From legal dramas, fantastical odysseys, to romantic masterpieces, here are the most extraordinary films of the 2023/2024 movie awards season that have captured our hearts.
Every year, I eagerly wait to see which films get nominated for big awards, culminating with the prestigious Academy Awards. Although I don’t particularly consider award-giving as indicative of a movie’s worth, I find the results interesting as I enjoy seeing makers of art get rewarded for the effect their films have made on audiences. It’s also particularly intriguing to see how these big awards’ committees transform throughout the years, with doors rightfully opening for more non-English speaking films like Hong Kong movies and South Korean films to gain wider appreciation. With the rise of Extremely Long Movie discourse in an age where people’s attention spans seem shorter than ever, the films that win over your time and patience effortlessly are truly special and deserving of recognition. Within the sea of movies nominated for Oscars in the 2023/2024 awards season, I break down a few personal highlights (beyond Barbenheimer) that everyone should try to watch.
Exceptional movies of the 2023/2024 awards season
1. Anatomy of a Fall
Do I think Anatomy of a Fall can best the likes of Oppenheimer to nab Best Picture at the Oscars? Maybe not quite – but I’m still holding out hope! After all, can you name another winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival where a steel-band cover of the song “P.I.M.P.” by 50 Cent is used as anecdotal evidence in an intense murder trial? When the husband of writer Sandra is found dead below the attic window, she finds herself put on trial for his death while their visually impaired son, Daniel, struggles to understand what really happened.
Uplifted by incredible performances from Sandra Hüller and child actor Milo Machado-Graner, this powerful French legal drama has led Justine Triet to become the sole female Best Director nominee for the 2024 Oscars. A very dialogue-rich film, Anatomy of a Fall’s best bet for Oscar gold is probably Best Original Screenplay. With many wins under its belt already in the 2023/2024 awards season, Anatomy of a Fall also won the most adorable award at the Cannes Film Festival – the Palm Dog Award for the scene-stealing border collie Messi as Snoop – and I’m all for it!
Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Actress
2. Perfect Days
I’m hoping this delightful character study gets a fair shake in the eyes of Best International Feature Film voters. Personally, it left a more powerful impression on me over the frontrunner, The Zone of Interest. Perfect Days is an open work of emotion that warmly embraces you into the life of Hirayama, a public toilet cleaner. Kōji Yakusho’s performance as Hirayama is subtle, deliberate, and meaningful – from small nods, crinkled eyes, to slight smiles. Music also plays a pivotal role in this story, as Hirayama’s vast cassette tape collection drives the film forward. A true international film, this marks the first Japanese film directed by a non-Japanese filmmaker to be nominated at the Oscars. German auteur, Wim Wenders, leaves you wondering if Hirayama lives a simpler life despite his seemingly complicated past – or if he escapes into this world because of it.
Oscar nominations: Best International Feature Film
3. Poor Things
I’ll be pleasantly surprised if Poor Things manages to snag Best Picture on Oscars night! Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest film has broken through the mould this season with Bella Baxter’s peculiar journey of self-discovery. In this twisted tale reminiscent of Frankenstein, the script, production design, cinematography, costumes, and more come together to create a vividly fleshed-out world. I’m hoping that Poor Things edges out Barbie and other films in some of the craft categories, as this movie’s extensive design of its fantastical universe helped ground and contextualise increasingly absurd moments.
Poor Things is ultimately a stunning acting showcase for Emma Stone and, in my opinion, presents a career best performance from her. However, it remains to be seen if potential frontrunner Lily Gladstone’s remarkable and emotional work in Killers of the Flower Moon inches past Stone’s showier role. Nevertheless, Poor Things is an interesting and humorous take on the sexuality, autonomy, and the infantilisation of women – though it does have its limitations, with some ideas that may best not be rationalised too much beyond the scope of the film.
Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor
4. The Holdovers
If there’s any film that can be described as “cosy,” The Holdovers might be it. Set in the winter of 1970 at a New England boarding school, a strict professor, a grieving cafeteria worker, and a complicated student stay behind on campus over Christmas break. An intensely “human” film, the chemistry between the three leads is magnetic as new emotional depths are explored for each character. Although it’s said that nothing is final until the envelope is opened (and sometimes not even then, in the case of Moonlight), Da’Vine Joy Randolph has rightfully dominated the Best Supporting Actress category throughout the 2023/2024 awards season. Whether Paul Giamatti can eke past Cillian Murphy for Best Actor is another story, but The Holdovers is a film that cannot excel without its actors – and lets you witness an amazing first role from Dominic Sessa.
Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress
5. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
No matter where you fall in the conversation of animated movies being limited to a singular category, you cannot deny that Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is an exceptional film. As Miles Morales settles into his role as the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, the return of Gwen Stacy leads him deeper into the multiverse. In the last few decades, Marvel has dominated the comic book genre with live-action features. However, I think the medium of animation gives superhero movies more possibilities. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is only confined by imagination and animation technology. It creates magic by not having to adhere to the laws of physics or the physical limitations of (very talented) stunt performers. However, while Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse has been a critical and commercial success, going against The Boy and the Heron from animation genius Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli will be no easy feat.
Oscar nominations: Best Animated Feature
6. The Zone of Interest
The apparent frontrunner for Best International Feature Film is also perhaps one of the more polarising films to come out of the 2023/2024 awards season. The Zone of Interest is a British film about a German Nazi commandant, Rudolf Höss, and his family, who are building their dream home next to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Director Jonathan Glazer makes very deliberate choices throughout the film that audiences may or may not agree with. Beyond a few scenes, the horrors happening beyond the walls of the Höss home are rarely shown. The film’s masterful use of sound is the main indicator of the reality gnawing on the sides of the frame, as gunshots, screams, and churning death machines are ever-present in the background. Although some may argue that the movie is at times too monotonous, it’d be counterintuitive for a film about the banality of evil to be extremely action-packed.
Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, Best Sound
7. Past Lives
Celine Song’s feature directorial debut is a powerful rumination on love and life. Past Lives perhaps may have been able to keep up its momentum for the 2023/2024 awards season had it been released later in the year. However, its emotional resonance still pulled it through for nominations in top Oscars categories. Depicting the intersecting and disconnecting lives of two childhood friends, Nora and Hae Sung, Past Lives explores the gravity of the decisions we make and the paths we choose in life. Although Song’s direction and Greta Lee’s momentous performance deserve more recognition, Song’s script has managed to break through as so much of the film weighs on the layered conversations between Nora and Hae Sung. Showing immense restraint at pivotal moments, this incredibly intimate and subtle movie is destined to become a signature romantic drama film of its time.
Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay
8. Bonus: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
There are few modern filmmakers who have been able to successfully cultivate a cinematic style as recognisable as Wes Anderson’s – a style that is very much present throughout The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. When a rich bachelor, Henry Sugar, discovers a medical notebook describing a man who could see without his eyes, Sugar devotes himself to learning the skill in order to cheat at gambling.
Another Anderson adaptation of a Roald Dahl story, this short film would’ve likely picked up nominations in craft categories had it been a feature-length movie. The set design, lighting, and moving pieces throughout the short are spectacular and quintessentially Wes Anderson™. While popular media trends have sometimes been unfairly boiling down Anderson’s filmmaking to purely aesthetics, he once again proves his knack for masterful storytelling and world-building. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is almost a performance in and of itself with its intricate narrative techniques that still manage to strike emotional chords.
Oscar nominations: Best Live Action Short Film