As our coverage of Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) comes to a close, we count down our favourites of 2023.
While many of you are still looking forward to NZIFF screenings, the Auckland leg of the fest has wrapped up, and so has our cohort of writers’ time soaking up as much cinematic content as possible. With 135-odd mini-reviews from this year’s NZIFF, we’ve been busy—and here we count down 2023’s standouts.
If NZIFF is still coming your way, hopefully this can help guide your viewing. And if not, well, there is plenty to look forward to when these films return in one way or another in the future!
Matthew Crawley, Adam Fresco, Liam Maguren, Steve Newall, Katie Parker, Daniel Rutledge, Sarah Thomson, Tony Stamp and Aaron Yap all contributed best-of lists. These were then aggregated into the list you see below, with info on each film and quotes from our reviews—which you can also check out via the links below..
All 2023 mini-reviews:
Latest reviews | A – E | F – L | M – R | S – Z
20. How to Have Sex
A trio of British teen girls are on holiday and off the leash in this booze-soaked coming-of-age pic. Molly Manning Walker’s directorial debut follows them through rites of passage in what should be the best summer of their lives, but also carries with it the potential for awful trauma.
“It’s rare to see teenage-hood explored so accurately in the cinema. Tread gently going into this film—its realism makes it a full-on watch—but it’s also generous, gentle and at times very funny. Truly extraordinary storytelling.” RACHEL ASHBY
19. How to Blow Up a Pipeline
A group of young people from different backgrounds meet to execute a daring plan, born from their desperation with the climate crisis and a sense of apathy to traditional political and protest movements. In other words, yes, this thriller sees them try to blow up a pipeline—using resources available to everyday civilians.
“Is violent action any way to challenge corporate greed, or are activists willing to go to such lengths perpetuating the very destruction they oppose? It’s a hot topic trigger issue, presented as a cracking desert-set, environmental-action thriller.” ADAM FRESCO
18. The Grab
Intrepid reporters follow the money to frightening destinations in this doco from the director of Blackfish. Across the world, vast plots of land are being bought by nation states and private actors, seemingly with the knowledge that food and water will soon be in short supply.
“The super-mega-rich do realise they can’t eat money. And they’re quietly doing terrible things with said money to secure their future access to such natural resources. Incredible (and dangerous) investigative journalism from a documentary that should rightfully be taught in secondary schools.” SARAH THOMSON
17. La Chimera
A dishevelled Englishman with a preternatural ability to uncover 2000-year-old Etruscan artefacts roams 1980s Tuscany in Alice Rohrwacher’s latest. He’s haunted by his own past, even as he pillages the histories of others to earn a living via the black market.
“Beautiful and broken, our band of ‘tombaroli’ (gravediggers) led by a magnetic Josh O’Connor, raid the countryside’s past to provide for their present—both as the many headed beast and the impossible liminal dream of the film’s title. Stunning.” SARAH THOMSON
16. A Storm Foretold
Grubby Republican political fixer Roger Stone is the willing subject of this documentary, offering a unique insight into his personality during the Trump administration, taking on a more heated tone in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election and its violent aftermath.
“Grimly fascinating in big and small moments, taking on increasing gravity in the present day as indictments against the coup-plotting former Prez and his cronies mount (this footage actually included in the Jan 6th Committee proceedings). Very strong recommend.” STEVE NEWALL
15. Pacifiction
As the French high commissioner’s tenure in Tahiti is coming to an end, political and nuclear paranoia are on the rise in this drama—with increased military activity in French Polynesia concerning both locals and political appointees.
“The sense that something is wrong is omnipresent. But what, exactly? Haunted by the specter of nuclear testing, it’s wholly unique, with a central set piece that’s one of the most visually remarkable things I’ve witnessed on a movie screen.” TONY STAMP
14. Asteroid City
Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Steve Carell and plenty other A-list actors star in this Wes Anderson feature set in a fictional American desert town circa 1955—the site of world-changing, sci-fi-tinged events.
“People who say they’re sick of Wes Anderson are the same people who love telling you The Beatles are overrated. This is the new Wes Anderson movie, and how you feel about that statement will ensure your biases are confirmed. Loved it.” MATTHEW CRAWLEY
13. Holy Spider
In the Iranian holy city of Mashhad, the so-called “Spider Killer” is brutally murdering sex workers, believing he is cleansing the streets of sinners. With little in the way of police progress, a female journalist descends into the city’s dark underbelly, risking their own life as they work to expose the serial killer.
“As the investigative reporter risking all to expose a serial killer preying on Iran’s underclass of female sex workers, Zar Amir-Ebrahimi’s powerful performance anchors a bold, bleak, violent, and gut-wrenching tale that disturbs, provokes, and distresses.” ADAM FRESCO
12. Hello Dankness
Sampling over 550 sources, filmmaking duo Soda Jerk repurpose clips from the decades—with a heavy emphasis on white American suburbia of the 80s and 90s—to chart the rise of Trump and tracing our stoned reality through to the Jan 6th insurrection.
“A patient approach to building a narrative that brings in all of the context of its sampled content. Technically staggering, sometimes scathing, funny-as-fuck.” STEVE NEWALL
11. Afire
Emotions run high among a group of friends in a holiday home by the Baltic Sea as the parched forest around them catches fire in this comedic drama from renowned filmmaker Christian Petzold.
“Like his best films, Afire, with its subtly delineated characters and elegant psychological acuity, sneaks up on you with a cumulative power.” AARON YAP
10. Perfect Days
Japanese screen legend Koji Yakusho delivers a Cannes award-winning performance in this Wim Wenders feature about a humble janitor. In competition for the 2023 Palme d’Or.
“I must be the 500th person to compare Perfect Days to Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, but Wim Wenders really does achieve that seductive, cinematic, working-class zen here.” LIAM MAGUREN
9. EO
This winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes 2022 presents the world from the perspective of a grey donkey, brimming with personality beaming from his melancholic eyes as he encounters people both good and bad as he moves through modern Europe.
“Ten gold stars for this mesmeric Polish dream-fable, perhaps best described as David Lynch-does-Milo and Otis, but with a donkey and no off-camera animal cruelty.” MATTHEW CRAWLEY
8. Late Night With the Devil
David Dastmalchian gets a rare lead role as a 70s talk show host in this pic presenting itself as the master recording of a live TV broadcast. As a late night show struggles in the ratings (and with the host’s own demons), a psychic, parapsychologist and skeptic feature as guests.
“A fiendishly entertaining riff on found-footage and occult shockers, with delightfully authentic analog feel and smartly calibrated tension and tongue-in-cheek humour.” AARON YAP
7. Robot Dreams
The director of 2014’s Blancanieves adapts the popular graphic novel by Sara Varon, following the misadventures of a dog and a robot in 1980s New York City—in which an ill-fated day-trip to Long Island sees friends Dog and Robot get separated.
“Richard Linklater’s Zootopia? Robot Dreams often feels like it with its infectious hangout narrative, keen details derived from 1980s New York, and even comparisons to the Before trilogy with its surprisingly grounded portrayal of a relationship tested by time.” LIAM MAGUREN
6. King Loser
Incendiary 90s New Zealand band King Loser, who released three great albums on Flying Nun, are the subjects of this new doco—chronicling the short-lived but unforgettable band’s history, going on tour with them amid the chaos of their 2016 reunion shows, and celebrating the sadly departed Celia Mancini.
“A time machine to the bygone era of NZ’s 80s and 90s guitar music scene; an epitaph/celebration of the iconoclastic Celia Mancini; a reminder of the awesomeness of King Loser; and an account of their chaotic last run of shows. King Loser is all that, plus one of the best NZ music docos that’s yet been made.” STEVE NEWALL
5. Past Lives
Childhood sweethearts 20 years ago in Korea, since separated by distance and time, reunite in this A24 drama. Across one fateful week they are forced to confront notions of love and destiny, the now-adult pair considering their lives and the meaningfulness of their relationship to one another.
“The consequences of our lives’ choices and the price paid for growing up are shown in deeply moving fashion in Celine Song’s staggeringly assured debut. Never overplaying its hand, this is a compelling tale of heartbreak over lost potential (and decades and continents).” STEVE NEWALL
4. Beyond Utopia
Thoroughly terrifying documentary captures the terror and hopelessness of families attempting a possibly-fatal escape from the militarised borders of North Korea (and cooperative neighbour China). Connecting several stories, a pastor based in South Korea attempts to help families flee—and survive in the process.
“Told with chilling, intimate hidden-cam footage that feels illegal to watch, Madeleine Gavin’s film is both a breathless on-the-run thriller and an eye-opening crash course in the country’s nightmarish, surreally oppressive dictatorship.” AARON YAP
3. Anatomy of a Fall
2023’s Palme d’Or winner opened NZIFF, and set a high bar for the rest of the fest. Sandra Hüller (Toni Erdmann) leads this detailed French crime procedural, suspected of murdering her husband after he suffers a fatal fall, with no direct witnesses to the apparent accident.
“A smouldering commentary on the expectations of gender in relationships, academia and parenthood.” RACHEL ASHBY
2. Monster
A mother notices her son behaving strangely in this new drama from Palme d’Or winner Kore-eda Hirokazu (Shoplifters). Feeling something is wrong, she approaches her son’s school in search of answers—the picture becoming clearer to the viewer as events are revealed from various perspectives.
“Kore-eda Hirokazu is very much back on form after his somewhat disappointing Broker with this masterful, nuanced and deeply beautiful drama. A Rashomon-style multi-perspective narrative with plenty of mystery to enjoy, this also very cleverly plays our own assumptions against us.” DANIEL RUTLEDGE
1. May December
Natalie Portman is an actor researching an upcoming role, Julianne Moore the real-life subject of the film that’s to be made, and Riverdale‘s Charles Melton her husband—who Moore’s character formed a scandalous relationship with when he was an underage teen. Todd Haynes (Carol) expertly juggles drama, thrills, comedy and melodrama as his cast bring their A-game and the sins of the past are revisited.
“Todd Haynes does Tennessee Williams; Julianne Moore does Mommie Dearest; Charles Melton does mumblecore Brando; and Natalie Portman’s mimicry/doubling chills more than Black Swan. Full of instantly quotable one-liners, May December turns the problematic appeal of tabloid scandal and airport novel true-crime into a camp unravelling of ageing, sexuality, and control.” SARAH THOMSON
All 2023 mini-reviews:
Latest reviews | A – E | F – L | M – R | S – Z
