Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy starred in Barbie and Oppenheimer.Credit: Artwork by Nathan Perri
Those dictionary committees who have declared “cozzy livs” or “rizz” as the word of the year should get to the movies more often. The real word of the year was Barbenheimer.
The simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer in July drew audiences to cinemas in huge numbers in and showed all the contrasts of the art form – light and comedic versus intensely dramatic; a central character who is the world’s most popular doll versus the real life father of the atomic bomb; two films that said a lot in very different ways.
In this country, Barbie was easily the year’s highest-grossing film ($86.1 million) ahead of Oppenheimer in third place ($41.8 million). They were separated by the surprisingly popular The Super Mario Bros Movie ($51.8 million).
Even with Hollywood’s extended actors’ strike disrupting release schedules, there was ample evidence of cinema’s power to enchant, move, stimulate and sometimes provoke this year.
Some directors in my top 10 are masters who are still at the top of their craft: Steven Spielberg is now 77, Wim Wenders 78 and Martin Scorsese 81. But there were also newcomers who showed huge talent in their early 30s, including Korean-Canadian Celine Song, and Australian twins Danny and Michael Philippou.
Past Lives
Alongside Oppenheimer as the best film of 2023 was this romantic drama from playwright turned writer-director Celine Song. She turned a late-night incident from her own life into a small tender miracle about changing cultures, the nature of love, memory and time passing. A Korean-Canadian playwright (Greta Lee), who is living in New York and married to a white American author (John Magaro), is visited by her Korean childhood sweetheart (Teo Yoo). I loved it the first time, just as much the second time then admired the brilliance of the writing, directing and acting the third time.
Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan did something remarkable with this epic drama about J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy). He made a complex, slow-burning and dialogue-heavy three-hour film that was as gripping as it was inventive. Based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s biography American Prometheus, it shows the intense Oppenheimer leading the Manhattan Project to build the bomb that ended World War II then being vilified and haunted as American politicians decided he was no longer needed.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese’s dark true crime drama is another big chunk of a movie – almost three-and-a-half hours long – but it flows with the inevitability of time. Based on a book by David Grann and set in 1920s Oklahoma, it dramatises the real-life murders of Native Americans who had become wealthy when oil was discovered on their lands. A gullible war veteran (Leonardo DiCaprio) marries a watchful Osage woman (Lily Gladstone) as he comes under the influence of his monstrous uncle (Robert De Niro). A movie about greed and betrayal shows the birth of the FBI.
Tar
Of the two American films about famous composer-conductors this year, I think Tar outranks Maestro. Cate Blanchett is exceptional as the fiercely ambitious, obsessive and deeply flawed Lydia Tár. On first viewing, Tár feels like a cold study of a monster with a baton. But second time around, the subtlety of Todd Field’s writing and direction is more apparent: the wit, the ambiguity about how much of the film takes place in Tár’s mind, and the examination of cancel culture, #MeToo politics and the idea that art is created by singular geniuses endorsed by Western institutions.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Little-known director Daniel Goldhaber’s incendiary American thriller could not have been more topical in what the World Meteorological Organisation expects to be the warmest year on record. Eight young activists who believe peaceful protests are no longer enough given the urgency of the climate crisis decide to disrupt the oil trade by blowing up a Texas pipeline. Based on a non-fiction book by radical Swedish academic Andreas Malm, it’s edgy, gripping and provocative. It poses the question: have we reached the point where peaceful climate protests are no longer enough?
Poor Things
Australian screenwriter Tony McNamara, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos and American star Emma Stone combine again after The Favourite for a dazzlingly crazy absurdist comedy. In a variation on Frankenstein – adapted from a novel by Alasdair Gray – Stone goes all in. She plays a child-like young woman who, after being reanimated by a god-like scientist (Willem Dafoe), goes on a lusty journey of self-discovery in a fantasy version of Victorian Europe. It’s witty, funny, dark and illustrates one of the themes of the year’s best films: women rising against social conventions to find their own identity.
Barbie
Greta Gerwig’s vibrant comedy, with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling *chef’s kiss* as Barbie and Ken, is one of the year’s best films for two reasons. It was the more commercially successful half of Barbenheimer and, more importantly, it was fresh, funny, joyful and subversive. Instead of cashing in on the doll’s popularity, Gerwig delivered a clever take on sexism, patriarchy and toxic gender roles. It also featured two of the year’s best movie songs: Dua Lipa’s Dance The Night and Gosling’s I’m Just Ken.
The Fabelmans
The pandemic gave Steven Spielberg the time to think about the stories he still wanted to tell. When Spielberg’s father then died at the age of 103, the celebrated director decided to make this deeply personal film about his early family life. It centres on Sammy Fabelman (played as a teenager by Gabriel LaBelle), a lightly fictionalised version of Spielberg as the marriage of his passionate musician mother (Michelle Williams) and analytical electrical engineer father (Paul Dano) breaks down. A moving childhood memoir about a social outsider is also a portrait of an emerging filmmaker.
Talk to Me
Just as happened with Saw and The Babadook, this energetic horror film has established its Australian directors internationally. After making their name with horror and action videos for YouTube, twins Danny and Michael Philippou stepped up to cinemas with this edgy supernatural tale about a teenager (Sophie Wilde), still traumatised by her mother’s sudden death two years earlier, who discovers an intoxicating new game at a party: anyone who grips what’s said to be a psychic’s severed hand is possessed by a malevolent spirit. Creepy, violent and impressively assured for a debut, it’s the year’s best Australian film.
Perfect Days
A warm-hearted treat for Sydney and Melbourne International Film Festival patrons this year, Wim Wenders’ return to narrative film-making is about a quietly dignified man (Koji Yakusho) who cleans public toilets in Tokyo for a living. There is a charming zen quality to his morning routine of dressing in blue overalls, looking up at the sky then setting off in his van, listening to classic rock and pop music, for a day’s work. The best news if you missed Perfect Days: it’s getting cinema release in March.
Email Garry Maddox at gmaddox@smh.com.au and follow him on Twitter at @gmaddox.
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