Edited by Ethan Jones

Not too long ago, the nominations for the upcoming 96^th Academy Awards were announced, and they were unsurprisingly met with backlash. Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie were snubbed for Best Director and Actress respectively. Films such as All of Us Strangers and Priscilla were ignored entirely. And on a more personally editorial note, the idea that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was not among the five best film scores of 2023 does not quite compute. Hence, the Reel Talk team is opening our poll for the annual Alternative Oscars to get your takes on both the best and worst that 2023 had to offer in the world of film and television. To get you started, here are a few of our personal picks for the best films of last year.

Remember to make YOUR contribution by voting in the Alternative Oscars here! All Warwick Film and TV Studies students and staff are eligible to vote.

Poor Things – Amelia Evans

I watched Poor Things in a crowded theatre last week. With no expectations or information about the film other than it being inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, I was completely entranced by Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest work. It is a film which is deeply concerned with sexual liberation and women’s bodily autonomy and depicts the absurdity of shame culture to its audience, specifically regarding sex work.

The film follows Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a highly unusual person resurrected by a groundbreaking scientist (Willem Dafoe), as she navigates the world as a sexually active and curious individual. Due to her irregular origins, Bella perceives the world free of guilt, shame or prejudice, and is motivated by a desire to learn and be free of her captors/creators.

Coming into this film with the weight of failing New Year’s Resolutions and a desire for self-growth, Poor Things introduced me to the idea of unlearning so much of what is thrust onto me. In particular, Lanthimos’ exploration of shame culture trying to diminish this innocent woman was freeing.

Following my disappointment with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, I was feeling somewhat disengaged with Hollywood packaged feminism, but Poor Things has completely altered my opinion. While I found Barbie to be cliché and obvious, I loved the nuance of Poor Things and its controversial, grotesque, unorthodox view of the world.

If you haven’t had the chance to see it yet, please go watch the film in cinemas while you can. Unsurprisingly, the film has been nominated for 11 Oscars, the second highest in this year’s selection, and is, with no doubt, my pick for the best film of the year.

All of Us Strangers – Nikki Wilks

All of Us Strangers has been a film on my radar for some time now: Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal in one film – what couldn’t there be to love? Consequently, I had the very highest of hopes for the film when I went to see it last Saturday, and even then my expectations were exceeded. Despite this, the film was entirely overlooked by the Academy and did not receive any Oscar nominations.

I won’t write too much about the film itself because, firstly, there are no words that could adequately summarise All of Us Strangers, and, secondly, to give away even a small detail would be to do a disservice to the way Andrew Haigh transports the spectator into the mind of his characters. What I will say is that the film is exquisite and expertly acted, although it is not a light-hearted experience. Haigh will break your heart and allow you to sit with that heartbreak for longer than feels comfortable. In the screening I attended, there were audible sobs and gasps, punctuated with moments of laughter. All of Us Strangers provides an honest portrayal of what it means to love, and it will leave you speechless.  

They Cloned Tyrone – Ethan Jones

Every year, there are around 10-15 films that get determined as the “Oscar Films.” This year, these include the likes of The Holdovers, American Fiction, Maestro, Anatomy of a Fall – all great films, all of which were nominated for Best Picture. The two major frontrunners this year, however, have been Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, both of which were famously released on the same day in July last year – an event horizon of box office domination that desolated everything that fell in its path. One of the first casualties of this wave, and a film released onto Netflix the very same day as Barbenheimer, was Juel Taylor’s They Cloned Tyrone, which I personally enjoyed more than both.

Granted, Taylor’s film is not quite my favourite film of 2023; nonetheless, it has been completely ignored since its release both during Awards Season and beyond, yet was one of the most plainly entertaining, enjoyably satirical, and richly engaging films I saw last year. Pitched somewhere between Get Out, Sorry to Bother You and ‘70s blaxploitation, Taylor’s film follows John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris as three … morally questionable individuals whose lives in a suburban neighbourhood are upended when they discover a nefarious government conspiracy happening beneath their feet. From here, the film engages in themes and issues ranging the systematic perpetuation of racial inequality in the USA to the taste of fried chicken, yet ties it all together with a great sense of humour, sharp bite, and three of the most underappreciated performances of the entire year. They Cloned Tyrone is a darkly silly film, but it is also has genuine ideas and themes which are, if potentially a little blunt, incredibly engaging and enriching. It may not be the “Best Picture” of 2023, but it is well worth a watch and deserves consideration in a number of major categories.