2023 Film Recommendations

Like last year, here are my top 25 film recommendations out of all the feature films I watched during 2023. In total I watched 91, up from just 78 in 2022. Despite having watched more than the previous year, I was a little disappointed I didn’t quite reach my target of 104 (meaning two ‘new’ watches a week) and if it wasn’t for Sheff Doc Fest or Manchester Animation Festival, the number would have been even lower.

Contrary to how I present myself on this blog, I appreciate not everything in life needs to be counted or end up on a spreadsheet (it’s all arbitrary really isn’t it and in the end none of this actually matters), but as a filmmaker myself, I do appreciate the importance of watching feature films. I also don’t think two ‘new’ watches a week is too big of a task, although apparently it is!

This list was extremely hard to compile- I basically removed anything less than what I scored a 4 out of 5 and I was still left with about 50% of films watched! So some very good films have unfortunately been left out. To help me whittle it down further, I wanted to highlight some of the more independent films and/ or debut features, as I feel those are the ones which need shouting about a little more (so apologies Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, everyone already knows you were very good)!

These are listed in no particular order. The title of the film is in bold, followed by the the date which it was made according to IMDb (in brackets) and then the name of the director(s).

Hope you enjoy and I’m always open to any recommendations of what to watch, so write ‘em in the comments.

1. Aftersun (2022) Wells, Charlotte
2. Wildcat (2022) Frost, Trevor; Lesh, Melissa
3. Actual People (2021) Zauhar, Kit
4. The Quiet Girl (2022) Bairead, Colm
5. Songs my Brothers Taught Me (2015) Zhao, Chloe
6. Reprise (2006) Trier, Joachim
7. Belfast (2021) Branagh, Kenneth
8. Scrapper (2023) Regan, Charlotte
9. Ninjababy (2021) Flikke, Yngvild Sve
10. Return to Seoul (2022) Chou, Davy
11. Eternal Beauty (2019) Roberts, Craig
12. Rye Lane (2023) Allen-Miller, Raine
13. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (2023) Craig, Kelly Fremon
14. Name Me Lawand (2022) Lovelace, Edward
15. Chicken For Linda (2023) Laudenbach, Sebastien; Malta, Chiara
16. Time Bomb Y2K (2023) Becker, Brian; Mcdonald, Marley
17. Much Ado About Dying (2022) Chambers, Simon
18. The Killing of Two Lovers (2020) Machoian, Robert
19. Blue Jean (2022) Oakley, Georgia
20. The Father (2020) Zeller, Florian
21. Barbie (2023) Gerwig, Greta
22. Ordinary Love (2019) Barros D’Sa, Lisa; Leyburn, Glenn
23. The Arbor (2010) Barnard, Clio
24. Pretty Red Dress (2022) Edwards, Dionne
25. Past Lives (2023) Song, Celine

Have a great 2024, stay safe, see ya in the cinema!