With the new year officially upon us, here are the 10 films I am most excited for (based on projected release dates).
My list is certainly auteur driven and is less focused on the subject matter of the films themselves. The best filmmakers usually make the best films and my picks reflect my taste among auteurs and the quality of their works leading up to the film in question.
10. Nouvelle Vague by Richard Linklater
Linklater’s 2020’s output has been consistent with both Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood and Hit Man serving as solid additions to the director’s oeuvre, so Nouvelle Vague would have been something to keep my ears out for anyways; but in the past few years I’ve come to genuinely enjoy the French New Wave’s importance and relevance within the history of film. In particular, I have found myself circling the behemoth that is Godard’s filmography.
The idea of Linklater tackling the milieu and genesis of Godard’s Breathless at that sounds too exciting a prospect to miss out on.
Additionally, Linklater has always been an excavator of dialogue and an surveyor of chronology, so seeing his take on one of cinema’s great linguists (both in the spoken word and film grammar), Godard, in a wholly different language, French opposed to English, at the moment when Godard would change the schema of cinema entirely with his groundbreaking debut film, sounds like it has all the parts that could let Linklater truly let loose in a way his past few entries haven’t allowed.
9. Hope by Na Hong Jin
While Na’s first two features are remarkable, it is his 2016 foray into horror with his feature The Wailing which put him on my radar and made his next film an immediate must-see.
The Wailing is one of the densest, most intricately written and woven horror films of the 21st century and deserves comparisons to the best. Fans were able to partially whet their appetite for a Na with his screenplay contributions to 2021’s The Medium, but nothing can substitute the feeling of watching his direction proper. Here’s to hoping that the long gestation period will deliver.
8. Mickey 17 by Bong Joon-Ho
This has been the longest period between films for the prolific auteur from South Korea made all the more curious given that his last film, 2019’s Parasite, was a critical and commercial darling. For me, it also stands as his finest (which is certainly a compliment when your filmography contains Memories of Murder), so my anticipation for this next work is palpable to say the least.
In addition, the pairing of Bong with Robert Pattinson, a star whose iconic performances in multiple arthouse hits (Good Time, The Lighthouse) and outings in bigger blockbusters ( Tenet, The Batman) have demonstrated his versatility and depth, is exciting to imagine (especially after hearing that voice in the trailer).
Additionally, as a huge fan of his last fully English science-fiction feature, Snowpiercer, the subject matter and change in language feel like they could allow Bong to do something spectacular once more.
Fingers crossed that this does not get delayed again.
7. Resurrection by Bi Gan
Few modern filmmakers have treaded into the liminal space between reality and dream in such ethereal fashion as Bi has in recent years. His 2018 film Long Day’s Journey Into the Night and 2022 short A Short Story demonstrated his unique voice and ability to set a slow and dreamy tone like few others in the artform and certainly feels like its descended from a lineage including Andrei Tarkovsky and Apichatpong Weerasethakul – good company to say the least.
Resurrection’s synopsis mentions dreams, being lost in time, and androids – all markers which augur well for a Bi film (and remind me quite a lot of Wong Kar-wai’s 2046 which makes me all the more excited).
6. Orphan by László Nemes
With one of the best debuts of the 21st century in 2016’s Son of Saul and his nearly equally triumphant second feature in 2018’s Sunset, Nemes has marked himself as a director to pay special attention to. He is daring formalist whose sheer dedication to carving out an aesthetic from the sublime and terrible makes his moving images immediately captivating.
The moment I saw he was doing another film in an oppressive historical milieu, my interest was piqued. It’s always a pleasure to see a master crafter doing what they do best.
5. The Phoenician Scheme by Wes Anderson
Any Wes Anderson film is an event to be marked, and with his dogged formal commitment and evolution in the 2020’s present in his features The French Dispatch and Asteroid City along with his series of Roald Dahl shorts/anthology film, the anticipation for his next film is all the greater.
The French Dispatch saw him playing with his commitment to breaking apart stories at a formal level while Asteroid City and his anthology work showed him using his style in an increasingly aware style that makes the incredible artifice of his work even more layered. As a fan of Wes Anderson’s pictorial beauty and melancholic narrative sensibilities, it’s his formal work that most excites me now.
This is very much an auteur still finding the limits and thresholds of his particular style, one whose nuance in expression has become even more poignant with his most recent offerings. Here’s hoping that his latest continues the trend.
4. Die My Love by Lynne Ramsay
Ramsay’s oeuvre is certifiable proof that quantity is not quality as her four features over multiple decades comprise a filmography that could go pound-for-pound with many of the forms greatest. No one else is able to quite capture the way characters are ensnared, molded, and react to traumatic wastelands with such poetic brevity. There is a texture in her films that is immediately apparent and eludes textual description; she’s a filmmaker whose works can only be experienced because the narrative, so to speak, hangs off the image like a drape on windows, accentuating but never overdetermining.
With a cast that features Jennifer Lawrence in the lead and multiple surrounding stars (including Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek, and LaKeith Stanfield) and a genre, horror-comedy, that her work has played with more tangentially, it seems like we’re in for yet another indelible cinematic offering.
3. One Battle After Another by Paul Thomas Anderson
There is a good argument that Paul Thomas Anderson is the greatest working director and many of his 21st century works (including There Will Be Blood, The Master, Punch Drunk Love) are in contention for the best #1 position on many “Best Of” lists.
His latest feature marks his first collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio, who likewise has a similar argument for being the finest working actor in the modern era and some of his finest performances (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Revenant) come from the last decade.
Any collaboration between stars is one to to keep ones eyes out for, but a collaboration between two superstars in their respective artforms is a whole other deal. Given the budget and IMAX screenings the film received, it will be a beast to behold regardless of whether or not it reaches PTA’s peaks.
In any other year, this would easily be my number one pick, but due to both nature of personal biases it slots in at three.
2. Eddington by Ari Aster
Ari Aster is my favorite director out of all the most recent auteurs. His works are the ones I have found myself most entranced by and I find myself returning to them to mine their formal conceits again and again. His current run of Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau is Afraid is truly a behemoth to witness in real-time.
He’s a true formalist with a gift for directing actors and Beau demonstrates his willingness to push the limits of maximalist storytelling in ways that are wholly original and engrossing.
Eddington sees him working once again with Joaquin Phoenix (whose work in Beau is certainly some of his and 2023’s best) and Emma Stone (who is coming off a hot-streak from her collaborations with Yorgos Lanthimos) along with Austin Butler (whose transformations in both Elvis and Dune: Part Two have certainly made him someone to watch for).
But interestingly enough, this also marks his first feature apart from his longtime cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski. Instead, Eddington will be lensed by legendary DP Darius Khondji (who coincidentally also lensed Mickey 17). It’ll be curious to see how Aster’s visual language changes (or stays the same) as a result.
If anything, seeing him tackle the Western with his patented black humor and absurdist horrific tendencies with this cast will be a treat.
1. No Other Choice by Park Chan-wook
Park is one of the great masters of the art-form. Full stop.
He’s made multiple masterpieces in multiple decades and his most recent 2022 film, Decision to Leave, is proof that he is still at the top of his game.
No Other Choice has been a long gestating film for him for developed over years and is one he has described as wanting to make as his “masterpiece.”
When an artist of this caliber and consistency announces their passion project, you best be ready.