Cinema and Popcorn

THE ZONE OF INTEREST It's not a movie that grabs you by the heart, but by the mind. There's two movies here: the one you watch and the one you can hear. It plays like a documentary feature in a way that you simply watch the everyday's lives of a German family whose patriarch is charged with the management of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The almost fairy-tale like life of the family hosting parties and taking care of a beautiful garden and a very confortable home contrasts with the horrific sounds of something you cannot see but you know it's coming from the other side of the wall that separates the family from the people in the concentration camp. Mica Levi's score will be haunting you for days, as it will the sound work. In the cinematography department, the camera angles create a detachment from the characters, making the audience a simple viewer, like you are watching a reality show. Still, it's a satire you can relate with multiple things right now...

The nominations for the Academy Awards 2024 were announced last Tuesday (January 23th) and while Oppenheimer leads as the most nominated movie of the year, there were a few shocking misses and some welcome inclusions.  In fact, last Tuesday's announcement came with a couple of surprises: no Greta Gerwig in Best Director for Barbie (something I had always predicted, but the internet wasn't ready for ), Killers of the Flower Moon missing Best Adapted Screenplay, but The Zone of Interest gets nominated there; two international films in the Best Picture lineup ( Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest ); John Williams got nominated for his score for the latest installment of Indiana Jones (like... REALLY?); Napoleon gets nominated in 3 craft categories; Past Lives makes the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, but somehow misses Best Actress for Greta Lee...; No Saltburn , no Asteroid City , no Fallen Leaves , The Iron Claw or John Wick: Chapter 4 ...!; May December ...

Personally, I think 2023 was a year for the cinema history books. Overall, there were a LOT of good movies. It was a year of many great directors' comeback - Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Greta Gerwig, Todd Haynes, Alexander Payne, Yorgos Lanthimos, Hayao Miyazaki, Jonathan Glazer or Ava DuVernay - and each one have presented us some of their best works so far. Still, there were a lot of less estabilished names that also brought some unique pieces of cinema - from Celine Song to A.V. Rockwell and Chloe Domont, just to name a few - wich made 2023 even more interesting.  From big names in the industry to bright new voices in cinema, here I am to present you those I consider to be the 10 Best Movies of 2023. Special mention to Chloe Domont's Fair Play, which I dropped from #10 after watching Society of the Snow - I loved the whole movie and its subject has stayed with me since the first watch that I feel "unthankful" not having it making my personal T...