The Best Films Of The Year, According To The Viva Team

In a turbulent year for film, and the people who make them, these movies and cinematic moments had our attention.

It’s been a big year for film — on and off-screen.

The year started with a bang, as the wonderful, genre-bending, heartfelt multiverse romp Everything, Everywhere, All At Once dominated awards season. Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer struck gold with a unique, portmanteau-ed kinship, driving audiences to cinemas for prolonged, slightly delirious marathon showings. And the year has rounded out with a lot of weirdness and fun, from Emma Stone’s Frankenstein-ish turn in Poor Things to the dance-filled concert films from Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Talking Heads.

Storied, non-fiction drama also took place on Hollywood’s streets. After negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America/SAG-AFTRA broke down, a lengthy strike effectively shut down productions in Tinseltown. After a determined effort — the writer’s iteration was the second longest strike in US history — major studios came to the table with an offer that outlined greater security for workers.

It’s been quite the year for New Zealand creatives, too. Damon Fepulea’i released the heartfelt comedy Red, White & Brass to rave reviews. Tom Sainsbury’s passion picture Loop Track saw the comedian showcase serious horror chops. Julian Dennison starred in Uproar with Rhys Darby and James Rolleston, to produce a coming-of-age film set during the 1980s protests of the Springboks tour. And, various competitions and festivals showcased locally made stories to keen audiences; from the Onscreen National Filmmaking Competition for young talent to Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival.

Throughout the year, there are a few standouts that have caught our attention and, signalling a fantastic year for film, they vary greatly — from nausea-inducing class criticism to a poignant familial tale.

Triangle Of Sadness

This Palme D’or-winning film from Swedish auteur Ruben Ostland, released in New Zealand in March, takes a cinematic sledgehammer to fame-seekers, narcissists and greedy elitists, and though it’s not exactly subtle, Ostland’s dark brand of satire delivers. ‘An obscenely bourgeois boat trip goes horribly wrong’ might be the tagline, although I liked it because of the table-turning, survivalist twists in Act 2 (for which the takeaway might be ‘always respect people, no matter what’.) From Woody Harrelson’s Noam-Chomsky-spouting turn as the doomed ship’s drunk captain to the laugh-out-loud yet grotesque scenes of disastrous sea sickness and Lord of the Flies-style finale, it’s a film you’ll either love or loathe. — Rebecca Barry Hill

Asteroid City

This film is completely Wessy. For an hour and 45 minutes, the director and his typically scrupulous ensemble cast (Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hanks, Tony Revolori, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie) act out a kind of matryoshka doll house of a drama-within-a-drama, ranging from a 1950s desert town to a theatrical play created by Conrad Earp (Ed Norton), to a TV show hosted by Bryan Cranston. Like the rest of his oeuvre, it’s elaborate and, in a sense, otherworldly, though for this one it’s literal too: part of the plot hinges on the arrival of a spindly alien played by Jeff Goldblum. Much of the reviews for this film are tepid (too quirky, too over-stylised), but frankly I really like when Anderson finds a way to fuse an odd plot with the meticulous pastelness of it all. Show me the detail. Show me time slowed down. Let it all live with me for a while. — Julia Gessler

Past Lives

This year, I was lucky enough to catch a screening of Past Lives, Celine Song’s achy and beautiful feature directorial debut, in a sold-out opening at the Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival. In a lot of ways, Past Lives is a quiet film. It moves through vignettes, capturing the withering connection between two childhood friends (sweethearts?) who rediscover each other after one immigrates from Seoul to Toronto (and eventually the US). It has an unhurried pace and grounded sensibility, but it’s also brimming with intense emotion — spectacularly expelled in the final, devastating moments of Greta Lee’s capturing performance. This film is also so thoughtfully shot, with several compositions that elicited my (hushed) verbal reaction. Some particularly capturing scenes see backgrounds of statues mirroring the emotional states of the leads. It’s a masterclass in visual storytelling. Being Sardine-canned into the Civic only served to enhance the experience. A symphony of sniffles, gentle giggles and longing sighs continually arose from a locked-in audience — a lovely reminder of the communal feel of great cinema. — Madeleine Crutchley

Topless Women Talk About Their Lives

In 1997, in a cinema seat in Christchurch, I fell a little bit in love with Danielle Cormack and a pink satin mini skirt. Topless Women Talk About Their Lives was the ensembled, early adulthood I wasn’t having. Cooler clothes, way cooler soundtrack. It was Aotearoa angst, writ large and funny (opening premise: Liz has missed an appointment to have her abortion). Nostalgia is a notoriously poor traveller, but 26 years later, at a “Kiwi classics collection” screening at Auckland’s The Capitol, the script still sparkled, the actors were still gorgeous and the music was even better than I remembered. Rentable now, via Nzfilm.co.nz. Best watched in bed with a container of last night’s takeaways. — Kim Knight

This year has been one inflected with feminine energy — Taylor Swift and Beyoncé’s record-breaking tours, the girlification of internet vernacular — and looming large is the shadow of Barbie.

Greta Gerwig’s hotly anticipated film rolled out with a tsunami of marketing making the most of its star-studded ensemble cast and the nostalgia of Mattel’s famous toy; just when we’d had enough of the memes and analysis and group chats, it finally hit cinemas (on my birthday in fact) in a confection of wry humour and trademarked pink. It was smart, funny, and sensationally realised in all its surrealism. And everyone actually went to the cinemas to see it.

Most significantly, I think, is that Barbie felt like a collective event and moment of mass culture that we’ve missed in recent years with the increasing bifurcation of culture and viewing. It also showed that women wanted to watch films like this (and men did too) meanwhile being pitted against Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer for the same release date created a sense of low-stakes competition and fusion that made it feel like film, as a medium and occasion, still had relevance.

Barbie is not a perfect object, nor is it without contradictions — can it critique what some argue it perpetuates? — but that makes it a robust vehicle for discussion around everything from beauty standards and aspiration, to consumption and capitalism. — Emma Gleason

Aftersun

Amidst the chaos of 2023, I somehow managed to make my way to the actual movies to watch this devastating directorial debut written and directed by Charlotte Wells, a coming-of-age drama starring Paul Mescal as Callum and Francesca Corio as Sophie. Portraying a young father and daughter on holiday in Turkey at a budget resort circa the mid-90s, it’s a heartfelt look at a relationship between a depressed parent and their child who is on the cusp of becoming a curious teenager.

Charlotte captures quiet moments beautifully, as words are left unspoken and a sense of melancholy filters throughout the film. The climatic rave scene set to the soundtrack of Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie left a giant lump in my throat as I left the theatre with the line ‘this is our last dance’ quietly alluding to the holiday as the last time Sophie saw her dad. I think I’m still traumatised. — Dan Ahwa

More Fantastic Films

From the politics of Beckham to a rollicking comedy.

Every Star Wants A Documentary Now. But Is It Just PR? The Last Dance — the Michael Jordan-backed documentary about, well, him — has inspired several celebrities to commission their own biographical films.

‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ & Martin Scorsese’s Bride Like No Other. Martin Scorsese’s epic drama about killings in Osage territory in the 1920s showcases the unparalleled wedding wear and culture of the tribe.

Benjamin Millepied Uses Movement To Reinvent ‘Carmen’ On Camera. This operatic drama, starring Paul Mescal and Melissa Barrera, is choreographically brilliant.

‘Joy Ride’ Review: A Raunch-Com Roller Coaster. Four friends travel to China in a trip that goes entertainingly off the rails in this terrific comedy.