber (Cam) is actually telling an audience to carry out the title’s wishes, but How to Blow Up a Pipeline does show how such a shocking action can come from the struggles of everyday Americans unfairly harmed by corporate agendas. While the events of Goldhaber’s thriller are tense and challenging, the best thing about its titular action is how remarkable things can come from seemingly unremarkable people: Xochitl (Ariela Barer) was just another Long Beach college student before pollution from oil refineries forced her and her mother to live in dire climates. Dwayne (Jake Weary) was just another Texan before an oil company used eminent domain to take his family land for more piping. Michael (Forrest Goodluck) is just done watching the planet choke from the bullies with money, he wants action and doesn’t care what the cost is. That cast wears the weight of the world on their sleeves as Goldhaber slowly tightens the pressure on the audience until they too realize the lack of planet-saving options we have left. It may be too provocative, but it’s better than being too late.
10. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
You have to feel a little sorry for Tom Holland. He’s trying his best to get one more go in a live-action spider suit, but it has to be hard to compete when animated spider suits look this good. Into the Spider-Verse was such a breath of fresh air (both as a superhero movie AND an animated movie) that it seemed pointless (let alone impossible) to repeat. What Across the Spider-Verse lacks in freshness, it makes up for in ambition by throwing every possible Spider-Man idea at the wall. Whether it’s the menacing purpose of Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by the ever-compelling Oscar Isaac) or something hilariously dumb like a T.Rex Spider-Man, the latest adventure of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is one of the few comic book movies to embrace the wacky creativity of comic books. Even better, it doesn’t take away from the heart of the story, with Miles desperately trying to keep cliched tragedy at bay and Gwen Stacy (the ever-likable Hailee Steinfeld) trying to save her new friend. Across the Spider-Verse hits the limit of how much Spider-Man one movie can take and hopefully its follow-up reels everything back to something more focused, but the ceiling it hit is as gorgeous as the one in the Sistine Chapel.
9. BlackBerry
Innovation in the tech world moves fast, sometimes too fast for anyone’s morals to stay steady. While the story of the BlackBerry phone from a bird’s eye view is just it being the device of a time before the times changed, the story of co-writer/director Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry is one of unchallenged hubris that turned disastrous. You have Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel in fine form), the inventor of the namesake phone whose need to stay innovative isolated him from his supportive tech buddies. Then there’s Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton in a game-changing performance), the calculating CEO who’ll suck the life out of anyone in his path to big-shot business glory. Johnson (The Dirties) clearly learned the right lessons from good influences, namely the well-written character drama from The Social Network and the fly-on-the-wall shooting style of The Big Short. What makes BlackBerry stand on its own are the A+ performances, especially from Howerton who turns the rage he typically lampoons on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia into terrifying motivation for Balsillie to reach for greatness while digging himself deeper into business fraud. Baruchel is no slouch either, turning his trademark dorky persona into something more human and vulnerable. Even Johnson gets a few good jokes in playing Lazaridis’s old buddy.
8. Godzilla Minus One
Confession: I’ve only ever seen American-made Godzilla movies, so maybe I have rose-tinted glasses viewing my first Japanese-made adventure with the most famous movie monster. On the other hand, I didn’t see a lot of other movies last year with such a well-balanced mix of gravitas, tension, and heartfelt humanity on the big screen. With all that quality filmmaking, the additional presence of a giant scary lizard feels like I’m being spoiled. Godzilla Minus One takes the franchise back to its post-war roots, taking place in 1945 after Tokyo is bombed and its citizens are trying to pick up the pieces. One of them is Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a kamikaze pilot who returns home shameful of his lack of action and devastated by the loss of his loved ones. He finds purpose in supporting an optimistic young woman (Minami Hamabe) and an orphaned baby while minesweeping the seas with other displaced locals. Don’t be fooled by that drama-tinged plot description: Big ‘Zilla does show up and wreak havoc in spectacular fashion. But again, the titular kaiju is not the driving force of the movie: Minus One is a grounded disaster movie that uses real human drama to make the epic destruction hit home. Its devastation is brutal, which makes the moments when Kamiki and the other actors band together to stop the monster surprisingly inspirational. Minus One has a heart and soul that puts all the sound and fury of the recent American ‘Zilla movies to shame.
7. Oppenheimer
There were plenty of movies last year that got close or overshot the three-hour mark. Some directors thrive on lengthy runtimes because it gives them the opportunity to expand the picture they’re trying to paint for an audience, others misuse the extra hour to focus on one specific section for too long. Leave it to Christopher Nolan to evoke the intricacies of physics, the seedy workings of American politics, a horrible case of determined career assassination, and the guilt of world-ending consequences in a tight three-hour package. Oppenheimer effortlessly flows between its three lofty stories: the rise of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the development of the Manhattan Project, and the repercussions of the event felt by the man. It goes from being cold and clinical one minute to then more tense than any other thriller the next without ever losing its smooth pacing and relentless energy. It’s the biggest machine Nolan has ever operated and every gear works without fail: Ludwig Göransson hits a career-peak with a score that’s as beautiful as it is commanding, the cinematography from Hoyte Van Hoytema finds striking visuals in the horizons of New Mexico and the floors of government hearings (the latter being in black and white), and the sizable ensemble cast doesn’t miss a beat. It’s nice to know that whether you’re Robert Downey Jr. or Josh Peck, you can make it big in a Nolan picture.
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
I know I mentioned earlier that the MCU is running on fumes at this point, so it might seem odd to put the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie among the best of the year. My logic is that I no longer associate the Guardians movies as Marvel movies; they’re James Gunn movies. The writer/director has done so well applying his own sense of humor, heart, and visual style to the MCU formula that he’s managed to make them stand out more than even the major Avengers team-ups. So while we ponder how the hell Gunn plans to apply his personality to Superman, let’s take a moment to appreciate how much heart and soul he gave to the galaxies greatest losers. Chief among them Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper on breaks from shooting Maestro, probably), who gets an origin story as heartbreaking as Bambi while the rest of Guardians try to stop a mad scientist (Chukwudi Iwuji) who thankfully isn’t another, and I quote, “impotent wackjob whose mother didn’t love him, rationalizing why he needs to conquer the universe.” That type of winking dialogue, on top of the genuine connection between the actors and the freaky set designs, is what make Vol. 3 (and the other two Guardians movies) some of the best pieces of pop art in the last two decades. Have fun with the guy from Krypton, James!
5. Dream Scenario
Over 40 years into his career and free from tax-related debt, Nicolas Cage is firing on all cylinders again. While it was fun to watch him live out a lifelong dream playing Dracula, Cage truly hit a new peak in Dream Scenario from writer/director Kristoffer Borgli (not the last time he’ll be on this list, by the way). Cage plays college professor Paul Matthews, who is as awkward as he is unremarkable until people start telling him that he’s been appearing in their dreams. With that begins an off-kilter comedy of ambition turning into hubris and showing how hollow viral fame actually is nowadays. Borgli is exceptional at visualizing the strangest fantasies and editing them to cut at just the right moment for a punchline. And let’s toast a nice supporting cast, from the lovable Julianne Nicholson to Michael Cera and Kate Berlin embodying the most annoying aspect of brand management. But this is Cage’s show and he revels at every dorky aspect of Paul Matthews, from his awkward body language to his bland appearance to just the way he rehearses bashful head shakes so he can appear cool in conversation. Cage may wear snakeskin jackets and drive a gold Lamborghini at home, but some of his greatest performances are when he played dorky losers facing impossible odds (Raising Arizona, The Rock, Adaptation). Dream Scenario may be the best version of that character he’s even taken on and bless his heart for it.
4. American Fiction
The marketing around writer Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut might be a little confusing: the first trailer shows the movie as a searing satire of how mainstream media is all too eager to publicize and profit off of stories about underprivileged black people struggling in America, while the second trailer focuses on a family drama about identity and embracing one’s self flaws and all. So is American Fiction mean or inspiring? Turns out it’s both, as Jefferson (Station Eleven) uses each story to inform the other while also making one of the funniest movies of the year. It’s easy to root for despondent author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) as he tries to keep some integrity in front of his family while writing a “black book” under a fake name as a joke. It’s also easy to understand the struggle Monk has with figuring out if he wants to be proud of himself or successful in his work. Jefferson seems to want audiences to be open to all stories and not see trauma as the only way to be transcendent. And again, he made a heartfelt, funny movie about what connects people. It helps that he has a top cast making everything land, from Wright’s dry delivery of every sharp jab to Sterling K. Brown popping in for some sparks of charm.
3. Sick of Myself
As I mentioned earlier, Kristoffer Borgli is very good at depicting misery via vanity. He’s so good at it that he did it twice in the same year with two slightly different subjects. Borgli’s first excellent skewer of the self-absorbed came in Sick of Myself, which expanded its release in early 2023 while Dream Scenario rolled out in November. Whereas the later film explored the trappings of viral fame, Sick of Myself tells the story of attention-starved Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) jealous of the sudden praise her artist boyfriend (Eirik Sæther) is getting and deciding to do the only rational thing thinkable: ingest copious amounts of a recalled Russian anti-anxiety pill so she can get the reported skin disease and all the sympathetic attention that would warrant. I honestly flip-flopped over whether to put this or Dream Scenario higher on this list as they both have similar outstanding qualities: dark humor that’s as funny as it is biting, a dreamy glow in its cinematography, and sharp editing that makes each vital moment of the movie land like a jab. What Sick of Myself has over Borgli’s later film is a meaner spirit that doesn’t give its protagonist (and the audience) a soft ending that weakens the movie’s message. Sick of Myself shows how poisonous narcissism can be and the rot it causes not just to the body, but the surroundings as well.
2. The Holdovers
It sucks to feel alone sometimes, even for the most self-reliant people. You can build such a hardened shell of cockiness, intelligence, or just a constant look of acceptance of the world around, but there are moments when that misery needs company. The Holdovers refers to the group of students and staffers left behind at Barton Academy while everyone else heads home for Christmas break in 1970 New England. Professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is held over because no other staffers at the snobby boarding school like him enough to tell him before they all skip town. Sarcastic student Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) is held over because his mom wants to have a calm holiday with her new husband and thinks Angus will hurt the mood. Cafeteria worker Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) is held over because her son was killed in the Vietnam War and she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. And yet, all three misfits find common ground in being uncommon for most people and trying to heal wounds left by loved ones taken away from them. A movie about misfits is not new territory for director Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways, The Descendants), but the screenplay from David Hemingson, a TV veteran with his first feature film script, is softer and more heartfelt than Payne has been in a long time. Payne still shows his skill of directing high-strung characters to crash into each other in funny and grounded ways. He also feels right at home making a movie in the 70s, capturing all the period-correct stuffy clothes and old New England buildings without overdosing in style like Wes Anderson. What makes it all hit the heart are the performances: Giamatti is at his very best turning bitter intellectualism into nurturing education, Sessa balances instant charisma with little touches of innocence like a seasoned pro despite being in his VERY FIRST MOVIE, and Randolph is both blunt and tender in a way that brings everyone together. The Holdovers is a movie about how even those left behind can still find the people that matter most.
- Past Lives
But what happens when the ones we leave behind come back into our lives? Do old feelings come back? Are they even stronger in the now than they were in the past? And what do we do with the feelings we have now? Past Lives isn’t as confrontational as I’m making it sound, but writer/director Celine Song’s debut feature sneaks up on you with its soft spoken thoughts about who you are now and what could’ve been if things were just a little bit different. Those feelings can be felt by anyone, even with a story this specific: Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) are kids in South Korea that make their first meaningful friendships with each other, until Nora’s family emigrates to the U.S. More than a decade passes, and Nora and Hae Sung miraculously see each other again…on Skype. More time passes, and Nora and Hae Sung FINALLY see each other in person for the first time on over 20 years…with Nora having to explain all this to her husband (John Magaro). Past Lives isn’t so much a slow burn, but a patient story that lets the lingering emotions its characters can’t say out loud speak volumes across oceans of time. Song is also great at framing the distance between her characters whether they’re separated by countries or lying in bed next to each other. Backed by the exceptional score from Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rosen and Christopher Bear, Lee and Yoo contemplate what could’ve been if they can live without finally realizing their true feelings for each other. Past Lives reaches into your heart in such a soft and touching way, it’s wonder how many people looked up their exes on Facebook after seeing it.
jwinkla 