This year, Met Radio is taking part in the time-honoured tradition of the year-end top ten list. Throughout the month of December, Met Radio staff and volunteers will be sharing their personal pop culture favourites from the year gone by. Visit the website every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to check out our best of 2023!
Hey all, I’m Quinton, Met Radio’s Community Outreach Manager & host of Cul-De-Sac. When I was thinking about what I wanted to “top ten” about, I briefly considered albums – after all, I DO host a music show – but ultimately, for me, 2023 has been all about movies.
I’m generally a pretty avid movie-goer, especially because living in Toronto means we’re absolutely spoiled with access to everything from special revival screenings to low-budget indies and foreign arthouse films. I usually see about 25 to 35 movies in theatres a year, keeping track with a handwritten list of titles because for some reason I refuse to get a Letterboxd account. But this year, a TIFF press pass and what was frankly IMO a banger year in cinema took my viewing to new heights. As of this writing, my movie total for 2023 is up to 65. (65: also the name of a very silly Adam Driver versus dinosaurs action flick that I enjoyed this year!) So, in the end, the topic of this list was an easy choice. The hard part was whittling it down to just ten. Here’s what I’ve come up with:
Quinton’s Ten Best Films of the Year
La Chimera: A weird, transportive gem of a movie. Josh O’Connor plays a linen-clad drifter robbing tombs in 1980s Tuscany with a band of Italian rogues in a film that frequently teeters on the line between dreams and reality. La Chimera feels in some ways like folklore but is also grounded in issues of class and politics that lend it some stakes and heft while showing a side of Italy likely unfamiliar to many North American viewers. I loved it! Read my full review here.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person: In case you didn’t know, they’re making cinematic bangers in Quebec! I saw a number of really fantastic Quebecoise films at TIFF this year, but my favourite of the bunch was Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person. It’s director Ariane Louis Seize’s feature debut, but watching it, you have the sense that this is the work of a director with a clearly defined sense of tone, humour, and visual style, who knows exactly what she likes and wants to make. I’m excited to see what she does next.
One Fine Morning: One thing to know about me is that one of my favourite genres of film is “naturalistic and boring,” a phrasing I am stealing from someone I matched with on Hinge once, and one that I use with love. One Fine Morning is, to me, a platonic ideal example of the genre – a beautifully shot and subtly acted slice-of-life with deep emotional resonance on the subjects of love, family, and aging.
Theatre Camp: Just sweet, silly fun; Theatre Camp is exactly the kind of movie I want to see in the middle of August. The jokes are good, the runtime is concise, the musical numbers are legitimately catchy and rousing, and the child actors kill it. Give me more delightful self-deprecating niche subculture comedies, please!
Anatomy of a Fall: As I was heading out of the office to my Anatomy of a Fall showing, I mentioned to Sean (program director at Met Radio!) that I was excited to see it. He, trying to temper my expectations, said, “I don’t know if it’s an exciting movie,” and I replied, “Well, I’m excited to see a good solid drama.” Post-viewing, I have to agree that “exciting” is maybe not the best descriptor for Anatomy of Fall. That’s not a knock, though: the movie eschews sensationalist thrills for a deliberate, gripping pace, taut scripting, impeccable acting, and thorny questions that will keep you thinking about it long after you’ve left the theatre. Not only is it a good, solid drama, but it’s perhaps the best drama I saw this year. What could be more exciting?
Past Lives: Gosh, what a gut punch. This finely drawn, unflashy film demands and deserves your attention as it considers the could haves, should haves, and what-ifs we all grapple with throughout our lives. Covering a span of decades through a handful of pivotal moments, Past Lives features gorgeous film cinematography and some of the most beautifully nuanced acting of the year, especially from Greta Lee. I also adore the scoring, so much so that the composer was one of my Spotify Wrapped top 5 artists.
KILL: And now for something completely different… What do you get when you cross a Bollywood melodrama with 140 litres of fake blood? You get KILL, the bonkers and blood-soaked tale of one lovelorn Indian army commando enacting vengeance on a band of 40 train bandits. If you can stomach a bit (or, okay, a lot) of gore, see this in the most packed theatre you can, and be rewarded with an unrelenting 115 minutes of screaming, gasping, and cheers.
Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse: The most creatively chaotic, visually inventive and audacious thing I’ve seen since… well, since the last Spiderverse movie was released in 2019! Funny, touching, and FUN, this is a perfect movie for both people who love animation and for people who don’t generally care for it (me). My only regret is not seeing it in theatres a second time.
The Holdovers: This film feels like something from a bygone era, in the best way. Stories about unlikely relationships forming between difficult young people and their reluctant caretakers are nothing new, but innovation isn’t necessarily the point here. The point is taking a classic formula and doing it really well, with excellent supporting characters, unexpected depths, and crisp, warm cinematography that makes for a wholly pleasing time at the movies. Read my full review here.
Barbie: Remember the weeks this past July when you’d be riding the TTC, spot a gaggle of girls wearing hot pink outfits, and know exactly where they were headed? In 2023, Barbie was more than just a movie. Barbie took over social media, fashion, and public transit, and for a few thrilling weeks, it was all anyone could talk about. (Well, that and Oppenheimer, a film I also enjoyed, but not one that is making my top ten list.) In this age of fractured attention, any monoculture moment is worth celebrating, especially when the piece of pop culture we’re collectively obsessed with is actually good. Was Barbie a perfect movie? Maybe not quite, but the sheer joy of being in a completely sold-out screening of costumed filmgoers who were absolutely stoked to be there made for the most fun and magical movie moment I experienced this year.
