Apple TV+ / HBO / A24
From top left: Killers of the Flower Moon, Succession season 4 and Past Lives.
Clockwise from top left: 'Killers of the Flower Moon,' 'Succession' and 'Past Lives.'
In late May, Succession, Barry, Ted Lasso and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel all ended their final seasons within a week of each other. The Writer’s Guild was already on strike; the Screen Actors Guild strike started shortly after. But in their wake it wasn’t all reruns and reality shows.
It’s been an interesting year for TV and movies. Even though a number of highly -anticipated projects were pushed to a 2024 release, it was still a big year for first-time directors, legendary filmmakers, and bittersweet endings. Here are five of my favorite movies and TV shows from 2023.
Cunk On Earth is like watching one of those BBC history documentaries narrated by Richard Attenborough, except the narrator is a confident idiot giving ill-informed history lessons with a deadpan Northern British accent. Netflix brought Cunk On Earth to American audiences at the beginning of the year, but Philomena Cunk has been a comedy staple in Britain for over a decade. Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker introduced the investigative reporter — played by Diane Morgan — in a BBC series skit back in 2013. Cunk On Earth covers everything from the beginning of humanity to the Renaissance to present day with stupid punch lines and the occasional insightful observation. As Cunk, Morgan’s impeccable comedic timing is what makes the show, especially when she interviews real experts; academics and anthropologists play along with her stupid questions. With just five episodes, Cunk On Earth is a breezy watch worth revisiting for a mood boost. Nothing else was as consistently funny as Cunk On Earth in 2023.
There has been speculation since the show debuted in March that the fictional band in Daisy Jones & The Six (Amazon) might go on a real tour. It might have been daunting to adapt Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel about a popular band’s rise and fall in the ‘70s into a miniseries, but it transformed into a satisfying series. It certainly didn’t hurt that the music in the show — written by Blake Mills with co-writing help from artists including Phoebe Bridgers and Jackson Browne — is legitimately good. Above all, Daisy Jones & The Six excels because it’s so damn fun. Led by Riley Keough and Sam Claflin, the cast brings a Fleetwood Mac-inspired band’s music and antics to screen through a series of interviews. Music shows can be tricky, needing to avoid cliches — but the band’s believable chemistry makes each episode feel like a fun hang. As the relationship between Daisy Jones (Keough) and Billy Dunne (Claflin) became a central tension both romantically and artistically in the season’s second half, the actors delivered magnetic performances just as captivating as their stage personae.
Past Lives begins by introducing the concept of in-yun: a Korean word that describes two souls who knew each other in past lifetimes, that are fated to reunite. Writer-director Celine Song uses in-yun to describe the intimate connection between Na-young (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), who develop feelings for each other as kids after a date arranged by their parents. Song tells the semi-autobiographical story with such delicacy that you’d never guess it’s her first feature film. She understands that some of the most delicate moments of life are in the details, and what’s not said between two characters is just as crucial as what’s on the page.
Na-young’s family emigrates from Korea to Toronto. When she and Hae Sung reconnect years later over social media, there’s an undeniable chemistry between the young adults, but the long distance keeps them from being open about it. Years later, Na-young — now called Nora — is married and living in New York with her husband Arthur (John Magaro). When Hae Sung visits New York on vacation, expectations accompany their reunion.
What makes Past Lives such a beautiful film is how Song tells the story with such empathy for all three characters. Lee, Yoo and Magaro deliver nuanced performances, Crafting a story that’s so balanced and affecting takes a skilled filmmaker, and Song lands the plane for a pitch-perfect finale. You won’t see another movie quite like this this year. (Available for streaming on Amazon, Apple TV.)
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but this Martin Scorsese guy might have a knack for directing. His adaptation of David Grann’s nonfiction book Killers of the Flower Moon is a high point of his long career. Killers of the Flower Moon flips the director’s familiar storytelling perspective on its head, bringing attention to the Osage victims without reducing them to footnotes.
Since 2016’s Silence, Scorsese’s late-career filmography feels more pensive and self-reflective than his previous work, allowing for beautiful sequences that also serve as the director’s examination of his role in telling the story. Whereas Grann’s retelling of the Osage murders known as the “Reign of Terror” is more of a procedural whodunit about the birth of the FBI, Scorsese approaches the tragedy through the lens of the marriage at its center, between Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone).
The filmmaker’s collaboration with the Osage Nation gives Killers the depth and historical accuracy the story deserves. From the costumes to the production design, Killers of the Flower Moon feels alive. Great performances come from DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, but Gladstone gives the performance of the year as Mollie.
Scorsese ultimately pulls the curtain back, quite literally, to acknowledge his own conviction in telling the story and pay respect to the Osage Nation. It’s a fitting ending to a film that will linger long after the credits, both as a highlight from one of our best living directors and a sobering examination of tragedy as Hollywood spectacle. (Available on multiple streaming platforms.)
Succession season 4
Rarely do popular TV shows age gracefully; sometimes they feel like they’ve ended long before the final season. Few achieve what HBO’s Succession has — growing in quality up until its conclusion. When creator Jesse Armstrong announced the saga of the Roy family would end this year, it made sense; the show would leave at the height of its popularity. The final ten episodes became appointment viewing each Sunday.
Succession’s strength has always been in how well the writers understood Roy siblings Kendall, Roman and Shiv, characters beyond despicable yet still compelling enough to root for. Performances from Kieran Culkin (Roman), Sarah Snook (Shiv), and the phenomenal Jeremy Strong (Kendall) elevated the final season. Through tragedy and comedy and a discomfiting blend of both, Succession got more cynical about American greed.
The finale was less about finding out who “won” in the end, but more about seeing where the Roy siblings would end up. Would it be a satisfying conclusion that puts a bow on everything, or something more open-ended? The answer, it turns out, was both — and the series as a whole turned out better for that decision.
