Sight and Sound, the BFI’s international film magazine named Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon the Best Film of the Year 2023.
Martin Scorsese said: “I’ve been so heartened by the response to Killers of the Flower Moon. To have been
able to make this picture, at this time in my life, and to see it so appreciated by so many, and by the Osage community in particular. . . for me, it’s grace.”
“Thank you for your recognition of Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Killers of the Flower Moon actor Lily Gladstone commented: “I’m so happy. Everybody poured so
much into [the film]. It was such a labor of love for everyone. And when I was watching it, it really truly
did feel like one of the most epic films I’ve ever seen. I think it achieved what I was hoping it would, in that it felt like one of the great films of the 30s, 40s, 50s. Back then native peoples were relegated to being the bloodthirsty savage – and now we have Molly. People just fell in love with Molly Burkhart. And that had the impact that we were hoping for.”
Winner of both the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI prizes at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest comes in second place. Selected as the UK entry for Best International Feature at the
upcoming 96th Academy Awards®, Glazer’s most ambitious film to date upends the tropes of a Holocaust drama to depict the pampered life of executioners inhabiting a bubble of bourgeois denial.
Past Lives, the outstanding feature directorial debut of Celine Song, follows at number three. A beautiful, deeply romantic modern love story, Song’s profound drama embraces destiny, nostalgia and the immigrant experience. Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things lands at number four on Sight and Sound’s list. Winner of the Golden Lion and UNIMED Award for Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival, Poor Things sees Lanthimos continue his collaboration with Emma Stone, who gives a performance that will help define her place as one of the most thrilling and daring actors of her generation.
Sight and Sound Editor-in-Chief Mike Williams commented: “2023 has been huge for cinema. The writers’
and actors’ strikes shone a light on many issues the industry is facing, while the summer box office proved
that audiences still have a huge appetite for the theatrical experience. It feels apt that in a year in which
the very soul of cinema has been in the spotlight Martin Scorsese, one the greatest filmmakers of all time,
should top our annual poll. Killers of the Flower Moon, a story of greed and murder that cuts to the heart
of American identity, is a towering achievement deserving of its many plaudits, not least for the powerful
central performance of Lily Gladstone. Scorsese has been eloquently advocating for the art and history of
cinema for five decades, and in Killers of the Flower Moon he’s added another masterpiece to the canon.”
The full Top 10 in Sight and Sound’s Best Films of 2023 poll are:
- KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Martin Scorsese)
- THE ZONE OF INTEREST (Jonathan Glazer)
- PAST LIVES (Celine Song)
- POOR THINGS (Yorgos Lanthimos)
- BARBIE (Greta Gerwig)
- OPPENHEIMER (Christopher Nolan)
- PASSAGES (Ira Sachs)
- ANATOMY OF A FALL (Justine Triet)
- DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD (Radu Jude)
- MAY DECEMBER (Todd Haynes)