My Best Movie Viewing Experiences Of 2023

... were all old movies (The Return Of Repertory)

I ended 2023 having seen around 200 or so movies – but who’s counting?! I think that is about half of what I suspect my peak viewing was. I didn’t get to go deep at any of the festivals this year until Middleburg. Not Sundance. Not Cannes. Not Toronto. Not anything until October. It speaks of my concerns a bit with the festival sector, but we will save that for another post.

2023 is the year that repertory came back with a vengeance. Woohoo! When folks speak of this phenomenon, it is often accompanied with the recognition that the audience is no longer just The Greys. Not quite sure it is the GentleMinions either, but there does seem to be a rise of Young Cineastes afoot. Credit to Letterboxd and FilmTikTok where due, yeah?  Whatever it is, it warms my cold cold heart to see the seats filled with they of colored hair and bright faces, if only because they have stronger bladders and my viewing is not disrupted by the musical chairs.

Friends often ask for my Annual Top Ten but honestly those lists I am loathe to share. For one, they are always in flux and I don’t like to lock them down. Additionally, I think it takes well over a year to contemplate a film so 23 won’t be ripe until this time next year. You have to chew on the good ones a good long time.

“Experiences” are something different. The evaluation isn’t just thumbs up or down. It isn’t a number of stars. It is more complex, requiring the savoring of multiple elements. Sure, the film has a great deal to do with it, but so does who you see them with, where you see them, and what happens in and around the time you screen it. And it is all of that that is part of cinema. Cinema doesn’t end when the lights come it, at least not if you are doing it right.

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These were what I currently believe were my favorite viewing experiences of 2023.