The 50 best movies of 2023 in the US – 50 to 21
50 Spider-Man: Across the SpiderVerse
The animated sequel offers a dazzling and inventive adventure that provides an antidote to superhero fatigue. Read the full review
49 Anselm
Wim Wenders delivers a striking look at the work of German artist Anselm Kiefer in a stunning and superbly controlled documentary. Read the full review
48 Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Judy Blume’s timeless novel gets a smart and sensitive adaptation with a standout performance from Rachel McAdams as a mother trying to deal with her daughter’s journey into adulthood. Read the full review
47 American Fiction
Jeffrey Wright gives a career-best performance as a writer struggling with the backwards demands of the publishing world in writer-director Cord Jefferson’s incisive debut. Read the full review
46 How to Blow Up a Pipeline
A group of activists plot to destroy an oil pipeline in Daniel Goldhaber’s explosively entertaining ecothriller. Read the full review
45 The Beasts
Middle-class incomers to a remote village in Spain’s “wild west” expose fear, resentment and nationalism in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s disturbing true-crime drama. Read the full review
44 War Pony
The tenderness, wisdom and instinct to survive of two teenage Native Americans is beautifully observed in actor turned director Riley Keough’s debut feature. Read the full review
43 Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
Documentary about the awe-inspiring vocation of the Korean avant garde disruptor, who foresaw the internet and meme culture’s importance in the 1970s. Read the full review
42 Orlando, My Political Biography
Paul B Preciado’s unusual and inventive documentary uses the work of Virginia Woolf to present the stories of 26 trans and non-binary people.
41 The Future Tense
Semi-dramatised essay film by Joe
Lawlor and Christine Molloy explores complicated national loyalties alongside those of an extraordinary rebel. Read the full review
40 All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Raven Jackson’s lyrical and leisurely debut drama follows the loves and losses of a woman living in Mississippi. Read the full review
39 The Deepest Breath
The dangerous act of freediving is explored in a visually immersive new film taking us down to the depths and examining what causes those involved to take such major risks. Read the full review
38 Rodeo
Real-life rider Julie Ledru plays a young tearaway on the outskirts of Bordeaux, drawn to take desperate risks with a criminal biker gang. Read the full review
37 Bad Press
A thrilling, eye-opening documentary follows the fight for freedom of the press within the Muscogee Nation, delivering insight and suspense.
36 The Taste of Things
Trɞn Anh Hùng’s delectable period drama follows the romance between a chef and her boss with indelible performances from Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel. Read the full review
35 Passages
A gay man cheats on his husband with a straight woman in Ira Sachs’s fiercely sexy and heartbreaking tale of young Parisians. Read the full review
34 Strange Way of Life
Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke sizzle in Almodóvar’s queer cowboy yarn, a dusty lusty tale of long-lost lovers bound by a bloody fate. Read the full review
33 Napoleon
Ridley Scott dispenses with the symbolic weight attached to previous biopics in favour of a spectacle with a great star at its centre. Read the full review
32 You Hurt My Feelings
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies lead grownup marital-pain comedy whose bittersweet punchlines stress the bitter component. Read the full review
31 Wonka
Charming prequel to Roald Dahl’s celebrated chocolate-focused kids story, with Timothée Chalamet immensely likable as the youthful version of the top-hatted sweetmaker. Read the full review
30 Memory
Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard give excellent performances in Michel Franco’s absorbing drama about two lonely people finding each other. Read the full review
29 Oppenheimer
Flawed but extraordinary, Christopher Nolan’s account of the physicist who led the Manhattan Project captures the most agonising of success stories. Read the full review
28 The Teachers’ Lounge
A nervy German thriller that follows an idealistic young teacher as she tries to get to the bottom of a theft at school. Read the full review
27 Pretty Red Dress
Terrific performances from Natey Jones, Alexandra Burke and Temilola