So that begs the question: what kind of half-year was it? Did we see anything worthy of notice? And the answer is of course YES! Time for a top 10!
Seventeen writers all sent in their personal top 5s, and I cobbled those together into a somewhat longer list. Among us, we forwarded 55 titles in all, and you can see them all in the last tab of this gallery.
As usual, the question is: how useful is such a top 10? Maybe the number nineteen would have been the number one, if all of us had seen it? And that's a fair statement. Therefore, don't see this as a definite measure of quality, it's more a mix of quality and distribution. But do know that each of the titles here touched several of our writers so much, that they decided to put it in their top 5. There are no losers here, only winners...
Without further ado, here's our list, and we start with the 'runners-up'. So if you clicked on this article thinking that The Arctic Convoy was our number one, ehm... it's not. Fantastic film though!
The top 10 films each get their own tab in this gallery. Click on the edge of the pictures to cycle through them, or on the thumbnails below to go straight to that tab.
The Runners Up:
11. Late Night with the Devil
12. Sasquatch Sunset
13. The Promised Land
14. Monkey Man
15. Close Your Eyes
16. Stopmotion
17. The Arctic Convoy (see picture above)
18. The First Omen
19. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
20. Hitman
21. Origin
22. Daddio
23. AGGRO DR1FT
24. Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell
25. Drive Away Dolls
10: La Chimera
A man with a mysterious gift for finding Etruscan treasures slowly falls in love with the Italian landscape he's robbing, in Alice Rohrwacher's strangely compelling film.
Our Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg says in her review (which you can read here in its entirety): "With an eclectic mix of comedy, intrigue, and longing, La Chimera reflects its title in that the meaning that each character is searching for always eludes them - especially those with too much heart."
9: Steppenwolf
A mother in a warzone is determined to find her son by any means necessary, even if it means getting help from a sadistic convict in Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov's latest film.
In his review, Martin Kudlac calls it: " ...his bleakest work to date, engaging with socio-existential themes that resonate with contemporary concerns."
8: Hundreds of Beavers
And now for something completely different: a black-and-white slapstick comedy with musical bits?! And apparently it's brilliant too!
As Kurt Halfyard says in his review: "Things are so exceptionally executed here, that it is nearly impossible to understand how director-VFX artist Mike Cheslik and director-star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews created it. It seems to have simply come into existence, fully formed, in its own marvellous perfection. Hardly just a technical tour-de-force, the comedy here is pure. Gags fold in upon one another, calling back, setting up, constantly surprising with their inventiveness, and utterly committed to the bit."
7: The Beast
Some titles may suffer from having been distributed in different years; several of our writers saw Bertrand Bonello's film, a science-fictiony psychological drama starring a VERY good Lea Seydoux, in 2023 already.
Our Dustin Chang even called it his favorite film of 2023: "The Beast is perhaps the most ambitious, seductive film that Bonello has ever done, filled with ideas to the brim. It also features the career-best performance by Seydoux. It's my frontrunner for the best film of the year. "
6: Dune: Part Two
Hey, after The Beast it's another psychological science fiction drama with Lea Seydoux! Ah well, we don't mind.
Joking aside, Denis Villeneuve's first half of the story topped our year-end list back in 2021, so to say we had high hopes for part two is an understatement. But expectations can be killing, especially if you know the story already. Were we all on board with how Villeneuve wrapped up this part? Hmmm...
Check out a multitude of opinions in our multi-writer wrap-up.
5: Challengers
Hey, after Dune: Part Two it's another film with Zendaya as part of a weird double-relationship! Ah well, we don't mind.
Joking aside, Luca Guadagnino's romantic drama with sports pleasantly surprised a lot of people, and it's very high in this list. Paz O'Farrell says in his review: " What should I tell you about Challengers? Perhaps that it's not as much about tennis as you may think, and that it is also not as gay as you think. Or that the performances were great, and the music by Trent Reznor really worked as a juxtaposition to dramatic scenes."
4: Civil War
Love it or hate it, a new Alex Garland film is always something to appreciate. Rest assured that whatever he makes will be well-thought-out and stay with you for days afterwards. Whether that's nice or not depends on the film.
Our J. Hurtado says the following in his review: "It’s a tragic film, an exhilarating film, a powerful examination of our culpability and complicity in the acts we observe. With an award caliber performance from Kirsten Dunst as its beacon, Civil War is one of the year’s best films and will likely inspire much needed conversation when it hits theaters next month."
3: Love Lies Bleeding
After bowling us over with Saint Maud back in 2020, we all were avidly anticipating what Rose Glass would do next. Well, she made an absolutely great crime revenge thriller, a queer neo-noir with two fantastic performances by human chameleon Kristin Stewart and an impressively muscular Katy O’Brian.
Mel Valentin adds in his review: "Noir and neo-noir tropes dictate that violence, extreme, brutal, and ultra will inevitably follow (the more extreme, brutal, and ultra, the better), touching major and minor characters, often to devastating, immutable effect. That Glass and her co-screenwriter, Weronika Tofilska, intimately understand noir conventions at a deep, granular level is never in doubt. Understanding noir deeply allows Glass and Tofilska to savagely subvert those same tropes, consciously avoiding surface-deep alterations without meaning or purpose while also boldly introducing a slab of surrealism into the proceedings that ultimately sends Love Lies Bleeding into uncharted narrative territory."
2: I Saw the TV Glow
Jane Schoenbrun makes peculiar, divisive films. Both this one and their earlier film We're All Going to the World's Fair focus on a certain feeling, a mood, a mindset rather than a straightforward story. In I Saw the TV Glow there are aspects of coming-of-age addressed which are pretty unique, even though there sure is no shortage of films on that subject. Here, two teenagers watch a television series not because the series is so good, but because the fact that they're watching it obsessively connects them already.
Some of our writers do not see anything in this film. Others were powerfully moved by it. It may have missed the top spot by a small margin, and it wasn't on that many lists, but this title got the most "number 1" positions on the top 5s which did have it on them.
Mel Valentin said the following in his review: "Riddled with existential discomfort, surreal digressions, and fractured, irreparable identities, I Saw the TV Glow confirms Schoenbrun’s status as a singularly talented, risk-embracing filmmaker more than worthy of the accolades and acclaim that have come their way. "
1: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Of course I was tempted to put a screenshot featuring Anya Taylor-Joy here, or one with Chris Hemsworth. Both do stellar work here, in George Miller's fifth film in his Mad Max universe. Or maybe a picture of an exploding truck, or two cars beautifully disintegrating each other. But Miller has upped the scales four times in a row now with his sequels. My favorites will always be numbers 2 and 4, but this one glues them all together and describes the films’ world best. So I opted for this background shot, showing off the insane amount of detail... There are so many moments in this film which can be put on a wall, framed, as a piece of art.
This film got the most votes of all. If this is the last thing George Miller does with this franchise, it ends on a happy, high note. This is epic filmmaking with a vision and ambition seldom seen.
As Mel Valentin mentioned in his review: "To say the wait, however patient or its opposite, was — and is — worth it is an understatement that no superlative can adequately convey. Switching from the all-action, all-the-time mode of Mad Max: Fury Road, the prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, charts an altogether different course toward the high standards set by its predecessors, focusing on Furiosa’s backstory across two decades, five-chapter titles, and two performers, relative newcomer Alyla Browne as a ferocious preteen Furiosa for the first hour and Anya Taylor-Joy as her equally ferocious twenty-something counterpart. "
WHAAAAT?!
YOUR FAVORITE FILM HASN'T BEEN MENTIONED?
Don't get mad: check the entire list below! And if you still do not see it there, alert us on our social media channels like Twitter-X and Facebook.
8 Views of Lake Biwa
AGGRO DR1FT
All We Imagine as Light
The Arctic Convoy
Asphalt City/Black Flies
The Beast
Between the Temples
Bramayugam
Challengers
Chicken for Linda!
Chime
Civil War
Close Your Eyes
Club Zero
Daddio
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Drive Away Dolls
Dune Part Two
Enemy in the Woods
The Fall Guy
Femme
The First Omen
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Ghost: Rite Here Rite Now
Green Border
Here
Heresy (Witte Wieven) (see pictured above...)
Hitman
How to Have Sex
Hundreds of Beavers
Hunters on a White Field
I Saw the TV Glow
In Our Day
In the Summer
Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell
Io Capitano
Krazy House
La Chimera
Land of Bad
Late Night with the Devil
Longlegs
Love Lies Bleeding
ME
Me, Maryam, the Children and 26 Others
Monkey Man
Monster
Origin
The Peasants
The Promised Land
Samsara
Sasquatch Sunset
Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.
Sometimes I Think About Dying
Steppenwolf
Stopmotion