The Boy and the Heron | CineFiles Movie Reviews

Another year over, another long year of movies ahead of us in 2024. 2023 was an odd year in movies for me. It took roughly 10 months before I saw more than one film that really blew me away. Since that point, though, I’ve seen a number of great ones. I was happy to see a diversity in the types of films in my top 50: a nice mix of genres, a balance between major studios and independents, a good assortment of non-U.S. films that I was glad to be exposed to, a few thought-provoking docs, a number of beautiful animated films, I could go on. After resigning myself to a sub-par year in movies, I end the year pleasantly surprised by a number of titles I will happily return to in the future.

These are the best movies I saw in 2023, along with 15 honorable mentions. Happy New Year.

Honorable Mentions:

All of Us Strangers
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
BlackBerry
Earth Mama
Fallen Leaves
Four Daughters
Godzilla Minus One
Kokomo City
May December
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Nimona
The Promised Land
Skinamarink
Talk to Me
A Thousand and One

10. Rye Lane

Sometimes, a film can be wholly satisfying without any of the bells and whistles, by just relying on Continue reading The 10 Best Movies of 2023 →

A good deal of the critical reception for The Boy and the Heron, the latest from famed animation outfit Studio Ghibli, likens the film to a swan song. Hayao Miyazaki’s on-and-off-again relationship with retirement leaves the film feeling like an open-ended farewell. The perception is fitting for a film so freighted with existential anxieties about moving on and growing up. But the film is as interested in beginnings as it is in endings, and Miyazaki’s canny ability to elegantly complicate that otherwise simple dichotomy is what makes The Boy and the Heron such a striking experience.