Throughout March I played along with this Letterboxd movie challenge called March Around the World, and I got really into it! If you followed my instagram stories you saw as I posted each one I watched… The challenge was to watch 30 movies from 30 different countries in March but I ended up getting up to 38! These are everything I watched in the order that I watched them:

And below are my top 20 sorted by my rating—everything except the last two are all the movies I rated 4 stars or higher, so many great movies! (The last two were 3.5 stars but there were a lot more that I rated the same so those weren’t necessarily in my top 20.)

A requirement of the challenge was to write a review (had to be more than just a couple of sentences) for each movie watched, so I’ll share my reviews for my top five! Four of my five favorites happened to be political movies; I watched lots of movies for the challenge that didn’t have political themes but my favorites mostly happened to.

My greatest discovery of the challenge was the director Mikhail Kalatozov and my top two are a tie between the two of his I watched. His filmmaking—framing, long takes, cinematography—is incredible, in the true sense of the word, like there are shots in both of the movies that I have no idea how they were created. I love movies. Btw, my top five aren’t really ranked, just those first two by the same director and then my three other faves which could kinda be in any order.

Letter Never Sent (USSR, 1960, on Criterion Channel) — my review:

Holy moly this movie was amazing!! SO freaking beautiful, truly every frame a painting. And INTENSE! And unbelievable, like truly, how TF did they make some of those segments?! I want special features on this so bad, telling me how they made it, all the details, I’d watch hours of features/commentary/anything released about this film, but sadly nothing seems to exist. The criterion blu ray has an essay and nothing else 😦 Anyway, the story is simple, but I’d recommend this movie to everyone based on the visuals and suspense alone!

I Am Cuba (Cuba, 1964, on Kanopy and Hoopla) — my review:

Wow. Spectacular. I’ve done a bit of research about it after watching which has enhanced it (since I went in knowing nothing except that I LOVED Letter Never Sent and this was the same filmmaker), and I plan to watch some more video essays about it and then rewatch in the future. Truly amazing filmmaking, gorgeous, and beyond impressive, like baffling. The only reason I gave it 4.5 instead of 5 is that, upon first watch, I was a liiiittle bored during some segments and felt like it could’ve been a wee bit shorter, BUT, I did watch it on a night when I was a bit sleepy, and like I said I went in with no context, so I think probably on a future rewatch I’d up it to a solid 5.

The Battle of Algiers (Algeria, 1966, on Criterion Channel, Kanopy, and also Max) — my review:

A movie about a resistance movement against a western occupying force who has been oppressing an Arab population on their own land for generations and claiming it’s ridiculous for people to call them fascist because they were on the anti-nazi side in WWII. The occupiers aim to take down the leaders of the resistance movement, declaring that once those fighters are gone the resistance will be over, not realizing that with their forceful oppression they are only creating a new generation of resistance fighters who will eventually win in the end. 

The atrocities committed here by the French were actually much milder than what’s being done by Israel (funded by the US) as I’m writing this. It’s distressing to think that there’s probably a sizable population who would watch this film and side with the resistance and yet believe that Israel is in the right. (I’m coming at that theory from a point of being cynical about media literacy and people connecting dots to the present, and that “sizable population” I’m imagining is made up of people who’d never watch this movie; my partner disagrees that they’d side with the resistance because racism, so who knows!)

Beans (Canada, 2020, on Hoopla and also Hulu) — my review:

Oh I LOVED this! It had me crying all throughout, but that’s partially the buildup of watching a lot of heavy movies back to back to back for March Around the World, sometimes I cry at a small thing because of the weight of everything. 

But damn there were some relatable feelings in this. The feeling of experiencing (or witnessing) political violence and wanting to be way stronger and tougher and braver so you’re ready for next time, because you know there will be a next time. A twelve-year-old should not have to feel that way, but I knew exactly how she felt. 

That mixed with some general coming-of-age feelings and happenings. High stakes and low stakes all mixed together. A very specific story about a very specific person in a very specific time and place, and yet completely relatable in multiple ways. Really really loved it.

Unrest (Switzerland, 2022, on Criterion Channel) — my review:

I LOVED this! I can understand that’s it’s definitely not for everyone and many (most) viewers (if forced to watch for some reason) would think it’s boring, but it ticked some rarely-ticked boxes for me personally! 

1: Anarchist political history! Very interesting topic, more movies please! 

2: Period setting about, like, normal people, and dealing with art & technology of the time and the part it plays in people’s lives. By normal people I mean, not royal or ultra-wealthy people, as so many period films are about, not about war, or someone famous (well except Kropotkin, but it wasn’t even really about him, and it was definitely not a biopic!). And the way we saw the novelty of this new technology / artform of photography, the collecting of portraits, and also the new tech of clocks + telegraph, so times could be synced, and what a big deal that was… 

I loved all that in the same way I loved Portrait of a Lady on Fire, seeing how if a normal person (without a lot of money to go to the symphony or whatever) wanted to hear music, they had to make it themselves, and if they wanted a picture of someone, it had to be drawn or painted, and if they wanted to embroider flowers onto cloth, well they didn’t have a way to take a picture of the flowers to use for a reference point, so they had the actual flowers as the reference for the needlework. All these things, things we don’t think about, taking for granted that we can hear any kind of music any time we want, etc, I love seeing that in films, but it’s rare. That more realistic look of what things were like in a past time for people living their lives. More please!

Those were my top five but since we’re getting into issues with some of these movies I’m going to toss in my review for one more that I liked a lot…

Omar (Palestine, 2013, on Kanopy) — my review:

A complex story with twists and turns, but the fact that the Israeli military treats Palestinians like prisoners in their own home is never complex, that’s always clear. An anxious movie, good pacing, the love story aspect didn’t fully click for me, but I definitely mostly liked it and thought it was a good and interesting look at what it’s like to live in the West Bank. Of course, watching it in 2024 makes it tougher, and maybe that should say “what it WAS like” because I’d assume it would be different now.

And a quote from an interview with actor Adam Bakri, because I didn’t know that the wall divided between neighborhoods within the West Bank, not just between Israel, until I watched this movie:

People would actually think it divides Israel from the West Bank, but actually it also crosses through Palestinian towns in the West Bank, and it divides neighbors from each other. Even when I did the scene and I was standing in front of the wall, it hit me, the meaning of this huge thing that you see every day. And that they see every day in the West Bank. It almost covers the sun.

If you want to read my silly reviews of any others you can find them all on letterboxd here! Since I’m a big nerd, I made a spreadsheet of the movies I wanted to watch, and I kept adding new movies/countries throughout the month. In the end, above are all the ones that I watched in March, 38 movies/countries in 25 different languages.

One of the rules I made for myself was that every movie had to be streaming on either Kanopy or Hoopla (both free with my library card, no ads), Criterion Channel or Mubi (the two film streamers I’m currently subscribed to), or Tubi (free to everyone with ads). Limiting it like that simplified/streamlined the challenge for me a bit, and I figured would make it somewhat accessible for sharing recommendations—most people in the US should be able to get kanopy and/or hoopla with their library card, and Criterion Channel is amazing (I’m brand new to it and it’s my favorite streamer, I love it so much!!).

The 40 above are all the ones I have on my spreadsheet that I didn’t get to in March—40 more countries! So I actually changed my Letterboxd list from “March Around the World 2024” to “2024 One Movie Per Country!” and I’m gonna continue adding to it every time I watch a movie from a new country throughout the year. We’ll see how close I get to all 78 by the end of the year (or if I end up growing the spreadsheet even longer!).

As I’ve mentioned before, I highly recommend using the JustWatch site or app to check where movies are available to you, especially if you’re not in the US or if some time has passed since March 2024. Where I said something is streaming in my spreadsheet is where I plan to watch it (or did watch it), not necessarily the only spot it’s available.

I really enjoyed doing this, and definitely plan to do it again next year but maybe just 30 next time. I actually enjoyed the movie challenge so much that I immediately found another movie challenge that I’m now doing throughout April! It’s less intense—no reviews, for one thing, and most movies don’t have subtitles and many of them are a bit sillier, like less attention required, so it’s just a fun way to watch some things that have been in my to-watch list for years, and/or that I wouldn’t normally watch.

Most of the movies I plan to watch for this challenge are in the grid above, and all the ones I’ve watched are here. I get to watch another by Mikhail Kalatozov for this challenge (yay!) plus there’s a little overlap with countries I haven’t done yet (Belgium, Turkey, Rwanda). If you’re interested, it’s the Letterboxd Season Challenge which runs from September through early-May every year, but I’m cramming it all in now since I only just learned about it! Later this year, I can start the next one on time and it’ll be a chill, slow-paced one-movie-per-week challenge as it’s designed to be. In conclusion, yay movies!

It’s time! I’ve finalized my 2023 movies list. I wanted to see as many 2023 releases as possibly possible before putting a cap on the list, so I kept watching them through the end of last week and then I messed with the order a bit more and called it done. I’m sure I’ll have second, third, eighth thoughts about the list order in the future but at some point you have to just call it done!

There were A LOT of great movies in 2023, and I watched 172 of them, so I decided to make an official top 20 list, and then include 15 extra honorable mentions, which are just my numbers 21-35. I am counting movies that became available for me to see (in Portland, Oregon, USA) in 2023, so that means a lot of movies on this list are labeled as 2022 in Letterboxd/IMDb but that’s because they premiered at festivals or in other countries that year. And some movies that were on a lot of critics’ lists are not eligible for mine because I don’t get to see them until 2024, so they may appear on 2024’s list.

Added in February 2025: I’ve decided there were a couple of movies I’d been counting as 2024 movies that critics all counted as 2023 because of limited releases—I didn’t want them crowding my best-of 2024 list so I’m retroactively adding them to 2023. I’m not updating any graphics or the text of the list below, just noting here:

The Zone of Interest is retroactively added as my #3 film of 2023. Part of me knows it should be in the #1 spot, but I just can’t bring myself to knock 1 & 2 out of their spots because I love them so much. And Monster by Hirokazu Kore-eda is stuck in the #11 spot. It also could go higher, it’s just hard to mess with the list after it’s been set and I didn’t want to bump Barbie out of the top 10.

Notes about where to watch things: I’ll say where they are currently available to stream at the time I’m writing this, but most are also available for digital rental, and where they are streaming might change by the time you’re reading this. I highly recommend JustWatch where you can search any movie (or TV show) and see where it’s available to watch. Some of these are very new and are only for rent (or in theaters) as I’m writing this but may be streaming somewhere in a couple of months.

With all that said, let’s go! Starting with my number 20 and working down to number 1…

20) A Thousand and One. Small indie drama. Good damn movie, excellent acting, and a great subtle look at gentrification and its impacts, etc. Streaming on prime.

19) The Artifice Girl. This one I didn’t love at first, I think because I’d been expecting something completely different, and when it ended I was like, huh, that was something else, okay. Then I listened to some people talk about it, thought about it a bunch, and gave it a rewatch a few months later. Recommend it for sure, but be aware going in that it’s a very small movie (small budget, cast, setting) about big sci-fi ideas, but it’s mostly just talking. It’s so good tho and can’t wait to see what the filmmaker does next! Streaming free on hoopla and tubi.

18) The Royal Hotel. Another one with an internal conflict between my expectations and what it ended up being, but like in a really interesting way. I went in expecting not to like it very much and then kinda loved it. Very tense thriller where not a lot actually happens but you’re constantly on edge because you never know what might happen, and you’re really feeling the anxiety of the main character at all times. Another one I kept thinking about after. For rent.

17) Sick of Myself. Wild movie. Not for everyone. So uncomfortable but I loved it. Streaming on paramount+ / showtime.

16) Lola. I love this movie. It’s not perfect (like, I can’t think too hard about some aspects or I start picking them apart) but low-budget indie sci-fi found footage + fighting nazis + time travel (ish) yesssss please thank you!! And it’s fun and funny and scary and sad, good stuff! (Also, it’s only 79 minutes long and streaming free, so no excuse not to check it out!) Streaming free on tubi.

15) Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Another one I had to sit with awhile; didn’t feel like I LOVED it immediately after watching (I never read the book so I didn’t have a personal connection beyond having been a tween girl) but then I found myself thinking about it, and it grew a bit in my mind, and I think I even ended up changing my star rating from 3.5 to 4 after a few days. Good stuff. Streaming on starz.

14) Fremont. Weird, so so funny at times, interesting, thoughtful, just really great and also that guy from The Bear who everyone loves is in it so check it out! Streaming on mubi.

13) Killers of the Flower Moon. I don’t think I need to say anything about this one, it’s great. Glad I was able to see it in the theater. Streaming on apple tv+.

12) The Quiet Girl. Went into this not knowing much except it was nominated for an Oscar last year and it popped up on Kanopy so I threw it on one night. I was knocked out by it! I’m gonna actually quote a Letterboxd review here that I read after watching because it made me love the movie even more than I already did: “…first watch since I saw a significant review call it boring. Each to their very own, of course, but there is so much taking place in glances and snippets and half-sentences and closeups of wallpaper and a stolen cup of milk and a single biscuit and a busybody and a broom and a card game and a weeping mattress and why haven’t they brought the hay in yet, that I simply cannot ever be bored by this gentle and perfect piece.” –review by Gemma G. So when I finished it, I thought it was a 2022 release since it was in last year’s Oscars, and I even snuck it onto my favorites list for that year, then I was so happy to later realize it didn’t come out in the US till ’23 so I could put it on this list! Streaming on hulu, and on kanopy for me (might vary by library).

11) Anatomy of a Fall. Another one I’m so glad I got to see in the theater. I highly recommend the filmspotting podcast discussion of this one if you’ve seen it; that made me appreciate the movie more that I already did. So good. Best kid actor AND best dog actor. For rent.

10) Theater Camp. This one, I liked it but didn’t LOVE it the first time—I don’t think I even had it on my in-progress favorites list early in the year, or maybe I did but it was low down in the honorable mentions zone. Then I rewatched it on New Years Eve, and I guess I was in just the perfect mood for it because it was SO FUNNY, I was laughing so much, alone in my living room. I guess it needed a second watch for me, it just clicked, I absolutely loved it. So I squeezed it into my top 10! I moved numbers 10-13 around a bunch, but in the end, I thought… this list is my favorites (not “best”) and Theater Camp was the most enjoyable for me to watch, so it gets the spot! Streaming on hulu.

9) Barbie. Again with the enjoyable factor. Just so fun. Watched this a second time too, and there are so many jokes packed into it, I still couldn’t even catch all the hidden visual jokes in the background. Love it. Streaming on max.

8) Poor Things. I was happy to get to place this side-by-side with Barbie on my list because they are so similar! Was also happy to have gotten to see this in the theater, excellent big-screen movie, visually spectacular. Not for everyone (the older couple sitting down the row from us walked out about 20 minutes in!) but so much going on, so interesting and creepy and fun and weird. (And for the record, I’m not a big Yorgos Lanthimos fan; this is his first one I’d say I loved.) Still in theaters.

7) How to Blow Up a Pipeline. Fucking fantastic. If the title makes you bristle, treat it as a heist movie. Streaming on hulu, and on kanopy for me (might vary by library).

6) Bottoms. Funniest movie of the year. So funny. SO so so so so funny. Streaming on mgm+.

5) Blue Jean. This one hit me SO HARD. It’s not like breaking new ground or anything (indie drama about a lesbian teacher), but it’s just so well done at what it is. I LOVED the last 15 or so minutes (maybe even just 10 minutes, I think you’d know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen it) so so so much, really stuck with me. And it’s EXTREMELY timely to right now in the US (and the UK too) even though it takes place in Newcastle in 1988. Streaming on hulu.

4) Asteroid City. Bought it on blu ray, rewatched once already, plan to rewatch more times. It’s so dense and complex and also fun and silly. Top tier Wes Anderson for me; we’ll see where it settles once it’s not new (and there are several I need to rewatch) but this could potentially be my favorite. Streaming on prime.

3) May December. So much has been said about this movie, I don’t feel like I need to say anything beyond, it’s excellent. And Charles Melton deserves all the awards and success. (I loved this video essay if you want more!) Streaming on netflix.

2) Rye Lane. Perfect rom com. Perfect movie. The art design, the clothes, the actors, the energy, the humor, the sweetness, everything. Perfect. Everyone who misses good rom coms should watch it. Everyone who thinks they don’t like rom coms should watch it. Everyone should watch it. Streaming on hulu.

1) Past Lives. I know for some this has an even more personal connection, but for me, this deeply personally relatable movie was about the human experience of only being able to have one life, and grieving the other lives you don’t get to have. Not because of regrets and not because you wish your life was different, but simply because we only get one life. And that realization is worthy of mourning when it surfaces. For rent; supposed to be on paramount+ / showtime on february 2.

And then, my honorable mentions list (or numbers 21-35)—I still REALLY loved all these, especially the ones in the top half, and wish they all could’ve fit in my top 20 but that’s not how numbers work:
Showing Up — streaming on paramount+ / showtime, hoopla, and on kanopy for me (might vary by library).
Reality — streaming on max.
Revoir Paris — streaming on prime, and on hoopla for me (might vary by library).
Priscilla — not streaming yet, but it’s supposed to be on max eventually.
Return to Seoul — streaming on prime.
Monica — streaming on amc+.
Lakota Nation vs. United States (I was terrible about watching documentaries in 2023, but I watched this one and it was excellent!) — streaming on amc+.
Suzume — streaming on crunchyroll.
Polite Society — streaming on prime.
The Eight Mountains — streaming on criterion.
Mutt — streaming on netflix.
Riceboy Sleeps — for rent.
Totally Killer — streaming on prime.
Influencer — streaming on amc+ and shudder.
Infinity Pool — streaming on hulu, and on kanopy for me (might vary by library).

To be honest, my honorable mentions were initially 13, ending with Totally Killer, but I wanted a nice clean grid so I forced 2 extras onto the end; I chose 2 horror movies that I liked because I was sad I had almost no horror on my entire list even though I love horror. Just not a good year for horror. Plenty that were fine or okay, just none that I really loved. Totally Killer was the only one I’d say I loved but that’s because of the fun time travel and 80s elements and stuff, not the actual horror of it. (It’s a wacky slasher that’s like “Murder Back to the Future” in the way that Happy Death Day is “Murder Groundhog Day” and Freaky is “Murder Freaky Friday”—so check it out if you like that kind of thing, which I do!) And honestly, I liked M3gan better than those last 2 I added, but I figured everyone knows that already so I wanted to choose ones people might not know or have seen. Influencer is really fun; Infinity Pool is definitely not for everyone but worth watching if you like horror!

That’s my list of all 172 movies I watched that were released in 2023, because I’m a spreadsheet nerd! I got that spreadsheet by downloading my data from Letterboxd and editing to be all the 2023 releases. In order to more easily keep track this year, throughout the year instead of just at the end, I plan to make a 2024 ranked list and add all the 2024 releases to the list as I watch them. So, 2023’s list was my 35 favorites; my 2024 list (no link yet because I haven’t watched any 2024 releases yet) will be ALL the 2024 releases I watched.

And speaking of Letterboxd, here are my 2023 stats (everything I watched in 2023, so different from 2023 releases): 472 movies watched in 2023, including rewatches.

And those themes and nanogenres are fun! I think horror movies must have more overlapping nanogenres and themes, because I watched more drama than horror and yet almost all of those are horror, hah! I’m not constantly watching horror movies, I swear, letterboxd out here making its users look creepy af.

That’s it for 2023, glad I got this up while it’s still January at least! Maybe at the end of 2024 I’ll be able to do better about seeing everything I want to see in December and I’ll be able to finalize my list closer to the end of the year… it’s so hard though because so many possibly-good movies are released in theaters in December! And I’m usually only able to go to the theater once per weekend, so I can only see so many. Sigh. Anyway, let me know if you watch any of my favorites and what you think! Happy movie watching!