## Metadata - Author: [[Wendy Ide]] - Full Title: Film: Wendy Ide’s 10 best of 2023 - Category: #articles - Summary: The year 2023 showcased exceptional performances in films featuring diverse and complex characters, from monstrous conductors to resilient mothers. Notable films like "Tár," "How to Have Sex," and "Tótem" offered compelling storytelling and powerful portrayals. Additionally, animations like "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" and dramas like "Reality" impressed with their ambition and uniqueness. - URL: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/24/wendy-ide-10-best-films-of-2023 ## Full Document Cate Blanchett in the ‘savage, slippery’ Tár. AP From a struggling mother to a monstrous maestro, the year was notable for superb performances by veterans and newcomers * [Read the Observer critics’ review of 2023 in full](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/series/observer-critics--review-of-2023) 1. **[Tár](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/14/tar-review-todd-field-cate-blanchett-dazzles-as-monstrous-maestro)** **Released in the UK in** **January** It’s been a banner year for fans of films about mercurial conductors/composers, with *[Maestro](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/26/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-carey-mulligan-leonard-bernstein-biopic)*, Bradley Cooper’s mosaic portrait of Leonard Bernstein, a 2023 highlight. But Todd Field’s creation of the magnificent, monstrous fictional conductor Lydia Tár, inhabited down to the last shred of cruelty and ambition by the remarkable Cate Blanchett, is exceptional: a savage, slippery account of rampant narcissism brought down to earth. 2. **[How to Have Sex](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/05/how-to-have-sex-review-two-stars-are-born-in-a-searing-study-of-consent-molly-manning-walker-mia-mckenna-bruce)****November** A wealth of outstanding British first features has included *Rye Lane* (directed by Raine Allen-Miller), *Scrapper* (Charlotte Regan) and *Earth Mama* (Savanah Leaf) – and there are more to come in 2024. But Molly Manning Walker’s phenomenal *How to Have Sex* is the standout, for its visual flair, superb performances and for the crucial conversations about consent that it has prompted. 3. **[Tótem](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/03/totem-review-lila-aviles-exquisite-mexican-family-drama-of-joy-and-heartbreak)****December**Mexican director Lila Avilés’s second film balances celebration and sadness, joy and grief, in this delicate, child’s-eye view of a vibrant, chaotic party in honour of a terminally ill family member. 4. **[Spider-Man: Across](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jun/03/spider-man-across-the-spider-verse-review-a-dizzying-dazzling-sequel)** **[the Spider-Verse](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jun/03/spider-man-across-the-spider-verse-review-a-dizzying-dazzling-sequel)****June** Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Alamy Evidence that we are entering a golden era for animation continues to mount, with inventive, thematically daring studio pictures such as *Nimona* and *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem*, and independent productions such as *Marcel* *the Shell* and the forthcoming *Robot Dreams*. But the latest *Spider-Man* knocked my socks off, with its ambition, wit and dazzling spectacle. 5. **[Reality](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jun/04/reality-review-palm-sweatingly-tense-whistleblower-drama-reality-winner-tina-satter)** **June** It’s increasingly rare to encounter a film that feels unlike anything you have ever seen before, but Tina Satter’s compelling account of the arrest of 25-year-old Air Force linguist Reality Winner is one such picture. And star Sydney Sweeney is a revelation. 6. **[The Beasts](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/mar/25/the-beasts-review-breathtakingly-tense-galician-thriller)** **March** A muscular thriller set in rural Spain, this terrific tale of warring neighbours pits French actor Denis Ménochet against a chilling Luis Zahera to bloody, nerve-shredding effect. 7. **[A Thousand and One](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/23/a-thousand-and-one-review-sundance-hit-cuts-deep)** **April** ‘Magnetic’: Teyana Taylor in A Thousand and One’. AP Teyana Taylor is magnetic in the central role of this decade-spanning portrait of motherhood under duress. She plays the impetuous, complicated Inez, an ex-con who kidnaps her six-year-old son from the foster care system and attempts to make a life for them both in a rapidly gentrifying New York. 8. **[Return to Seoul](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/07/return-to-seoul-review-davy-chou-laure-badufle-park-ji-min-lights-up-mesmerising-tale-of-identity-and-alienation)** **May** A French adoptee travels on a whim to Korea, the country of her birth, in this unconventional journey of self-discovery. In the central role, artist and non-professional actor Park Ji-min created one of the most fascinating and unexpected characters of the year. 9. **[The Royal Hotel](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/04/the-royal-hotel-review-nerve-shredding-outback-thriller-kitty-green-julia-garrner-jessica-henwick-the-assistant)****November** Jessica Hardwick and Julia Garner in the ‘compelling’ The Royal Hotel. © See Saw Films Kitty Green followed her gripping #MeToo drama *The Assistant* with another compelling film about young women in a toxic work environment. In this case, US backpackers take a bar job in a remote Australian pub in an agile thriller that smartly teases us with genre elements. 10. **[Anatomy of a Fall](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/12/anatomy-of-a-fall-review-justine-triet-cannes-palme-dor-winner-sandra-huller)** **November** Justine Triet’s elegant Cannes Palme d’Or winner features one of the performances of the year in Sandra Hüller’s knottily complex bereaved wife who may or may not have had a hand in her husband’s death. And in its serpentine and tricky writing, it also boasts one of 2023’s smartest screenplays.