With 2023 over (finally), it’s time for EoM to unveil its Eighth Annual Sticky List!
If you’re unfamiliar with the Sticky List, these are the films which made me want to watch, rewatch, discuss, and share. While certainly several films on my favorites list meet this criteria, chances are you’ve heard about those ad nauseam from the countless other “Best Of” lists that drop starting at the beginning of December. What this list focuses on are films that either you’ve never heard of or may have overlooked amid all the other releases.
Click here to check our previous Sticky Lists.
If you’re interested in checking out my full list of favorite films from this year, I kept a running list on Letterboxd all year and it has my full list of favorite films from 2023.
- Accused
- Cobweb
- Godzilla Minus One
- Nimona
- BLUE GIANT
- Under G-D (short doc)
- Wade in the Water: A Journey into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture
- Lamb (short)
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
- Past Lives
Reviews for most of the films included on the Top Ten and beyond on this list are available at EoM.
Honorable mentions:
The Sixth Child, A Man, Who I Am Not, Chasing Chasing Amy, Extraction 2, New Gods: Yang Jian, 1%er, Clock, The Night Visitors, The Marvels, Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out
Aporia
Director: Jared Moshé
Cast: Judy Greer, Edi Gathegi, Payman Maadi, Faithe Herman
For all the ideas Moshé’s script presents, it never loses the love at its beating center. Sure, it’s a story about loss and the ways in which grief causes us to figure out ways to bend the laws of nature to our will, but it’s never preachy or villainous, never rotten or depreciative of the moments that happen right now, that fill the quiet of our lives with resonance of those no longer with us. Aporia is, after all, a love story, a tale of two lovers ripped apart and the lengths one would go to have the other back. But it’s not just about romantic love, but that of friends and family, of recognizing the value that one life has on another, what it gives, what it takes, and what it inspires in others. As scene partners, Greer (Halloween), Gathegi (The Harder They Fall), and Maadi (A Separation) are incredible, conveying the kind of faithfulness that all friends aspire to have, never once offering a false note in any aspect of their performance. Unsurprisingly, it’s Greer who holds the film down. Gathegi and Maadi are excellent in their supporting roles, each given a moment to shine, but it’s Greer who the audience latches onto, who can see themselves in, in all the rage, all the guilt, all the isolation, but also all the joy, the hopefulness, and the desire to make things right. In a story filled with chaos, Greer provides the anchor and the guiding light to make it through.
Baby Assassins: 2 Babies
Director: Yûgo Sakamoto
Cast: Akari Takaishi, Ayaori Izawa, Oto Abe, Tatsuomi Hamada, Junpei Hashino
There are some films whose descriptions pique your interest and under-deliver, some which meet expectations, and some which blow your mind (the diamonds in the rough). The 2021 crime comedy Baby Assassins, written and directed by Yûgo Sakamoto, is the third kind for this reviewer. The premise: two newly-graduated high school girls are highly-skilled assassins whose hiring organization requires them to room together, forcing the odd couple to contend with each other while also settling grudges with local yakuza. With stunt choreography by Kensuke Sonomura of HYDRA brought to life by two talented performers, Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa, Baby Assassins quickly became a favorite film of that year. Now, with a sequel released and having its Canadian premiere during Fantasia International Film Festival 2023, expectations are high for Sakamoto, Takaishi, and Izawa to provide once more. Though the follow-up, Baby Assassins: 2 Babies, lacks the singular focus of the first due to opening up the world and the new opponents, it is no less hilarious, heartfelt, and action-packed.
BLUE GIANT
Director: Yuzuru Tachikawa
Cast: Yuki Yamada, Shotaro Mamiya, Amane Okayama
Despite what one might think when it comes to anime, the adventures aren’t just about super-powered beings fighting one another (My Hero Academia), gifted individuals trying to protect the world from curses (Jujutsu Kaisen), or maybe that time you came back as a non-Newtonian liquid (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime). Sometimes they are stories of children trying to overcome their fears (Goodbye, Don Glees!), athletes trying vying for a championship (The First Slam Dunk), or, in the case of director Yuzuru Tachikawa’s (Mob Psycho 100) latest project BLUE GIANT, an adaptation of Shin’ichi Ishizuka’s graphic novel, Dai Miyamoto (voiced by Yuki Yamada) journeying to become the greatest jazz musician in the world. It’s a lofty goal and the script from first-time screenwriter and editor of the original manga, NUMBER 8, hits a lot of a the fan-favorite notes on the journey to get there, and, between the slowly-developed relationship of the central trio, the shifting visual language utilized throughout, and the music from Grammy winner Hiromi Uehara, one finds themselves swept away, carried off by the exquisite intensity of music-inspired emotion.
Creed III
Director: Michael B. Jordan
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Florian Munteanu
Speaking of the fights, III has some of the best since the first. It’s not that II didn’t have electric boxing sequences, it’s that Coogler made us feel like we were *in* the ring whereas more distance was felt under Steven Caple Jr.’s direction. Jordan blocks the action and stages the shots so that we’re not only closer than we’ve ever been, but we, the audience, get a sense of the mental processes, the game of chess in their minds, that fighters undergo in a bout. Where are they looking, what do they focus on and why, are just a few of the things that Jordon drills into, making each of the fights something that the audience often feels like they’re in the middle of. It’s evident that Jordan’s been paying attention while on set, deftly managing the difficult task of running the set while also acting. But what will surprise is the way that Jordan communicates the internal with the external. Leaning into the already stripped down dramatic elements, the bout the entire film builds towards is as much a scream as a whisper, harkening back to the days of gladiatorial combat but where life or death is more figurative and honor bound. Those who are aware of Jordan’s anime fandom (rumor has it his Killmonger get-up in Black Panther (2018) is inspired by Sayian fighter Vegeta of long-running anime Dragon Ball Z (1989-1996)) will particularly love the confrontation between blood brothers Adonis and Damian, the depiction looking as brutal and heartbreaking as anything from well-known Japanese shōnen (juvenile) manga and anime.
Joy Ride
Director: Adele Lim
Cast: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu
Coming to Joy Ride late, there’s a certain amount of reputation preceding that can elevate expectation past reasonableness. However, unlike fellow 2023 releases John Wick: Chapter 4 or Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, none of the surprises hit my timeline, only the reaction to the film as a whole. It’s as if, when people want to, they can share excitement for a project without ruining it for others who may not see it theatrically. Because of this, I went in expecting to enjoy myself, but I could never have prepared to be moved so much, as well. Powered by a smart script and perfect casting, Joy Ride is exactly that, a joy ride, from flirt to finish. Should this be the accidental start to a series (the foursome do go on their second annual trip to France at the end), I wouldn’t hesitate to sign-up to see what they experience next.
Final Cut
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Cast: Romain Duris, Bérénice Bejo, Matilda Lutz, Grégory Gadebois, Finnegan Oldfield
In a different way from One Cut of the Dead, Final Cut, too, is an incredible surprise. There’s an intentionality and specificity within each frame that serves to both honor the source material and satirize an industry that perpetually mines itself for “new ideas.” Certainly for every Little Shop there is also a Rollerball (2002) or Flatliners (2017), but what enables Final Cut to side-step this is that it’s not just copying the total narrative, it applies a local view to the central family story within the façade of the source material. Doing this, alongside mining comedy out of the adaptation process, makes Final Cut unique as a remake in that it’s more of a spiritual sequel that can be watched either alongside of or absent the first incarnation. Personally, I say bring on more remakes of One Cut just as long as this turns into a Russian doll-esque experience, wherein each new film is an adaptation of the one before it, enabling the films to take on more than just the technical execution and narrative needs of One Cut. The possibilities of what could be all begin with Hazanavicius’s idea and that, itself, is worth the exploration.
The First Slam Dunk
Director: Takehiko Inoue
Cast: Shugo Nakamura, Jun Kasama, Shinichiro Kamio, Subaru Kimura, Kenta Miyake, Maaya Sakamoto, Ryota Iwasaki, Chikahiro Kobayashi, Masafumi Kobatake, Kenichiro Matsuda, Asami Seto, Katsuhisa Hōki, Shunsuke Takeuchi
Despite the sense that we don’t know all the characters as well as the film would like us to, The First Slam Dunk delivers on the sports excitement and the interpersonal drama that sports film fans clamor for. If you enjoyed recent releases like Hustle (2022) and The Way Back (2020), then First Slam Dunk will feel designed just for you. As such, the shortcomings fade away, instilling excitement and curiosity along the way. So much so that the David vs. Goliath feeling of the Shohoku vs. Sannoh face-off gives way to a sensation of disinterest in whomever wins as the battle itself is worthy of the attendance.
The Future
Director: Noam Kaplan
Cast: Reymonde Amsallem, Samar Qupty, Dar Zuzovsky, Aviva Ger, Salwa Nakkara
At some point in a colonizer’s life, they look back on the choices they’ve made. For many, they’ll see the civilizations they’ve liberated, the cultures they’ve enlightened, and the peoples who are better off for having been touched by them. Far too few, however, realize that the act of colonization creates the argument of a slippery slope toward genocide, stripping away all that makes Indigenous culture what it is. Having its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2023 is writer/director Noam Kaplan’s (The Voice of Ahmad) latest project, The Future, which daringly looks at the Israeli actions against the Palestinian people with open eyes. None are innocent, all are complicit, but it’s the colonizing force that bears the brunt of responsibility in war.
Nimona
Director: Troy Quane, Nick Bruno
Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed, Eugene Lee Yang, Frances Conroy, Beck Bennett
In the stories we tell, if there’s a hero, there’s a villain, someone for the bold and courageous to conquer; otherwise, how are they to be bold and courageous? In the story of Nimona, Disney is the villain and Netflix the hero, the latter shuttering Blue Sky Studios after the purchase of 20th Century Fox and the former picking up the film adaptation of ND Stevenson’s (Lumberjanes; She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) webcomic-turned-bestselling graphic novel. The truth, however, is far more complicated as Disney could never, and I mean *never*, release Nimona as it exists. For all of their public-facing inclusivity, their cinematic and television entertainment division is still too shackled by global and puritan perspectives to release a film that not only centers members of the LGBTQIA+ community, it does so as commonplace as heteronormative storylines in other productions. So, instead, we turn to look to Netflix as the momentary hero, distributing an action/adventure family fantasy tale that’s as hilarious as it is dashing as it is heartbreaking as it is healing in the way that it reminds us that the monsters we fear are entirely of our own making and not of blood, bone, or magic.
The Roundup: No Way Out
Director: Lee Sang-yong
Cast: Don Lee, Lee Jun-hyuk, Munetaka Aoki
Like The Roundup, No Way Out is a standalone film in the larger series known in Korea as Crime City, so whether you’re coming to this with prior knowledge or as your first story, there’s no loss of enjoyment. Kim’s script makes sure to establish Ma quickly, as well as his working relationship with his team, though this time it focuses more on Ma than on any other members (as seen especially in The Roundup). If you have seen the other films, you’ll be able to pick up on continued references (ex: The Room of Truth), introduction setups, or familiar tactics, but awareness of these things won’t make or break the experience for you. These are like the Rush Hour films in that they feature the same leads, but the journey of the story directs the course of action. You can really jump in anywhere and still have a good time, but for those who have watched the prior two Crime City films, you’re going to have a blast. Detective Ma is back!
Sisu
Director: Jalmari Helander
Cast: Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Onni Tommila, and Mimosa Willamo
An action film like Sisu possesses global appeal as there are plenty of stories wherein a lone hunter, pushed too far, destroys those who brought trouble to their door. These warriors often find their strength in pain, which they either try to hide or run from. In the case of Helander’s film, he appears to be drawing from his own community from which the term “sisu” exists. According to the opening, “sisu” is a Finnish word that can’t be translated, but refers to “a white-knuckle form of courage and unimaginable determination.” If Hedlander’s aim was to present that on camera, to demonstrate what sisu looks like to the world, I’d wager on incredible success. There’s no other word than “rage” to describe what it feels like to watch Tommila’s Aatami at work. For me, a Jewish man, it will never not be joyous to watch Nazis meet a brutal end in fiction. But the way Tommila plays it, the way Hedlander’s written and captured it on film, Aatami isn’t just raging at these men, but what they represent in their greedy, cowardly ways, how they lack the constitution to see their convictions through. Sisu is a mindset that the rest of us are not ready for, but I’m delighted that Hedlander found a way for us all to experience it from the safety of our seats.
Suzume
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Cast: Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, Eri Fukatsu, Shota Sometani, Sairi Ito, Kotone Hanase, Kana Hanazawa, Matsumoto Hakuō II
Writer/director Makoto Shinkai’s been telling stories since the late-1990s, but didn’t become as widely well-known in the United States until his 2016 release Your Name. (君の名は。) which combined science fiction/fantasy elements through a natural disaster with young love, creating one of the greatest and emotionally satisfying films of the 2010s. His 2019 follow-up film Weathering with You (天気の子) tread a similar narrative path, exploring an unnatural nature-based phenomenon and an adolescent love story. For this reviewer, the ending didn’t carry the same weight or conviction as Your Name., making the whole harder to appreciate and creating a sense of anxiety over Shinkai’s latest project Suzume (すずめの戸締まり). Though Suzume involves many of the same narrative elements as the prior two, the execution is wholly different and nearly as emotionally gut-wrenching as Your Name., leaving the audience in a state of awe by the conclusion.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Recommendation
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