Neta Bar is a business senior and Mustang News opinion columnist. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
In the wake of this glorious summer of beach days and Barbenheimer, autumn of 2023 came around with no room to disappoint. From a Scorsese release to not one but two films starring Jacob Elordi, the world of cinema was buckled in and ready to feast. And whether the movies have been decent or terrific or dreadfully second-rate, it has been a bountiful season, with many a movie to deliberate.
I have taken it upon myself to watch as many films as I could as the leaves turned brown. If you were looking for me in these past autumnal months, I could most likely be found at the theater. Admittedly, I have missed some crowd-pleasers – my apologies in advance for readers who favored the new Five Nights at Freddy’s or the Hunger Games prequel. Alas, this fall, there were many films to be watched, and no time to waste. Keep reading for this year’s fall film roundup, in order of release date.
October 20th, 2023 – Killers of the Flower Moon
Since the day of my first watch, I have not thought about this movie unless it was pointedly mentioned by someone else. That is because I did not find that much vivid emotion in the way that the story of Killers of the Flower Moon was told. It was a story that was told well. It was told effectively. The editing and writing was classy and tasteful and never pandering nor flashy. The acting was at the level of mastery from every one of the cast’s leads.
However, the same way that there are no conspicuous blunders, out of its three and a half hour runtime, not one moment nor scene particularly sticks out. The narrative is clear and gripping and yet somehow misses the emotional poignancy that, in my opinion, makes cinema great. I wish I didn’t just feel sympathy for the anguished characters, but instead a pointed feeling of anguish myself. There was potential for that with this story, but the storytelling opportunity was missed.
Killers of the Flower Moon is beautiful, ambitious and strong. It also lacked an emotional punch. It consisted largely of tension building. And then the movie ends. For such an explosion of a story, and one of such grueling runtime, I do put forth that perhaps Killers of the Flower Moon and its characters deserved more.
October 27th, 2023 – Priscilla
If you didn’t watch Priscilla, you must still listen to its gorgeous concoction of a soundtrack. It is one of the biggest triumphs of the film, though those were few and far between.
The lighting in this movie did not work. Neither did the acting. I was bored for almost the entire run time. That is because the performances, the writing, everything about the production left me feeling entirely unconvinced. The major disappointment here is that this is a story with great potential, one that could have been a masterpiece had it been written with better dialogue and directed with better delivery.
The biggest success in Priscilla is the ambiguity that surrounds every stretch of time that Elvis travels, spending time away from his wife. When he returns, he comforts her in that low mumble of his, saying the things that make her heart grow soft and her knees go weak. And she believes him. And because just like her, we don’t see what he’s doing when he’s on his own, the audience struggles with whether to believe him, too. This is beautiful storytelling in that it is as sneaky as it is intentional. We feel for Priscilla Presley because we are grappling her husband’s whereabouts alongside her. Maybe he really did wait for her for those two first years away. Deep down we know he didn’t. But as viewers, we don’t actually witness any infidelity, so we’re at liberty to believe him.
I wish we saw more sorrow from Priscilla. I understand that it was understated acting, a stylistic choice. But by attempting to make Priscilla appear so extraordinarily realistic in her reactions, she became unrealistic, not quite a person. Elvis’ character, too, was completely one-dimensional and underdeveloped. All we see is a cheating manipulator, a piece of shit. No character development nor motivation nor internal conflict. The characters must feel alive for the film to feel complete. Ms. Coppola, for you, I dreamed of better things.
November 3rd, 2023 – The Holdovers
You seldom see proper feel-good movies like this anymore. The Holdovers is a very accessible film, requiring little thought from its audience as the plot unfolds, but still manages to intermittently pack a punch. It is an endearing and gentle watch. Also, genuinely funny at times. It was a great screenplay, though some of the line delivery was slightly off. Our two leads, Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa, were mostly spot on, but the rest of the cast had many faltering moments where I wished I could have been on set and directed them with just a little more artistic integrity than Alexander Payne.
This film is also in its own way a period piece; one that stunningly embodies the 1970s. It wasn’t screaming in your face, but the zeitgeist was very poignantly there. The haircuts, the dialogue, the sentiments, the mannerisms, the vibes. I believe that that is one of the facets of The Holdovers that sucks you in the most. It feels like a portal to a different time.
November 22nd, 2023 – Napoleon
You know the film was bad when Joaquin Phoenix is the lead and it still disappoints terribly.
Napoleon ends after an excruciating 158 minutes of graphic violence and we know absolutely nothing about the character and man that Napoleon Bonaparte was. The film belittles him, sure, but fails to be a character study the way that one would hope when the title is simply Napoleon. All we see are battle scenes and miscellaneous displays of egocentrism. The screenplay was bad. Entirely unconvincing, and even to a layman, it is clear that no legitimate research was done. If you’re doing a period piece, commit. None of the dialogue felt fitting. I didn’t believe a single moment of the film.
This movie is cloaked in grandiose wrapping paper, appearing at first much more epic than it is. Then, as the hours go by, you feel the dragging runtime, and realize all it will amount to is a convoluted and undercooked explication of Napoleon Bonaparte being a jackass, with not much further depth nor merit to the film.
November 30th, 2023 – Saltburn
Leaving the most polarizing film for last, Saltburn was nothing short of a doozy. If nothing else, it is certainly original, subversive, and fresh. Some claim that the movie was trying too hard to be shocking, while others are obsessed with its twisted plot. I personally believe that Saltburn is an entertaining film that leaves its audience with not much to chew on. It is a story about desire gone awry; infatuation with a person, or more aptly a concept, that snowballs and then explodes in front of our very eyes. There was meaning, and style, and symbolism, no doubt. But the ideas were muddled and meandering. It felt like director Emerald Fennell was withholding coherent understanding from viewers in a way that was less so mysterious, and more so lazy and unsure.
My mouth was open for the large majority of this film. I was either gasping or laughing or cringing or simply had my jaw dropped in disbelief. In every moment of Saltburn, a viewer will think, Oh, they won’t go there, and then they go ahead and do. It’s a movie that thinks it’s deeper than it is, but it’s beautiful – in set design, in cinematography, and in that Jacob Elordi is in it.