Welcome Caoilfhionn’s Collection, a page where I discuss and review the movies in my personal collection and others that I see that seem worth talking about. It will be a mix of large overview articles (like this one) and more focused thoughts on specific films.
I open this with a question: Do you realize how incredible this year has been for women directors? If you don’t, I’m hoping this article will show you just how incredible this year has been for women directors. Even in 2017 or 2019, when the tide was slowly turning to allow women more opportunities directing notable movies, I never would have guessed we would get here so quickly.
A quick note for movies like Women Talking (Sarah Polley), All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras), and some I still need to see like Corsage (Maria Kreutzer) and Emily (Frances O’Connor). These movies came out in the strange middle space where they kind of released last year and kind of came out this year. We have more than enough to talk about here without them, but I wanted to note them here. One can, I think very reasonably, include them, especially Women Talking, in discussing the greatness of this year.
Comedy
- Bottoms (Emma Seligman), 9.5/10, will add to my collection
- Theater Camp (Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman), 9+/10, will add (if Disney/Fox/Hulu ever puts it on Blu-ray)
- You Hurt My Feelings (Nicole Holofcener), 9+/10, will add
- Barbie (Greta Gerwig), 9/10, will add
- Rye Lane (Raine Allen-Miller), 8.5/10, would add if given the chance
- Joy Ride (Adele Lim), 8.5/10, will add
- Polite Society (Nida Manzoor), 8+/10, might add
- The Drop (Sarah Adina Smith), 7/10 (a decent Hulu watch)
It’s been a great year for comedy, and all the best have been helmed by women. Of course we ought to start with the billion dollar smash Barbie. I’m a little less over-the-moon about it on a second watch, but it’s still an excellent movie. Bottoms, Seilgman’s follow-up to the amazing Shiva Baby, was everything one hoped for and more, crass, jarring, and side-splittingly funny. You Hurt My Feelings has stayed with me more than almost any other movie I saw this summer, a simple comedy about parents thinking they know what’s best for their kids. It’s got an edge and some incredible performances. It’s a must-watch if you haven’t seen it yet. Joy Ride was quickly swamped by Barbie, but it was the funniest movie of the summer until Bottoms came around, an excellent cross-cultural comedy with a shaggy Hangover kind of vibe. And Theater Camp, while maybe not as “good” as some of these others, is easily one of my favorites this year. You probably missed it in theaters, so check it out now on Hulu.
Drama
- Past Lives (Celine Song), 9.5+/10, will add to the collection
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (Kelly Fremon Craig), 9.5/10, will add
- Priscilla (Sophia Coppola), 9+/10, will add
- Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet), 9+/10, will add
- Fair Play (Chloe Domont), 9/10, would add but Netflix won’t ever let me
- The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green), 8.5/10, would add
- Reality (Tina Satter), 8.5/10, might add if given the chance
- The Persian Version (Maryam Keshavarz), 8.5/10, might add
Five of these movies came out in the last month or so, and while The Royal Hotel has already concluded its theater run, Priscilla, The Persian Version, and Anatomy of a Fall are still in theaters for you to see. And you should absolutely see them. Priscilla is one of Coppola’s best films, maybe her best film, delicately teasing out the power imbalances of young love in a way that feels more like An Education than anything adjacent to a music biopic. Cailee Spaeny gives what is, without question, one of the best performances of the year. The Persian Version is also well worth your time, a slightly comedic but also weighty look at the immigrant experience and gender roles. It’s not hard to see why it was such a big hit at Sundance, and it deserves to be seen. Speaking of awards winners, there’s Anatomy of a Fall. It won the top prize at Cannes, and if France had any sense, this would be the front runner for the best international feature Oscar (a long story). It’s easily one of the year’s best and likely to rise even higher in my rankings when I get the chance to see it again.
When you’re done at the theater, you can come home and find other great ones. Fair Play on Netflix is an excellent taut erotic thriller that probes deep questions about power and modern workplace. It feels like the greats of the 80s and 90s updated for our times. Reality on Max is a stirring dramatization of a woman, named Reality and played by an excellent Sydney Sweeney, being interrogated for potentially sneaking away classified documents. A very solid movie anchored by an incredible performance. The Royal Hotel will be streaming on Hulu soon and is likely already available for rental. It’s a great thriller from the director of The Assistant (watch it, if you haven’t) that kept me thoroughly enthralled throughout.
Finally, we have Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and Past Lives, two movies that have ranked high on the list of the year’s best for many months now. I’m not sure what more there is to say. They’re both movies I’m going to watch over and over for the rest of my life. Past Lives is neck-and-neck with Aftersun for being the best movie A24 has ever put out. It’s my 2023 movie Roman Empire as I think of it daily (that carousel shot!). It’s still the top of my yearly ranking, and there aren’t many more movies left to try and knock it off the top spot.
Others that are probably good but that I still need to see
Some of these are technically 2022 but I had no reasonable chance to see them until 2023
- A Thousand and One (A.V. Rockwell)
- Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt)
- Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)
- Saint Omer (Alice Diop)
- Emily (Frances O’Connor)
- The Starling Girl (Laurel Parmet)
- Kokomo City (D. Smith)
And others still to come out this fall or early 2024
- Saltburn (Emerald Fennell)
- Wish (Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn)
- The Marvels (Nia DaCosta, just came out)
I think women have directed all of my top 5 movies of the year to this point. Come years end, it could be 8 or 9 of the top 10. It’s really phenomenal to have seen this explosion of talent in the last few years. The big movie narrative of 2023 will be a grim one, centered on strikes and box-office failure. But, to me, it’s been a year of dozens and dozens of great movies that weren’t getting made five years ago, and that’s pretty awesome.
Written by: Caoilfhionn Elmsly
