Best films of 2023: Cherish movies you find comfort and joy in

We have entered that period between Christmas and New Year where you lose track of what day of the week it is.

The days merge into an endless cycle of eating your entire body weight in mince pies, watching reruns of festive favourites, and causing family arguments by debating whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. (It is… but that is a whole other column.)

For this film critic, however, the Christmas break will be spent muttering “bah humbug” and working through a watch-list of titles so that I can file that all-important “best films of 2023” rundown before the bells chime in the arrival of the new year.

When I’m not at the cinema watching films, the rest of my spare time is taken up trying to reopen one.

I’m one of the directors of Belmont Community Cinema Ltd, and we have worked incredibly hard on the project to reopen Aberdeen’s Belmont cinema over the last year.

It has been a long road to navigate, one with many miles still ahead, but our recent funding boost allows us to move forward with our plans to refurbish the cinema. Hopefully, by the time I have to write next year’s best-of list, we will all be enjoying those films at the Belmont.

As a film critic, my job was made infinitely harder by the lack of an arthouse cinema in Aberdeen. Last year, I watched more films in cinemas in other cities around the world than I did in my hometown.

Dallas King speaks at an October Belmont Cinema public meeting in the Cowdray Hall in Aberdeen. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

But, why stress out over something as arbitrary as selecting 10 “top” films out of the hundreds you have watched each year?

Well, when people find out you are a film critic, the conversation inevitably comes around to two things: what your favourite movie of all time is (Blade Runner: The Final Cut, if you are interested), and what the best title you saw this year was. Everyone is looking for advice as to what to watch over the Christmas and New Year period.

What do we actually mean by ‘best’?

For a start, what do we actually mean by “best”? Are people asking for what objectively qualifies as the finest example of filmmaking prowess from the last 12 months, or simply what your favourite film was? Because, let’s be clear, they are two very different things.

My personal choice for film of the year is Damien Chazelle’s Babylon; a wildly divisive, near-three-hour epic film that is simultaneously a love letter and break-up note to Hollywood.

However, my favourite experience in a cinema this year – one that will no doubt raise a few eyebrows but, hand on heart, is the truth – was seeing the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie on IMAX in London. Overwhelmed by the sound and vision from one of the largest screens in the world, the film was enhanced by being surrounded by over 500 diehard “Swifties” all singing, dancing and crying their hearts out.

The debate between best and favourite only intensifies at this time of year, as we enter “awards season”, culminating at the Oscars in March, where one film will ultimately be dubbed the “Best Picture”. But how can we really compare art?

Look at two of the films that will be in the conversation this year, and responsible for 2023’s most “memed” cinematic phenomenon: Barbie and Oppenheimer – AKA Barbenheimer.

They are two wildly different films – as diametrically opposed in terms of style and content as you could get. And, yet, they made for the perfect double bill. Barbie muses: “Do you ever think about dying?”, and then you find it impossible to think of anything else as you watch a film about the person who gave man “the power to destroy themselves”.

No film is failure which has fans

Art, by its very nature, is a subjective thing, and it should be subjective. It is easy, and reductive, to label a movie as either good or bad. Critics and audiences can spend hours, days, their entire lives arguing over the merits of something. But, ultimately, it will come down to what speaks to each of us as a viewer.

The films that tap into something deep inside and which we form an emotional connection to will endure long after the five-star reviews and awards ceremonies.

It’s a Wonderful Life was not a success on its release in 1946, but has since become a beloved Christmas classic. Image: Rko/Kobal/Shutterstock

Look at Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, for example. It might shock some to learn that it was actually a critical and commercial flop on its release. And, yet, it has stood the test of time to become a beloved Christmas classic that people return to year after year after year.

Why? Simply because of the memories it holds and the way that it makes them feel. George Bailey’s guardian angel, Clarence, reminds him that “no man is a failure who has friends”. The same is true of a good movie. So, spend the festive season watching films that bring you comfort and joy.