As with every year, the films that shone brightest this past year tended to be the ones audiences needed to work a bit harder for. Whether that meant reading subtitles or trekking out to one’s local art house theatre to find them—or, more often, both—the best international films of the year were also usually the best films of the year, period. Like the Academy, it is safe to say that we have moved past the term “foreign language film” to describe subtitled works, because this distinction sort of makes these films feel alien, as if they don’t belong on the same pedestal as whatever Hollywood has to offer each year. Well, as usual, these films managed to trump their English counterparts, and in a countdown like this, as much as it sticks to that separating mindset, is the perfect opportunity to shine some light their way. Here is our countdown of the top 5 international (or foreign language) films of 2023.
5. The Taste of Things (France)
All of the controversy surrounding France’s decision to submit The Taste of Things for Best International Feature at the Oscars over Justine Triet’s breakthrough Cannes hit Anatomy of a Fall cast a dark shadow across Trần Anh Hùng’s simple culinary romance that blinded journalists and pundits to one simple fact: France simply chose the better film. Like all the best foodie films that have left their tantalizing aroma lingering through film history—Babette’s Feast, Tampopo, Ratatouille—The Taste of Things lets the act of cooking become both a simple expression of love and a complex expression of spirit. As Anh Hùng’s camera glides its way through the kitchen and just outside the bedroom, the film becomes a quiet statement of mouth-watering passion that is sure to punch audiences in the gut while leaving them aching to fill it.
4. Perfect Days (Japan)
Leave it to legendary German visionary Wim Wenders to visit Japan, observe some artsy public toilets, and churn out a near-masterpiece from that inspiration. Perfect Days is another film about finding joy in the simplicities of life; be it an out-of-focus snapshot of trees, or a days-long game of tic-tac-toe with a stranger you never see, or simply riding through Tokyo between jobs, blissfully jamming to one’s favourite rock tunes. The longer the film goes on, the clearer it is that Wenders is wearing his intentions closely to his sleeve, but thanks to a mesmerizing, award-winning performance from Kōji Yakusho, Wenders lets the silent underlying sentiments and past traumas that permeate through all of his best work silently fill in the gaps, showing audiences precisely how such a simple existence can actually be so complicated, and so rewarding.
3. Evil Does Not Exist (Japan)
And speaking of complicated and rewarding…
If I were compiling this countdown in strict accordance with my own best of the year list, then more than half of these films would be Japanese, but for the sake of diversity and spotlighting some more varied picks, we’ll end the Japan-o-thon with easily the most challenging pick possible. Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s awaited follow-up to his hit-and-run smash Drive My Car finds the filmmaker trading in his usual heady dialogue for even headier silences. There are still long, realistically engaging conversations throughout, but at the centre of Evil Does Not Exist is a haunting gaze into the human condition as only a visionary like Hamaguchi could provide, punctuated by simple acts of mundanity that, in each new context, become power moves that almost act as mini-climaxes in themselves. With an ending sure to leave many scratching their heads, the film will linger in one’s mind for days; whether or not that’s a good thing will be decided on an individual basis, but its frigid inconclusiveness was enough of a reward itself.
2. About Dry Grasses (Turkey)
For those who haven’t noticed by now, the films in this countdown are slowly getting less and less accessible for some viewers, but films like About Dry Grasses prove that even the most difficult of art films can offer audiences some valuable insights if they are just willing to stick with them. Yet another 3-hour odyssey of philosophical discussion from Turkey’s own Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the auteur’s latest takes on maybe his most unlikeable subject yet, an elementary school teacher who reacts to new circumstances in increasingly scummy ways. If its runtime doesn’t scare prospective audiences away, then maybe the film’s supposed amoral stance on its subject’s abuse of authority and pompous view of society will. But in all of this intentional moral muck is a beautifully filmed and endlessly fascinating take on intellect in the absence of wisdom, as only a genius like Ceylan could unpack.
1. The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)
Ten years have passed since Jonathan Glazer buried his way into our minds with the terrifying Under the Skin, and now with The Zone of Interest, the English filmmaker returns to haunt audiences in a much subtler way, showing how evil is a language that everyone understands. By only showing these events in the least cinematic light possible, the film lets one’s mind fill in the context, revealing how ingrained the horrors of our past have become in how we process—or ignore—what’s right in front of us. Through perhaps the most bone-tingling banality every put to screen, Glazer makes silent passive attitudes screech with an echo that could fill any dead space, asking just how the human race can let atrocities of this magnitude go on in the first place; now more than ever, this is a message we need to see right in front of our faces. The Zone of Interest is the best film of 2023, in any language.
That concludes our countdown of the top 5 international (or foreign language) films of 2023. As always, there’s more to discover, as these sorts of films tend to not get the same unified release dates as American films, but that simply means there’s always something to look forward to year-round! Stay tuned for our other year-end rankings as they come, and be sure to read plenty of subtitles in 2024; you’ll be all the better for it!
still courtesy of A24
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