It's almost an understatement to say that 2023 was the year for cinephiles.
The best films of the year marked a return to auteur season with new features from Martin Scorsese ("Killers of the Flower Moon"), Michael Mann ("Ferrari"), Sofia Coppola ("Priscilla"), Ridley Scott ("Napoleon"), Christopher Nolan ("Oppenheimer"), David Fincher ("The Killer"), Richard Linklater ("Hitman"), Jonathan Glazer ("The Zone of Interest"), Yorgos Lanthimos ("Poor Things"), Todd Haynes ("May December"), Ari Aster ("Beau Is Afraid"), and Greta Gerwig ("Barbie").
Of course, Barbenheimer proved that theaters were back with billion-dollar box office numbers, but 2023 was also the year for high-brow streaming features to shake up the system. Netflix's Leonard Bernstein ode "Maestro" saw Bradley Cooper get back into the director's chair following Oscar-winning "A Star Is Born," plus the streamer hosted first-time filmmakers Chloe Domont and Cord Jefferson's respective films "Fair Play" and "American Fiction"
