CBC's Eli Glasner picks his top 23 films of 2023

Oppenheimer, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Barbie.After years of super hero domination at thebox office, something changed in 2023.Audiences rediscovered a taste for original stories.

Granted, movies based on famous figures, a doll and a video game aren't exactly independent cinema.But if the supremacy of Barbenheimer proved anything, it's that audiences are hungering for fresh experiences. They wantto be challenged, to be taken somewhere new.

That's why 2023 was a good year for the movies.My first run at this liststretchedinto the 40s. Scroll down and you'll find queer fight clubs, zen janitors, tech titans and more.Enjoy.

23. Nyad

Annette Bening has this look. The gaze of a woman who refuses to give up, who isdetermined to reach her goal and is willing to sacrifice everythingher health, her friends all to do this thing they saidcouldn't be done.Based on the true story of marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, the movie certainly has soggy moments of storytelling,butBening fully subsumes herself into the role, aided by Jodie Foster'sperformance as thebest friend that's so goodshe almost steals the show.

Where to watch:Netflix

22. Bottoms

Bottoms is the product of an inspired collision between Canadian director Emma Seligman and her muse and co-writer Rachel Sennott. Who knew that after the surprise success of Shiva Baby they would burst out of the gate with Bottoms?A campy teen sex comedy meets combat with the bloody heart of queer longing pulsating at the centre.

Where to watch: Prime Video

• Emma Seligmansits down with Eli to look back at the success of Bottoms.

21.Therapy Dogs

If Therapy Dogs had a smell, it would be weed, sweat and testosterone. With thisvisceral guerrilla-style look at high school life, Ethan Eng becomes part of a new vanguard of Canadian filmmakers, clearly influenced by mentor Matt Johnson's mockumentary shooting style.This is filmmaking that should come with kneepads as Eng (who shot this at the age of 17) throws us headlong into the high school experience.

Where to watch: Crave & Hoopla

20. Rye Lane

Rye Lanecould be your next favourite rom-com.The feature film debut of Raine Allen-Millerpositivelyvibrates with wit and colour, all driven by a random meeting between awkward, shy Dom andlife-of-the-party motormouth Yas.Set in Brixton, England, there's never a dull moment as Yas pulls the poor sad sack moping abouthis ex-girlfriend out of his shell.

Where to watch:Disney+

19. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

If you're looking for signs of an animation renaissance, grab your skateboard and head into the sewer.Brought to life by the mad geniuses atMontreal'sMikrosAnimation, TMNT:MM isthe first turtle toon to use actual teenage actors to voice the characters. Their performances come with an undeniable energy and exuberance that'scomplimented by a scribble-tastic animation style.Cowabunga indeed.

Where to watch: Paramount+

18. Plane

All hail Gerard Butler as the new action hero. The rumpled,grizzledstar haspicked up the torch passed by Bruce Wills, turning in a series of effective (and explosive) films.Who needs Taken when you have Butler as a trapped pilot trying to get home to see his daughter?Buckle up!

Where to watch: Crave

• Read Eli's review: Plane. Movie. Review. Good.

17. The Artifice Girl

Move aside M3gan, if you want a real thought-provoking look at the unsettling power of AI, check out thislow-budget thriller that's a smart, slippery exploration of a program created to ensnare predators.As the AI evolves so does the storytelling, building to apowerful payoff.

Where to watch: Hoopla

16. Perfect Days

Zen and the art of toilet maintenance.Who knew thatWim Wenders, the master behind Wings of Desire, would get his groove back by going to Tokyo.A movie about mindfulness, music and little moments with big meanings.

Where to watch: Opening in February

15.Stop Making Sense

Talk about a perfect day, or night for that matter.The scene was TIFF 2023, the movie was a special simulcast screening of the seminal Talking Heads concert filmStop Making Sense.Afterthe band reunited for an onstage interview with Spike Lee, the newly remastered version started to play. Soon, people were shaking in their seats, rushing the stage anddancing alongwithDavid Byrne's frantic frenzy of a frontman looming over us.Bliss.

Where to watch: Available to buy or rent online

14. Godzilla: Minus One

While the Warner Bros. King Kong & Godzilla franchise continues to devolve into further layers ofincoherence, the company that started it all, Toho Studios,returned to remind us why Godzilla is the real king of the monsters. Thisblockbuster has city-smashing set pieces and a heart-wrenching human core, all made forjust $15 million.

Where to watch: In theatres, ideally on the biggest screen you can find

• WATCH | Eli's four-star review

13. Past Lives

There's something so inspiring about the way first-time Canadian director and playwright Celine Song took a moment she experiencedin a bar, and spun out this complicated story about immigration, choices and a sense of longing that reaches around the globe.There's a wordless moment near the endbetween former friends Nora and Hae Sung.His taxi is coming.Her husband is waiting.Her jacket fluttering in the breeze as they both stand together is certainly one of the most indelible moviemoments of 2023.

Where to watch:Available to buy or rent

• WATCH | CBC's Jackson Weaver speaks with Past Lives director Celine Song

12. Swan Song

Most documentariesabout dance tend to be too precious, swooning over the gracefulness of their subjects.Not so with Swan Song, a multi-layeredlook at the Canadian National Ballet Company's production ofSwan Lakethat thrusts us into the trenches. Witness firsthand the chaos backstage, the frustrations during rehearsals and the all too real struggle as a range of dancers preparefor opening night.Not since Pina have I seen a documentary that does justice to the subject, accentuating the artform with wildly creative editingand cinematography.

Where to watch: In theatres or on CBC Gem as a four-part series

11. Origin

Origin isthe film director Ava DuVernayhas been building toward her entire career.Fusing the personal story of an academic struggling throughloss with athesis on the relationship between the caste system and racism shouldn't work. But what could have beena dry dissertation transcends the subject matter powered byAunjanue Ellis-Taylor's performance.

Where to watch: Opens in January

10. A Thousand and One

A filmfar too many people have slept on, this first-time feature by A.V. Rockwell is about a mother's fierce love and people trying to find their place in aworld that'spushing them out.Similar to Moonlight, this is a story told in phases, capturing the passage of time, but also documenting how gentrification adds pressure to those living on the margins.Evocative and visceral,A Thousand and One is anchored aroundTeyana Taylor's tenacious performance and an ending that will stay with you long after the credits role.

Where to watch:Prime Video

9. The Zone of Interest

In 1940s Poland a middle class Germanfamily frolicin their backyard, the children splashing in the fountain, while in the background plumes of smoke gush out of chimney stacks.Only it's not smoke.It's ash, and the chimneysare part of an industrial enterprise devoted to eradicating the Jewish people. Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interestis about a Nazi commander and his family who live in the literalshadow of Auschwitz.Glazer never takes us inside the concentration camp, but its existence looms over every beautiful and banal moment.

Where to watch:In theatres

8.Blackberry

If you still pine for thekeyboard of yourBlackberry Bold. If you wonder what director Matt Johnson, the enfant terrible of Canadian film, has been up to.If you've always wanted to see Jay Baruchelstop playing for punchlines and flex his acting muscles.If you really, really like watching Glenn Howerton yelling. Then Blackberry is ready andwaiting to blow your mind with the somewhat true and unabashedly patriotic story of the Canadian-made smartphone that changed the world.

Where to watch: Available to buy or rent and on CBC Gem as a limited series

7. How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Equal parts instruction manual, manifesto and heist film, How to Blow up a Pipeline is an urgent and lean little thriller about a group of radicals, loners and outsiders who band together to strike an oil pipeline. Like the activists of the film, directorDaniel Goldhaber hasrigorousdiscipline indocumentinghow far the group iswilling to go.

Where to watch: Available to buy or rent

6. American Fiction

Jeffrey Wright is one of those actors who whenhe comes on screen, you know you'rein for a treat.He'slenthis gruff growl of a voice to a variety of commanders, agents and opponents, but with American Fiction, Wright finally gets a part worthy of his talents.As a novelist who's tired ofbeing placed in the Black author box, Wright rages and simmersin this cutting satire that takes aim at theintersections of race and the publishing industry. It's astory about a writer'sworst nightmare and greatest fantasy, all coming true.

Where to watch: In theatres

5. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

My biggest fear with Spider-Verse, is that the dizzying blend of art styles that'sriddled with cartoon cameos and Easter eggsrisksovershadowing what is a perceptive story about bonds between a teen and his parents.This is a film about growth and trying to find your place in the universe whilestraining against your parents'expectations and perceptions.There's much to be said about the expressive, almost experimental animation and hilarious side characters, but the writing might be Spider-Verse's real super power. Bring on the next chapter.

Where to watch: Available for rent or to buy.

• WATCH | Eli's review of the movie

4. Maestro

All right. There's been some ribbing of director Bradley Cooper on the internets.The video of himexplaining his no chair policyto Spike Lee did not go over well.Maybe Coop is too Hollywood for some, but what I know is, when I left theatre after seeing Maestro, I was levitating.Beyond the moments of pure cinema, beyond the specificity of following the life of composerLeonard Bernsteinthrough the decades, beyond the way Cooper usedBernstein's own music to accent certain moments at the heart of it all is a story about acouple.A story about choices and compromises and a performance by Carey Mulligan as Bernstein'swife that nearly steals the film from its intended subject.

Where to watch: Netflix

3. Poor Things

To call Poor Things a feminist Frankenstein tale is just scratching the surface of this luridly entertaining look ata woman who is unabashedly in charge of her own destiny, undaunted by society's whims and norms.Emma Stone as Bella Baxter is a performance for the ages, hilarious and hungry to experience everything life has to offer.Go for the greatest dance sequence of the year featuring a peacocking Mark Ruffalo, stay for Willem Dafoe's deft and dementedfather figure.

Where to watch: In theatres

2. Oppenheimer

Part of what makes the success of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer so exciting is what is represents. Audiences are ready to dive into new worlds, storiesand challenging ethical debatesif you give them a reason.The brilliance of Oppenheimer is how Nolan built a bomb to lure them.The bait is the fireball, that first monstrous display of atomic power.But the hiddenpayload is a man of science wrestling with his conscience.In a just world, David Krumholtz would be in the Oscar conversation for best supporting actorfor his role as Isidor Rabi,Oppenheimer's friendand in many ways the soul of film.Still, from Cillian Murphy's chameleon-like performance to the eerie seconds ofsilence before the detonation, Oppenheimer is a banger.

Where to watch: Available to buy or rent

• WATCH |Eli Glasner and Jackson Weaver debate Barbie vs. Oppenheimer

1. Killers of the Flower Moon

What connects the top two films of the year is that both are in dialogue with the audience.Killers of the Flower Moon is long,yes, but the rewards are plentiful.While there's been much talk about centring a story of Indigenous genocide on Leonardo DiCaprio's character, by embedding the audience with his charismatic schemer Ernest,we're implicated, drawn in by his charm and his budding romance with Mollie (Lily Gladstone).Then attraction turns to horror and we start to realizewhat Ernest and his uncle (Robert De Niro in a command performance)are capable of.Unlike Origin, Killers is not a bird's-eye view of genocide.It's closeup and personal. It's about Lily Gladstone bearing witness as theworld shirks around her. At the centreof the movieare the imperfections of the human heart, with equal chambers for love and evil. It's afilm that acknowledges its limitations but also peels back the layers of love and greed in a way that only Martin Scorsesecan.

• ReadEli's full review of Killers of the Flower Moon