Just like every year that has come before it, there are a plethora of new releases that are slated for release in 2023 that I am eagerly anticipating. From last year's list, I'm still waiting on releases for Martin Scorsese's “Killers of the Flower Moon”, Brandon Cronenberg's “Infinity Pool”, Wes Anderson's “Asteroid City” and Yorgos Lanthimos's “Poor Things”. Obviously these are still hugely anticipated and should be considered an extension of the below list (but I do not like including the same titles for multiple years). Both Wes Anderson and Yorgos Lanthimos actually have two films coming out in 2023, with “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” and “AND” (respectively) also seeing release by year's end. Besides the titles below that I am shining a spotlight on, 2022 will see a number of new and exciting films from talented directors, the likes of Woody Allen (“Wasp 22”), Roman Polanski (“The Palace”), Zhang Yimou (“Full River Red”), Pawel Pawlikowski (“The Island”), Ridley Scott (“Napoleon”), Steven Soderbergh (“Magic Mike's Last Dance”), Ari Aster (“Beau Is Afraid”), David Fincher (“The Killer”), Michael Mann (“Ferrari”), David Michod (“Wizards!”), Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Lukas Moodysson (“Together '99”), Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Monster”), Kim Jee-Woon (“Cobweb”), Rose Glass (“Love Lies Bleeding”), Luca Guadgnino (“Challengers”), Sofia Coppola (“Priscilla”), Denis Villeneuve (“Dune: Part Two”), Steve McQueen (“Blitz”), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (“On Dry Grass”), Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”) Victor Erice (“To Close One's Eyes”), Neil Jordan (“Marlowe”), Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), and maybe, just maybe, we will finally see Terrence Malick's latest (“The Way of the Wind”). Not only that, but we are also getting new entries in the following horror franchises, “Scream”, “The Evil Dead”, “Insidious”, “Saw”, as well as Ti West finishing his “X” trilogy with “MaXXXine”. All of the above I am looking forward to, but the below nine films are my most anticipated films of 2023:
LE POT-AU-FEU DE DODIN BOUFFANT
Whilst I have no idea what the English title for this film will end up being, nor do I know a direct translation from the French, this is the brand new film from French-Vietnamese director, Tran Anh Hung, his first film in seven years. Whilst he has been a little inconsistent in the 2000's, I absolutely adored his previous film, “Eternity”, which was his first film shot in the French language and was a real return to form for this talented director. Not much is known about this new film other than it is a romance and is set in the world of upmarket cooking. It also stars Juliette Binoche, who is so popular around the world, that it almost guarantees a good worldwide release for “Le Pot-au-feu de Dodin Bouffant”. Another exciting thing about the film is that Hung has hired Jonathan Ricquebourg as his cinematographer, who floored me with his visuals in “Earwig” this year.
MAY DECEMBER
This is the brand new film from director Todd Haynes, and for once, we actually know a little bit about the film. The synopsis from the imdb reads like so: “Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.” The film sees Haynes reunite with actress Julianne Moore who starred in my favourite Todd Haynes movie, “Far From Heaven”, one of my rare five-star films. Moore is something of a Haynes regular, but joining her on the film is Natalie Portman and this is her first time working with the director. Probably the biggest shock about “May December” is that for the first time since 2002, and the aforementioned “Far From Heaven”, Ed Lachman is not handling the cinematography duties, as he was busy shooting Pablo Larrain's new film at the same time. To fill this void, Haynes is using his very good friend, Kelly Reichardt's regular cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt on “May December”, which will be interesting to see if anything changes with Haynes's style because of this.
EL CONDE
Speaking of Pablo Larrain, with his new film “El Conde”, he continues his love affair of telling stories involving Augusto Pinochet and his dictatorship, although this time with a genre element added as the film reveals that Pinochet is actually a vampire, and that after already living 200 years, he has decided to finally die, once and for all. This appears to be much lighter fare than is the norm from Larrain, with “El Conde” being regularly referred to as a comedy. However with Larrain at the helm, I am sure there will be some form of social commentary attached to it, and with the whole “politicians (or dictators) as vampires”, it isn't hard to see where it may come from. Outside of the above, not much else is known about the film, but I must say that I love that Larrain continues to alternate between making films in Hollywood and then back at home in Chile, particularly now after he has found success via “Jackie” and “Spencer”. As I mentioned above, he has scored quite a coup enlisting Ed Lachman as his cinematographer on “El Conde”, who is using a specially designed camera, built for the intent purpose of creating monochrome images like they once looked in the past. Hearing that “El Conde”is going to be in black and white is extra exciting because it is so rare to see nowadays.
BOTTOMS
One of my favourite films from 2021 was the anxiety inducing comedy “Shiva Baby”, which was so funny but also, at times, played like a horror film. It was written and directed by Emma Seligman and starred Rachel Sennott, and was one of those fantastic surprises that seem to come out of nowhere from time to time. “Bottoms” is a reunion between Seligman and Sennott, with Seligman once again writing and directing the film, whilst Sennott this time co-wrote the screenplay along with starring in the film too. The film is once again a comedy, but from the sound of it, it seems more of the traditional variety compared to “Shiva Baby”; “Two unpopular queer high school students start a fight club to have sex before graduation.” I honestly have no idea how this will actually turn out, but I am so intrigued to see if lightning can strike twice for Seligman and Sennott. As seen in last year's “Bodies Bodies Bodies”, Rachel Sennott has an amazing ability of making potentially very annoying characters so very funny instead. Hopefully she keeps her track record at 100% with “Bottoms”, which I am quietly optimistic about.
THE CRIME IS MINE
As I mentioned in my top ten list, 2022 saw me fall in love again with the cinema of Francois Ozon. The French director is quite prolific and seems to work at a pace where he makes one film per year, and “The Crime is Mine” is his brand new one. Just being the latest film from Francois Ozon is enough for me to add “The Crime is Mine” to this list, but it also has a very interesting plot too which imdb describes like so: “Madeleine Verdier, a penniless actress is accused of the murder of a famous producer. With the help of her best friend, she is acquitted of the crime due to it her acting in self defence at the time. Then begins a life of glory and success, until the truth threatens to come to light”. The film is a period piece and during production Ozon referred to the film as a comedy, although imdb currently lists it as a drama/mystery, so I guess we will have to wait and see exactly what it turns out to be. “The Crime is Mine” sees Ozon reunite with Isabelle Huppert for the first time since they made “8 Women” together way back in 2002.
THE NEW BOY
“The New Boy” would make it onto my most anticipated list just due to the strength of director Warwick Thornton's previous two features, “Samson & Delilah” and “Sweet Country”, both of which I adored. Being a cinematographer himself, Thornton has a keen visual eye and can express so much in his films just through its visuals, with him never having to rely heavily on dialogue. The way he captures the Australian outback is just stunning and so beautiful. “The New Boy” also has the added bonus of Cate Blanchett headlining the cast, which is massive, because it has been a good while since Blanchett has returned home to Australia to make a film here. The official synopsis reads like this: “Set in 1940s Australia, The New Boy is the story of a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy who arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery, run by a renegade nun, where his presence disturbs the delicately balanced world in this story of spiritual struggle and the cost of survival.” There is something about Cate Blanchett playing a “renegade nun” that gets me very excited; I have a feeling “The New Boy” is going to be something special.
THE BIKERIDERS
To be honest, what little is known about the plot of “The Bikeriders” doesn't really sound like my thing. The reason why it still makes it onto this list though is because it is directed by Jeff Nichols, who hasn't made a film since 2016's “Loving”, although this is not due from a lack of trying. In the ensuing years, the poor guy has been attached to at least three or four projects which have all ended up falling apart and not going into production. “The Bikeriders” is his sixth feature, and all five prior to this I have absolutely loved. I actually made a statement almost a decade ago where I said that Jeff Nichols was the most important “new” director to come out of the United States since Paul Thomas Anderson. As you can tell, I am a big fan of the guy and his films, and trust him to make any subject into an entertaining film, whether I like the subject or not. So what is “The Bikeriders” about? Based on a photography book of the same name by Danny Lyon, it will follows the rise of a fictional biker gang in the Midwest during the 1960s. That's it, that is all we know, but the cast list is very impressive with Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Mike Faist all starring. Michael Shannon also reunites with the director to continue his streak of being in all of Jeff Nichols' films.
THE RED SKY
I do not have much to say about “The Red Sky” because we still do not know much about the film, but hey, it is the brand new film from the brilliant German director, Christian Petzold, who essentially gets a free pass from me now because of his stunning 2014 film, “Phoenix”, which was my favourite film of that year. “The Red Sky” sees the third consecutive collaboration between Petzold and actress Paula Beer, who appears to have replaced Nina Hoss as the director's current muse. While I miss Hoss in Petzold's films, they made six films together, Beer has proven to be the perfect replacement. “The Red Sky” follows four people caught in whirlwind romances amidst a series of forest fires. Petzold has said it is a summer film, and very erotic and may have a queer edge to it. Whatever it is, it's Petzold. It's new. Bring it on!
DEAD LEAVES
My most anticipated film of 2023 is “Dead Leaves” (although I have seen some publications refer to it as “Fallen Leaves”, so I am not sure what the official title will end up being) which is the brand new film from Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki. That is a sentence that I feared I would never say again because back in 2017, during the production of “The Other Side of Hope”, Kaurismaki announced that the film would be his last. I was devastated because he has such a unique cinematic voice, and also not least because he was two thirds through his proposed “refugee trilogy” which obviously would now not be finished. For five years, he stayed true to his retirement promise and it really did seem like we would never see another Aki Kaurismaki film again. Then out of the blue he announced that he was about to begin production on his brand new film, “Dead Leaves” and you could not wipe the smile off of my face! While no plot details have been revealed, Kaurismaki did announce that “Dead Leaves” would be the fourth part in his “Proletariat Trilogy” (hmmmm, I think his maths may be a little off). This is excellent news because the previous three films in the trilogy, particularly “The Match Factory Girl” are some of my absolute favourites from his entire career.
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