Incredible Diverse Narratives: 41 Must-See Films of 2023

Corsage

2022 • 114 min • Budget $7M • Box office $3M

Drama, History

This film chronicles a year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. On Christmas Eve 1877, at 40, Elisabeth, who had long been celebrated for her beauty, feels the pressure of aging and begins actively working to preserve her…

6.1

6.5

—

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+10

Causeway

2022 • 96 min

Drama

After serving in Afghanistan, a U.S. Soldier returns to New Orleans and battles to readjust. She finds an unexpected connection with James, a local mechanic, as they begin to build a relationship.

6.5

6.6

17+

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Murina

2022 • 95 min • Box office $389K

Drama

During a weekend getaway to the Adriatic Sea, a teenage girl plots to supplant her overbearing father with his affluent international companion.

6.4

6.8

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Neptune Frost

2022 • 110 min

In the hills of Burundi, a group of miners who escaped from coltan mines create an anti-colonial hacker group. Operating from a camp in a vast e-waste dump, they plot to overthrow the authoritarian government that controls the region's resources…

6.0

6.5

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Bones and All

2022 • 131 min • Budget $16M • Box office $15M

Horror, Romance, Drama

After being abandoned by her father, a young woman travels across America, covering a thousand miles on backroads. She encounters a drifter who feels like an outsider. However, they are both haunted by their pasts, and their journey ultimately leads…

7.0

6.8

17+

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Joyland

2022 • 127 min • Box office $1M

Romance, Drama

In a family where sons are highly valued, the youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theater and develops feelings for the theater's transgender star.

7.3

7.6

—

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+13

Riotsville, USA

2022 • 90 min

This documentary examines the U.S. Military's reaction to the social unrest and racial tensions of the late 1960s. It details how the military constructed a simulated urban environment on a base, populated it with soldiers portraying rioters, and then filmed…

4.9

6.7

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The Cathedral

2022 • 87 min

This is a quiet, reflective story about an only child observing an American family as they experience both success and decline over twenty years.

5.8

6.2

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Our Father, the Devil

2023 • 108 min

A refugee from Africa lives a peaceful life in a quiet mountain town in southern France. Her world is shattered when a charming Catholic priest arrives. She is horrified to discover that he is the warlord responsible for the death…

5.7

6.9

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Leonor Will Never Die

2022 • 99 min

The line between fiction and reality dissolves when Leonor, a retired filmmaker, enters a coma after a television falls on her head. She is then forced to become the action hero in her own unfinished screenplay.

6.9

6.6

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+11

Nanny

2022 • 98 min

Horror, Drama

Aisha, a Senegalese immigrant working as a nanny for a wealthy New York family, begins experiencing disturbing visions and a rising sense of anger.

5.4

5.3

17+

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Women Talking

2022 • 104 min • Budget $20M • Box office $7M

Drama

In a secluded religious community, a group of women grapple with the conflict between their beliefs and a series of sexual assaults perpetrated by the colony's male members.

6.9

13+

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Aftersun

2022 • 101 min • Box office $7M

Drama

Twenty years after a holiday with her father, Sophie revisits those memories. The past unfolds through camcorder footage, interwoven with her reflections on the trip’s shared happiness and the sadness she now understands. As she pieces together the past, Sophie…

7.7

7.6

17+

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The African Desperate

2022 • 97 min

Palace Bryant, an MFA graduate, skips her graduation party. Instead, she embarks on a chaotic 24-hour journey back to Chicago from Upstate New York. The trip becomes a bizarre mix of academic critiques and unexpected encounters.

5.6

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I Didn't See You There

2022 • 72 min

Filmmaker Reid Davenport, who uses a wheelchair, frequently experiences being either stared at or overlooked by others. The appearance of a circus tent near his home leads him to reflect on the history of freak shows, where people considered different…

—

6.9

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After Yang

2022 • 96 min • Box office $131K

Science Fiction, Drama

When his young daughter’s android companion, Yang, breaks down, Jake tries to fix him. As he works, Jake rediscovers the love and connection he’s been missing with his wife and daughter, realizing how much he’s been disconnected from their lives.

6.4

6.6

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Bruiser

2022 • 101 min

This summer, fourteen-year-old Darious grapples with growing up as he navigates a difficult relationship with his demanding father, Malcolm, and forms an unexpected bond with a enigmatic drifter named Porter.

6.4

6.2

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All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

2022 • 122 min • Box office $1M

Documentary

This film explores the life of Nan Goldin, the acclaimed artist and activist, using her iconic slideshows, personal interviews, and influential photography. It also features previously unseen footage documenting her determined efforts to challenge the Sackler family's role in the…

7.2

7.5

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Fire Island

2022 • 105 min • Budget $10M

Comedy, Romance

A group of gay best friends celebrate their annual reunion in Fire Island Pines with a week of joy and humor. But as desires ignite, conflicts arise, and indulgence takes hold, testing the strength of their friendship.

7.0

6.7

17+

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All That Breathes

2022 • 97 min • Box office $43K

Documentary, Drama

In a New Delhi choked by pollution and growing unrest, two brothers dedicate themselves to safeguarding a single black kite, a creature struggling to survive amidst the chaos.

6.9

7.0

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Pearl

2022 • 102 min • Budget $1M • Box office $10M

Horror, Thriller

On a secluded farm, Pearl is confined by her family's isolation and the strict rules of her devout mother while caring for her father's declining health. Yearning for the glamorous life depicted in films, Pearl struggles with conflicting desires, temptations,…

7.2

7.0

17+

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The Inspection

2022 • 95 min • Box office $270K

Drama

Ellis French, a young gay Black man facing rejection from his mother and limited opportunities, enlists in the Marines. He strives to succeed within a system that often overlooks him. While confronting prejudice and the demanding challenges of basic training,…

6.2

6.7

17+

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Midwives

2022 • 89 min

In a nation ravaged by conflict, Hla, a Buddhist, runs a clinic in western Myanmar, serving the Rohingya, a Muslim minority community facing persecution and denied fundamental rights. Nyo Nyo, a Muslim apprentice midwife, assists Hla, translating for patients. Despite…

8.0

6.9

A Love Song

2022 • 81 min • Box office $278K

Drama, Romance

A couple who knew each other as children, both now grieving the loss of their spouses, spend an evening together by a lake in the mountains.

6.6

6.7

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Beba

2022 • 80 min

This is a raw and poetic coming-of-age story about Rebeca “Beba” Huntt, a young woman born and raised in New York City. She confronts the weight of historical, societal, and familial trauma.

7.0

6.0

17+

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Palm Trees and Power Lines

2023 • 110 min

Drama

Feeling lost and isolated, a teenage girl begins a relationship with a man who is twice her age. She believes he offers answers to her difficulties, but his motives are far from genuine.

6.3

6.5

17+

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Everything Everywhere All at Once

2022 • 140 min • Budget $25M • Box office $139M

Action, Adventure, Science Fiction

A Chinese immigrant in her later years finds herself caught in a bizarre and thrilling journey. She is the only one who can protect what matters most to her by reaching out to the paths her life might have taken…

7.7

17+

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+12

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.

2022 • 103 min

Following a major public scandal, Trinitie Childs, the wife of a well-known pastor at a large Southern Baptist church, works to help her husband, Lee-Curtis Childs, regain the trust of their congregation.

4.7

5.3

17+

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Holy Emy

2022 • 111 min

A young Filipina woman investigates a possible connection between her unusual bleeding disorder and her mother's reputed ability to heal.

6.5

6.1

A House Made of Splinters

2023 • 87 min

Documentary

In eastern Ukraine, a small team of social workers runs a temporary home for abandoned children near the front lines, offering comfort and safety. The house is simple, but filled with love, providing refuge for up to nine months while…

6.9

7.2

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Mija

2022 • 85 min

Doris Muñoz is a driven music manager. Her undocumented family relies on her success in launching pop stars. When she loses her most important client, Doris searches for new talent and discovers Jacks, a fellow immigrant's daughter who needs to…

6.0

7.2

13+

Bodies Bodies Bodies

2022 • 94 min • Budget $3M • Box office $13M

Horror, Comedy, Mystery

A group of wealthy twenty-somethings gathers at a secluded family mansion to play a game of "Bodies Bodies Bodies," a social game where one person is secretly the "killer" and the others try to survive. The game quickly becomes terrifying…

6.2

6.1

17+

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TÁR

2022 • 158 min • Budget $35M • Box office $29M

Music, Drama

Lydia Tár, a highly acclaimed conductor, prepares for a major symphony that could define her career. However, past decisions start to have repercussions in her current life.

7.1

7.4

17+

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Catherine Called Birdy

2022 • 108 min

Adventure, Comedy

In medieval England, a teenage girl struggles to define her own path while resisting the arranged marriages her father intends for her.

6.1

6.6

13+

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Something in the Dirt

2022 • 116 min

Comedy, Horror, Mystery

John and Levi, neighbors in a Los Angeles apartment building, begin to document strange, unexplainable occurrences they witness together. They see an opportunity for fame and financial gain in capturing evidence of the paranormal, hoping to transform their unfulfilling lives.

5.8

17+

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To Leslie

2022 • 119 min • Box office $27K

Drama

A single mother in West Texas hits the lottery and quickly loses all the money, causing devastation. Years later, her appeal fades and she's adrift, so she struggles to rebuild her life and find a way to make amends.

7.0

7.1

17+

Stream on

Emergency

2022 • 104 min

Comedy, Drama, Thriller

Three college students planning a wild night of partying face a dilemma when something unforeseen happens, forcing them to decide whether or not to involve the police.

6.1

6.2

17+

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Emily the Criminal

2022 • 97 min • Budget $2M • Box office $2M

Crime, Drama, Thriller

Emily, needing money badly, starts a risky job buying items using credit cards obtained illegally from a charming man named Youcef. Drawn in by the easy money and excitement, they decide to expand their operation.

6.7

17+

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Saint Omer

2022 • 123 min • Box office $823K

Drama, Crime

A novelist attends the trial of a woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter by leaving her on a northern France beach as the tide rose. As the trial unfolds and the accused's life story is revealed, the novelist finds…

6.2

6.7

13+

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Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

2022 • 90 min • Budget $6M • Box office $6M

Animation, Comedy, Drama

Marcel is a charming one-inch shell living a vibrant life with his grandmother Connie and their pet lint, Alan. They are the only survivors of a mysterious event that scattered their community. When a documentarian finds them in an Airbnb,…

7.7

7.6

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Return to Seoul

2022 • 119 min • Box office $1M

Drama

Freddie, 25, impulsively travels to South Korea to visit friends, marking her first return to the country where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. This unexpected trip plunges Freddie into a journey that dramatically alters her…

6.3

6.9

17+

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