Photo Credit (Pixabay)

2023 saw the release of “Barbenheimer,” an improbable double-feature film that became the largest moviegoing experience in recent memory after dominating multiplexes last summer and going viral on social media. Veteran household names like Hayao Miyazaki, Todd Haynes, David Fincher, Ridley Scott, and Martin Scorsese also made a comeback last year. Additionally, a number of lower-budget indies and arthouse sensations, such as “Past Lives,” “The Holdovers,” and “Anatomy of a Fall,” exceeded expectations to find the audience they were supposed to, even though high-profile studio tentpoles like “Spider-Verse,” “John Wick,” and “Super Mario” all made impressive box office receipts.

But for the purposes of this list, we’re going a little farther than the fundamentals to highlight ten underappreciated gems from the previous year that either went unnoticed, weren’t properly released, or just haven’t received the recognition or praise we believe they need. Read on for our list of 2023 films that are worth seeing again, ranging from heartwarming romances and star-studded biopics that made us drool at the big screen to sharp comedies that struck too near to home.

1. The Rye Lane

It is quite understandable to be wary of yet another corny Hollywood meet-cute romantic comedy, but Raine Allen-Miller’s explosive debut is the kind of unexpected find that not only appealed to a large number of ardent skeptics like myself but also managed to satisfy existing fans of the time-honored genre. Shortly after receiving nearly unanimous praise at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, Searchlight Pictures quickly acquired the distribution rights for this British gem, partly due to its skillful reworking of the classic meet-cute story and avoidance of all the cliches and generic conventions to which Hollywood tentpoles have accustomed us in recent years.

Introducing Yas and Dom, two incredibly endearing and hilarious twentysomethings who happen to cross paths and wander the vibrant streets of south London, remembering old relationships, terrible breakups, and lost connections. This talk-heavy, romantic setup may remind you of Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy, but don’t worry—first-time director Raine Allen-Miller’s breakthrough success is too unique, focused, and surprisingly humorous to feel anything less than completely unique. With a duration that hardly exceeds 80 minutes, you can be sure that seeing this treasure will be a worthwhile experience.

2. The Ferrari

Based on Brock Yates’ 1991 book, one of the leading distributors of tormented masculinity in film made a triumphant comeback to the festival circuit with an archaic, yet distinctly unorthodox, sports biopic about Enzo Ferrari.

Viewers are taken to a turbulent period in the history of the venerable Italian automaker, whose car factory is on the brink of bankruptcy and is being overshadowed by fierce rival Maserati, in Michael Mann’s most recent production. To make matters worse, Enzo’s home life is in utter chaos. The former racer must choose whether to claim his extramarital son (and future Ferrari heir) as his own while grieving the loss of his firstborn child with his distraught wife, a flawless, unruly Penelope Cruz.

This is a thorny studio film that presents itself as conventional prestige-fare before gradually revealing its true colors as a subversive examination of masculinity — and the otherworldly lengths some men go to realize their goals, without realizing that precisely that near-obsessive pursuit will be their downfall. This is similar to the stylish early 1980s and 1990s films that initially sparked Mann’s career. If all of it sounds alluring enough, the 1957 Mille Miglia’s heart-pounding climactic racing scenario is sure to get your heart rate up.

3. You Offended My Emotions

In Nicole Holofcener’s incisive, heartbreaking comedy of manners, a middle-aged novelist overhears her adored husband (Game of Thrones alumnus Tobias Menzies) criticizing her recently completed book, the words pierce deeper than needles. Among many other things, the most recent project from New York-based director and comedy mainstay Julia Louis-Dreyfus highlights the fine line between being kind and being dishonest, as well as the small white falsehoods we frequently tell our loved ones to shield and support them.

From the proud lineage of Elaine May, Woody Allen, and Paul Mazursky, it’s all incredibly low-fi but consistently funny, and it’s just the kind of intelligent, adult-oriented romcom that’s unfortunately all but dead in today’s film industry. It’s a terrible shame that one of the Sundance Film Festival’s greatest moments was overlooked with little to no fanfare, especially during a banner year for A24 when so many of the studio’s releases dominated the festival circuit and became mainstream (The Zone of Interest and Past Lives, to name a couple). Don’t pass it up.

4. Priscilla

Only a year after Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann dominated the Best Picture debate with a go-for-broke, migraine-inducing music biopic that chronicled the dramatic ascent and decline of the undisputed King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Sofia Coppola focused on Priscilla, the longtime romantic partner of Elvis Presley, a little-known historical figure who was only 14 (!) when the two were first introduced in 1959.

The title character in Sofia Coppola’s most recent film, who is yet another lonely young woman who is finding it difficult to deal with her environment and growing increasingly emotionally distant, is a perfect fit for the director’s repertoire of troubled heroines. Cailee Spaeny’s subtle yet unquestionably impactful portrayal in the title character garnered her praise and top acting awards at Venice. In addition to the 25-year-old actress, Jacob Elordi, who recently stole the show in “Saltburn,” takes over from Austin Butler to play The King himself in a well-balanced supporting role.

Coppola’s latest mood piece never had much of a chance to become a popular smash because of its unconventional tone, patient buildup, and bracingly aggressive attitude, but it still hurts that it was entirely left out of the Oscar nominations.

5. Texts

In this opulent, provocative love drama by Ira Sachs, Franz Rogowski plays a self-centered German filmmaker married to an English artist (Ben Whishaw) who falls deeply in love with a younger French schoolteacher named Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos) while finishing his final film in Paris. The simmering erotic tension builds and eventually explodes. We find out that Agathe may have grown to have strong affections for his husband instead, which sets up a complicated and perhaps disastrous love triangle that tests Franz’s long-term marriage and jealousy.

With a heavy dose of explicit, censor-rattling sex scenes that are unquestionably essential to the story and characters’ arc, “Passages” stoked the public debate about on-screen sex that persisted throughout 2023 (implying that the majority of young viewers and Hollywood executives appear to have officially turned into pearl-clutching Puritans). Regretfully, the MPAA gave it a severe NC-17 rating, which significantly reduced its chances of receiving a fair trial abroad until international streaming service Mubi stepped in.