2023 Superlatives

At some point, you have to call it—the 2023 movie is over, and it’s time to reflect. I’ve spent the past few weeks watching 2023 movies written and directed by women and I’m still not caught up. There are just too many! Which is a really nice change. It feels to me like things have shifted over the past five years, with more debuts from women, but according to a recent report, the percentage of female directors has gone down, not up. (For a good analysis on substack, read this.) I think my personal reality is a bit skewed because I watch a lot of independent movies and you definitely see more women in this space. I also feel some optimism because there are a lot of women directors who seem to be getting larger budgets with their second and third features and who have new films in the works. So I think the in the next 5-10 years we could see a lot of women breaking out.

Before I get into my list, some caveats: I have not yet seen Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla or All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, a debut by Raven Jackson that has gotten a lot of raves. I was hoping to see both of those in the theater but moving to Maine has made seeing indie features a bit more challenging. I also haven’t seen the Italian films La Chimera or Amanda. (I’m not sure that they count at 2023 releases since they aren’t coming out in the U.S. until 2024, but they were on my radar.) Finally, one of my favorite movies this year was One Fine Morning, but the consensus seems to be that this is a 2022 movie.

This year, I’m doing superlatives, beginning with my personal favorite, and ending with my son’s . . .

My Personal Favorite

Showing Up
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Written by Kelly Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond

I’m not at all sure I would have like this movie when I was younger. Like, maybe I would have thought that Michelle Williams character was overly grumpy, and kind of a failure. I would have thought she didn’t seem happy in her life. Now, I just think it’s really cool to see a movie centered on an artist who is not famous, not wildly successful, not charismatic, but who is making her art on her terms, at her own pace. Feels a bit like a self-portrait for Reichardt, who brings out a new film every few years and has slowly built a following.

Most Popular

Barbie
Directed by Greta Gerwig
Written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach

It was so much fun to have a movie in theaters that EVERYONE saw. I don’t understand why Gerwig did not get a Best Director nod for what she pulled off, which was to create a mainstream, pop culture event. That hasn’t happened in a long time and it was refreshing to have a shared theatrical experience. Margot Robbie also gave an incredible performance, changing from a doll to a woman—and she also produced the film.

Most Original Adaptation

Origin
Directed by Ava DuVernay
Written by Ava DuVernay and Isabel Wilkerson

This is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen about the writing process. An adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste, it dramatizes the intellectual journey that Wilkerson undertook in order to write her bestselling book, which draws parallels between slavery, the Holocaust, and India’s caste system. DuVernay shows how the personal and political are connected by grounding the story in Wilkerson’s daily life, so that we see how her writing and research emerge from network of professional, social, and familial connections.

Most Literary Adaptation

Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret?
Written & Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig

My son and I read the Judy Blume’s novel before we watched the movie and I was impressed with how true it was to the original, while also deepening the characters—especially the mother and grandmother, played by Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates. Because the novel is narrated by Margaret in the first person, the reader’s knowledge of the mother and grandmother is limited to what Margaret knows. In her adapation, Fremon Craig adds scenes that show what Margaret’s mother is doing while Margaret is in school, and we also get a sense of her interior life from McAdams’s performance. It remains Margaret’s story, but the world is more layered with adult perspectives.

Most Chilling Adaptation

Reality
Directed by Tina Satter
Written by Tina Satter and James Paul Dallas

Adapted from FBI transcripts, this is a dramatization of Reality Winner’s interrogation after she was caught for leaking top secret government documents. It is so tense, so real, so strange. One of the best of the year.

Most Revealing

The Disappearance of Shire Hite
Directed by Nicole Newnham

I’ve been haunted by this documentary since I saw it in January, as part of Sundance’s digital film festival. It’s about sex researcher Shere Hite, who came to prominence after publishing The Hite Report, a landmark study of female sexuality. Her detailed findings made her book a runaway bestseller, and her comfort in speaking publicly about them made her famous. When she later published a book about male sexuality, she uncovered a strain of loneliness, anxiety, and sadness that unnerved the public, especially her male interlocutors, who mocked her research. This was the part of the documentary that I found most interesting, as it seems that Hite uncovered how patriarchal culture is as damaging to men as it is to women.

Most Inspirational

Nyad
Directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Written by Julia Cox and Diana Nyad

I’m aware this movie is an utterly conventional sports drama. And I know there are some controversies around Nyad’s swim. I really don’t care. I love Annette Bening and I love ocean swimming and after I saw this movie I was inspired to go out for a twenty-five mile bike and I felt great! So, thank you to the people who made it. Please, continue to make movies about older women taking on ridiculous athletic feats.

Most Lovable

She Came to Me
Written & Directed by Rebecca Miller

The storyline is bonkers, the characters are goofy, the plot twists are melodramatic, and it all gets tied up in a bow of coincidences. But you know what? It was fun and romantic and Marisa Tomei is clearly having a great time playing a tugboat captain. So, I think you should treat yourself and see this movie.

Most Like Life

Other People’s Children
Written & Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski

This is a movie about the particular heartbreak of falling in love with the child of someone you are dating. It’s also about being middle-aged, and how even a happy, fulfilling life comes with its share of regret and ambivalence. Set in Paris, it’s a rare portrait of a forty-something woman that feels real and emotionally true.

My Son’s Favorite

Theater Camp
Written & Directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman

We streamed this mockumentary at home and as soon as it was over, my 11-year-old said, can we watch it again?? It was exactly his speed: satirical but also very sweet. I also think my son liked it because it doesn’t condescend to the kid characters and lets them in on the joke. (Word of warning, if you show this to your children you will have to explain a reference to cocaine use in the 1980s.) If you’ve ever been involved with amateur theater, or ever loved someone who was involved with amateur theater, then you will get a kick out of this little indie.