Reflections on the 2023 Oscars and its Movies

 The Oscars have come and gone, with a predictable blockbuster winning best picture. Hollywood seemed excited to have finally put COVID limitations aside, and was thrilled to have the summer hit "Barbenheimer" surgically-joined twins that got people into theaters (these twins need to be forevermore separated). But was it a good year for film, really? I don't think so. Of the 10 films nominated for best picture, I only really want to see a few again, and one excellent film didn't even get nominated. So here are my thoughts, with the 10 nominees grouped into clusters. At the end I will list these in my order of preference. What's your order?

Ponderous, "Important" Movies: Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon

Guys, I like many long movies. I was gripped by long movies as different as Lanzmann's Shoah  (7+hours), Scarface (3 hours), and Titanic (2 hours, 40 minutes), and by the operas of Wagner, often clocking in at over 3 1/2 hours. The issue is not length, but momentum and forward motion. A long movie/opera/symphony that has these qualities zips by, and you lose track of time. Unfortunately the above two Oscar nominees lacked these entirely, and instead every minute ticks painfully by. This is to be expected from Oppenheimer (3 hours) director Nolan, who likes this kind of extension: Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises, and Tenet  all exceeded 2.5 hours. But I was disappointed with the lack of momentum from Martin Scorsese. Killers... (3.5 hours) sadly follows his recent trend of too-long, leaden movies, including 2019's The Irishman. Yes, both films in this group dealt with important historical topics that have modern resonance (Academy voters love that). But that does not excuse the lead weights that came with the price of admission for both. I have no interest in seeing either of these films again. 

Musicals: Barbie

Hollywood musicals have made a comeback in recent years, with some being highly awarded, eg La-La Land, Chicago. Barbie was hardly a traditional musical, and the music was pretty trivia-pop for me, but I loved the set and costume design, and the talented cast vamping through the show. Ryan Gosling has become the go-to musical male lead of our era, certainly not the way he started his to career. And director Greta Gerwig showed amazing range in following her excellent Lady Bird with this film. I'd see this again, just to look for missed visual details. 

Fun/Wacky/Funky/Romantic "Small" Movies: American Fiction, The Holdovers, Past Lives, Poor Things

These are the kind of oddball or small-scale movie that would never have been nominated prior to the expansion of the field from five to ten a few years back.  Sometimes such films can actually win (Parasite, Birdman, Coda (???)). This year I enjoyed all but Poor Things, which, like last year's winner Everything Everywhere All at Once, verges too far into random fantasy for my taste. For me, this comes at the expense of plot continuity and character development, which I most value in movies. On the other hand, I especially enjoyed the superb acting in Past Lives and The Holdovers...the latter with great chemistry between the superb Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa as the troubled teen. None of these films really stuck in my heart or mind, but I would see the Past Lives and The Holdovers again, maybe in a couple years. 

Reality-Based Dramas: Anatomy of a Fall, Maestro, The Zone of Interest, (All of Us Strangers). 

Now we get to my preferred film type, dramas with a dark side. Except for the unfocused, mildly disappointing Maestro (the film couldn't decide whether it was about Bernstein or his wife, and was lacking in music), I liked all these films. Anatomy of a Fall was a really intelligent court drama with tight direction and excellent acting. The Zone of Interest was extraordinary in making us see one film (the pedestrian goings-of the family of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess) and hear another film, ie the unceasing background soundscape of the horrors of the death camp. Thus, we had to imagine the horror, which is often worse than explicitly seeing it (as in Schindler's List).  And lastly I will include a non-nominated film that absolutely should have been: All of Us Strangers, about a lonely gay man who alternately lives and imagines/dreams important moments of his life, requiring us to sort out what is real vs. what is not. Here there was fantastic work by actor Andrew Scott and director Andrew Haigh...see this film!! Except for Maestro, I would see all of this group again. 

So, here are my top 11 films of 2023, including (under duress) all of the nominees. None rises to the level of past Best Picture greats like The Godfather, Titanic, The Silence of the Lambs, or Annie Hall, or of the even better non-winners like The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, or Taxi Driver. But the top 5-6 are at least worth a re-watching: 

1. The Zone of Interest

2. All of Us Strangers

3. The Holdovers

4. Anatomy of a Fall

5. Past Lives

6. Barbie

7. Maestro

8. American Fiction

9. Poor Things

10. Killers of the Flower Moon

11. Oppenheimer