The Film Experience

by Nathaniel R

The Best of 2023 Thus Far: Spider-Verse, Of An Age, Are You There God?, Past Lives, Joyland, and Asteroid City

Somehow it's mid July so it's time to survey the first half of the cinematic year. We worry for Hollywood given the writer's strike and the possibilities of a tepid fall/winter slate (the big titles people are most looking forward to are this very month -- Barbie and Oppenheimer). But regardless we take stock every year at this time, no matter what the future might hold. The following list honors only films released between January 1st and June 30th, 2023. It's our way of insuring we keep track of early favourites so that we don't fall victim to the dread recency bias that generally makes awards-giving bodies look forgetful and lazy. The followlng lists are all in alpha order as its too soon for preferential ballots. Obviously we'd love to hear your own 'thus far' ballots in the comments. (We'll do the acting honors tomorrow).

Okay here we go...

PICTURE

Air (Ben Affleck, US) Warner Bros, April 5
Not as good as the hype suggests, but very solid popcorn entertainment nonetheless.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (Kelly Fremon Craig, US) Lionsgate, April 28th
This long-time coming adaptation does right by the classic YA source material.
Asteroid City (Wes Anderson, US) Focus Features, June 23rd
A stylish comedy with guffaw-worthy sight gags, expertly deadpan performances, and absurdly nested structural curiousities.
Joyland (Saim Saddiq, Pakistan) Oscilloscope, April 7th
Saddiq is a natural born filmmaker and this trans stunner from Pakistan is an amazing calling card. May his career be long and glorious.
Of An Age (Goran Stolevski, Australia) Focus Features, February 10th
A smartly concise and stirring gay awakening drama.
Other People's Children (Rebecca Zlotowski, France) April 21st
An insightful character drama starring the ever-watchable Belgian goddess Virginia Efira. If only Hollywood made movies like this. We have so many great actresses that deserve rich opportunities like this to shine.

PAST LIVES

Past Lives (Celine Song, US/South Korea) June 2nd
A multifaceted drama with a slyly perfect opening gambit. Yes, what is their story? Do tell. I was personally late to Past Lives, but what an achievement from debuting writer/director Celine Song. So difficult to shake. It's like a veritable pandora's box of meaning and feelings. Please run to see it if you haven't yet!
Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (Dos Santos, Powers, Thompson, US) Sony/Columbia, June 2nd
Mainstream thrills rarely get more inventive than this. The cliffhanger ending prevents it from being a masterpiece of its medium/genre but still...Wow.
A Thousand and One (AV Rockwell, US) Focus Features, March 31st
A superbly acted family drama about a mother and son on the margins of society.
To Catch a Killer (Damian Szifron, US) Vertical, April 21st
With a primarily VOD release it didn't get much attention but it's an involving well executed entry in the (yes, overpopulated) serial killer genre from the director of Argentinian classic Wild Tales.

How many of these will stick around until the year end top ten list? That depends on the quality of the back half of the year. The best among these, and thus the likeliest to survive the upcoming prestige slate fo year end kudos are Asteroid City, Joyland, Of an Age, Past Lives, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse...

Watchlist: We're all on different timetables with movies and which we happen to get to. But the six theatrical releases I really meant to see but haven't yet (for varying reasons) are the dance drama Carmen, the closet lesbian drama Blue Jean, the Danish Icelandic Godland, the indie The Starling Girl, the Italian film The Eight Mountains, Kelly Reichardt's Showing Up, and Nicole Holofcener's You Hurt My Feelings. Other films theatrically released in 2023 that I might still see but haven't gotten around to: Beau is Afraid, The Flash, Hidden Blade, L'Immensita, John Wick Chapter Four, Knock at the Cabin, M3gan, Revoir Paris, and Ruby Gilman Teenage Kraken. Which of those would you prioritize if you were me?

DIRECTOR

JOYLAND

Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K Thompson, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Wes Anderson, Asteroid City
Saim Saddiq, Joyland
Celine Song, Past Lives
Goran Stolevski, Of An Age

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

OF AN AGE

Asteroid City - Wes Anderson
Joyland - by Saim Saddiq
Of An Age - by Goran Stolevski
Other People's Children - by Rebecca Zlotowski
Past Lives - by Celine Song

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET.

Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? -Kelly Fremon Craig
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Chris McKay, and Michael Gillo
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callaham

Yes Are You There God, It's Me Margaret is worth your time. Should have been a much bigger hit, and a must-see for parents to take their pre-teens to.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

A THOUSAND AND ONE

Asteroid City - Robert Yeoman
The Blue Caftan - Virginie Surdej
Joyland -Joe Saade
Of An Age - Matthew Chuang
A Thousand and One - Eric Yue

Apart from Yeoman these are all newish DPs but so gifted. Big careers to follow if the Cinema Gods are kind and paying attention.

COSTUME DESIGN

RENFIELD

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. - Ann Roth
Asteroid City - Milena Canonero
Boston Strangler - Arjun Bhasin
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - Amanda Monk
Renfield - Lisa Lovaas

Still obsessing over Nicholas Hoult's sherbet sweater in Renfield and the way it contrasts with all the Dracula gothic finery tropes. Comedy costuming gets no respect, but it should!

PRODUCTION DESIGN

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

65 - Kevin Ishioka
Asteroid City -Adam Stockhausen
Renfield- Alec Hamond
Punch - Iain Aitken
Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse - Patrick O'Keefe

FILM EDITING

ASTEROID CITY

Asteroid City - Barney Pilling
Joyland - Saim Sadiq and Jasmin Tenucci
Past Lives - Keith Fraase
To Catch a Killer - Damian Szifron
Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music - Brian Johnson

MAKEUP AND HAIR

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. - Therese Ducey, Kim Greene
Asteroid City -Julie Dartnell, Ann Fenton, Claire Matthews
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - John Blake, Alessandro Bertolazzi, Teresa Hill, Ryo Murakawa, Jennifer Mullins, Marta Roggero
Of An Age - Marie Princi
Renfield - Christien Tinsley, Daniel Crawley

Of an Age is here because it's one of the most convincing cinematic time jumps ever with only subtle hair and makeup changes to age the actors. The others are more obvious showy choices.

VISUAL EFFECTS

ELEMENTAL

So many big budget Hollywood movies have messy effects these days but these three were smart beauties in that department.

ORIGINAL SCORE

65 - Chris Bacon and Danny Elfman
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. - Hans Zimmer
Dungeons & Dragons- Lorne Balfe
Elemental - Thomas Newman
To Catch a Killer - Carter Burwell

ADAPTED SCORE

AIR

Air - various artists
Asteroid City - Alexandre Desplat, Jarvis Cocker, and various artists
Chevalier - Kris Bowers, Michael Abels, and various artists
Other People's Children - Robin Coudert, Gael Rakotondrabe, and various artists
Tetris - Lorne Balfe and various artists

SOUND

TO CATCH A KILLER

ORIGINAL SONG

THE LITTLE MERMAID

"Dear Alien (Who Art in Heaven)" in Asteroid City
"You Can't Wake Up if You Don't Fall Asleep" in Asteroid City
"Steal the Show" in Elemental
"For the First Time" in The Little Mermaid
"Wild Uncharted Waters" in The Little Mermaid

Disclaimer: It's difficult to know which movie songs are "originals" unless it's very very obvious in promotion. So perhaps we missed a great new track somewhere. We hope we did because this group is pretty weak!

MUSICAL SCENE

NO HARD FEELINGS

Asteroid City - "Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)"
The Little Mermaid - "Kiss the Girl"
No Hard Feelings - "Maneater"
Punch (final scene)
Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music (any scene)

We haven't talked about No Hard Feelings but we had a great time in the theater and the "Maneater" scene was top-tier in the way that good comedies can sometimes sideswipe you with smart dramatic beats while still being funny.

ACTION SEQUENCE

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE