22 Overlooked Movies In 2023 Everyone Should See

This past year saw cinematic highs for studio blockbusters like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” while indie darlings such as “American Fiction” and “Past Lives” found a warm reception from critics and audiences. But not all films can make a mark at the box office or find a passionate fanbase (or obsessed critic) to champion their releases.

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The content onslaught often makes it hard to find the hidden gems, which is what end of the year lists are for — so Variety asked writers and editors to suggest their lesser-seen favorite films of the year. And while you’re desperately searching for new content, check out Nida Manzoor’s jaw-dropping, action flick “Polite Society” or the tear-inducing animated feature “Robot Dreams.”

Do not sleep on the middle-of-nowhere Australian crime documentary “Last Stop Larrimah,” centered around the mysterious disappearance of the local favorite, thus making everyone a suspect. If you’re looking for a thriller, check out the screenshot flick “Missing” that takes place entirely from a teenager’s laptop and phone, as she tries to uncover the secret behind her mother’s sudden and unexplainable disappearance (from the creators of “Searching”).

And if you’re looking for something a little lighter, we suggest Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei’s strange little comedy “She Came to Me,” about a composer who finds inspiration for his next musical masterpiece while cheating on his wife with a tugboat captain.

Instead of re-watching “West Wing” or mainlining “The Sopranos” yet again, check out these movies you may have missed.

Afire

The Wallners’ catchy “In My Mind” opens and closes German director Christian Petzold’s perceptive portrait of a young novelist named Leon, who heads to a family cottage on the Baltic coast to complete his second manuscript. While his housemates spend their afternoons swimming, flirting and falling in love, Leon putzes around the house, looking for inspiration — but mostly just wasting time. When the others ask him to join in, he’s quick to deflect, saying, “My work won’t allow it.” Smart and sexy, “Afire” is above all keenly insightful about the insecurities of a bright, borderline-insufferable writer stuck in his own head. — PD

Cat Person

While the New Yorker short story “Cat Person” went viral, the ambitious film adaptation of it didn’t have the same luck. Anchored by a tension-filled push and pull between Emilia Jones’ Margot, a college student, and Nicholas Braun’s Robert, an older, awkward man who begins to court her, “Cat Person” plays with horror to illustrate the uncomfortable tension between two people who aren’t able to communicate. The line between quirky and sinister is constantly toggled, and Jones and Braun do expert work mismatching in subtle ways that build and build. The finale loses the thread, but “Cat Person” will resonate with anyone dating in the modern age. — WE

Fancy Dance

2023 is the year of Lily Gladstone. While she’s receiving accolades for her work on Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “The Unknown Country,” Erica Tremblay’s “Fancy Dance,” which screened at Sundance earlier this year, is still seeking a distributor. Set in northeastern Oklahoma’s Indian Country, “Fancy Dance” is a coming-of-age story with Gladstone as Jax who together with her niece goes looking for Tawi (Hauli Gray). Tawi has gone missing. Along the way, the two get into a lot of trouble — stealing cars, money and scamming people at card games. Everyone should get a chance to see Gladstone shine and experience her acting showcase, and not let this film disappear. — JT

Joy Ride

Hands down the funniest movie of 2023, “Joy Ride” failed to find the theatrical audience you’d expect for an unpredictably raw, “Hangover”-outrageous road-trip comedy. It finished just a skosh ahead of indie breakout “Bottoms,” but the latter did crazy-strong per-screen business. Watching both movies with a crowd at the SXSW Film Festival showed how they could bring down the house — especially when Stephanie Hsu reveals her character’s taboo tattoo. But even sampled alone on streaming, “Joy Ride” hits like a laughing gas leak. — PD

Land of Gold

Writer-director Nardeep Khurmi’s perceptive, soulful debut feature chronicles a road trip between a truck driver and his young Mexican-American stowaway, but it arrives at a beautiful crossroads between obligation (professional, cultural and familial) and broader human understanding. Eager to subvert expectations with the relationship between Kiran (Khurmi, also starring) and Elena (Caroline Valencia), “Land of Gold” delivers a referendum on politics, parenthood and personal responsibility with surprising emotional dimensions, while capturing beautiful performances and imagery alike with his camera. Understated but promising, Khurmi’s debut announces the arrival of a filmmaker with much more to say — and in the best ways, not in the manner audiences may expect. — TG

Last Stop Larrimah

The wild premise of this HBO true crime doc: When one member of an 11-person community goes missing, everyone is a suspect. What begins as a film where a small town is stunned that a crime could have happened in their community soon peels open layers to showcase deep feuds and resentments that muddy the waters. Each of the residents of Larrimah is a complicated character, and the drama regularly dredged up at the local watering hole is profuse enough to fuel a miniseries. By the end, you’ll be as hungry for the town’s signature meat pies as you are for answers. — WE

Master Gardener

Joel Edgerton is Narvel Roth, a buttoned-up horticulturist in Paul Schrader’s latest. The culmination of a new trilogy about men grappling with troubled pasts — that started with “First Reformed” and “The Card Counter” — the film is a lushly photographed story of a man who can’t keep his secrets as hidden as he would wish. When his boss, a wealthy woman who employs him to manage her garden (Sigourney Weaver), brings her delinquent niece to work with his carefully-tended plants, he realizes that it might not be possible to hide from the world forever. — PS

Missing

Premiering at Sundance and then hitting theaters Jan. 20, “Missing” is, well, missing from the year-end movie discourse. Directed by newcomers Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, it’s a consistently captivating race to the finish with a standout lead performance from Storm Reid, who spends much of the movie scouring for clues via Ring camera footage, old emails and FaceTime calls with a Colombian gig worker after her mother mysteriously goes missing while abroad. “Missing” is twisty, thrilling and ultimately satisfying — a worthy entry in the budding screenlife genre. — ES

Monica

“Transparent” breakout Trace Lysette earned a much-deserved nomination for best lead performance at the Indie Spirit Awards thanks to her work in Andrea Pallaoro’s understated drama “Monica,” in which Lysette plays a trans woman who returns home to her estranged family to care for her dying mother (Patricia Clarkson). The IFC Films release didn’t make it past the $200K mark at the box office this year — a shame considering how much universal feeling director and co-writer Pallaoro wrings from a story about two women overcoming the unspoken traumas of their past to find newfound understanding in their present. Lysette is a sensitive force in the lead role, giving such a lived-in performance that even the film’s most intimate moments carry the emotional weight of an epic. — ZS

Monster

Following up “Broker” and “Shoplifters,” director Hirokazu Kore-eda helms “Monster,” his most emotional and moving effort yet, following the story of a mother seeking answers from a school regarding her son’s abnormal behavior. When Japan selected “Perfect Days” to represent the country in the Academy’s international feature category, critics and cinephiles de-prioritized “Monster” as a must-see viewing. Beautiful music by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto and a stunning cast boost one of the year’s best films, with an ending that is up to interpretation. — CD

Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV

There are a lot of people who know the name Nam June Paik, or even got to experience one of his so-pulsating-they’re-alive video installations, yet still don’t know much about him. Amanda Kim’s gorgeously crafted documentary does a splendid job of filling in what a visionary figure Paik was — the way he interfaced with people like John Cage, lived for years as a starving artist in New York, and built his surrealist TV museum exhibits from the ground up, literally inventing an art form. What’s most intoxicating about the movie is the way it becomes a vehicle for experiencing the psychedelic majesty of Paik’s creations, which were driven by his obsession with finding the hidden soul of technology. Along with “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” it’s the cinema’s most compelling portrait of an artist this year.  — OG

Of an Age

Australian writer-director Goran Stolevski crafts a whirlwind romance drama in “Of an Age,” which centers on a young man who develops an intimate relationship with the brother of his ballroom dance partner over the course of 24 hours. The disorienting and swoon-worthy pull of first love overflows in Stolevski’s handheld direction, while his script embraces the warmth of finding your person with the heartbreak of not having enough time to make it endure. While the film’s central character learns to embrace his sexuality over the course of the film, Stolevski refuses to let his romance drama become a derivative look at queer self-acceptance. It’s all the more refreshing for that. “Of an Age” is a warm-hearted gem tinged with beautiful melancholy. — ZS

The Origin of Evil

“Call My Agent!” star Laure Calamy caught our attention with two virtuoso performances this year. She was terrific as an overtaxed single mom barely keeping it together in “Full Time,” but she was even more impressive (not to mention unpredictably deranged) as the prodigal daughter in this criminally underseen French thriller. Imagine a psychologically coherent version of “Saltburn,” executed in the keep-you-guessing tradition of Claude Chabrol, as Calamy’s character reconnects with her estranged father — a man of extravagant wealth (and eccentric household) with nearly an entire island to himself, who sees in this fortuitous reunion a chance to maintain control of his estate. — PD

Polite Society

This high-octane mashup gleefully leaps between kung fu, sci-fi and Bollywood. Nida Manzoor wrote and directed the story of Ria Khan, a teen stuntwoman who vows to break up her sister’s engagement. What begins as a tale of Ria’s naiveite soon turns into something more insidious, as our hero is determined to stop the wedding from happening without alienating herself from family and friends. The heightened reality and camerawork would make “Society” a great companion piece with Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim.” Even when the third act takes a bonkers turn, it’s impossible to not root for Ria to save the day. — WE

Reality

There are countless ways to consider the case of Reality Winner, who leaked classified evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election (to the extent that another take, called “Winner,” will premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival). Tina Satter’s perfectly calibrated re-creation — now streaming on Max — focuses not on the breach, but the moment the FBI showed up in her driveway with a search warrant. The film is steered by a condensed (and conspicuously redacted) transcript of their interrogation. Sydney Sweeney’s performance makes the national-security pariah/scapegoat scarily relatable, resulting in a bracingly unique political satire: part tense true-crime thriller, part wickedly funny cringe comedy. — PD

Robot Dreams

Imagine crying so much about a dog that builds a robot. That’s what the viewer gets with Pablo Berger’s inventive and charming animated feature, which premiered at Cannes. The film has hardly made a dent in the conversation, with only a quiet awards-qualifying theatrical run. Disappointing, considering its poignant themes of loneliness and re-discovering a world with new eyes. It’s one of the most heartwarming movies — too optimistic to dislike and far too charming to sneer. — CD

Rye Lane

A delightful romantic comedy that flew under the radar when it landed on Hulu in March, Searchlight’s “Rye Lane” grounds its charismatic protagonists Dom (David Jonsson) and Yas (Vivian Oparah) in the vibrance of South London. After Yas finds Dom crying over his ex in an art gallery restroom, the two wander the streets of Brixton and Peckham, forging an unlikely friendship predicated on a mutual understanding of each other’s doomed love lives. Wide shots and bright pops of color accentuate the charm of Yas and Dom’s slow-burn romance; first-time director Raine Allen-Miller cited “Juno,” “Peep Show” and the films of Roy Andersson as inspirations for her work. It’s the perfect watch for people who enjoy cozy, offbeat British love stories (and surprise cameos from a certain “Love Actually” actor). — RS

Sanctuary

“Sanctuary” hit theaters right around when the “Succession” series finale aired on HBO, and it was the perfect digestif to the family dynasty drama. Imagine an episode where Roman Roy becomes closely entangled with a dominatrix who feeds into his desire to be controlled and humiliated by someone else. Suddenly the psychosexual fantasy crosses a line into blackmail for his family’s fortune and unpacking daddy issues. That’s “Sanctuary” in a nutshell — a two-hander with Christopher Abbott and Margaret Qualley that takes places over one night in one hotel room. It’s a sexy, twisted thriller that dives deep into the complicated psyches of a young, multimillionaire CEO and the savvy dominatrix who pulls his strings. — JM

She Came to Me

Indie comedies have often come in one of two flavors: sincere or quirky. Rebecca Miller’s ardent ensemble comedy has the off-kilter deftness to be both at once. Its central figure is a celebrated composer of operas, played by Peter Dinklage at his most broodingly magnetic, who stops into a dive bar in the morning and gets picked up for an erotic adventure by a sexaholic tugboat captain, played with lived-in charm by Marisa Tomei. What follows is a cracked bedroom farce that’s really a story of salvation. Miller’s films, in their delicate humanity, are frail blossoms that have too often gotten lost. This one is worth finding. — OG

Shortcomings

Randall Park’s directorial debut “Shortcomings” might not have been shortchanged if its cast Sherry Cola, Ally Maki and Justin H. Min didn’t have to sit out promotion due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. Based on the Adrian Tomine graphic novel, Min plays Ben, who struggles after his girlfriend Miko (Maki) breaks up with him. The film centers around the messy lives of young people in their 20s who are dealing with being dumped and other challenges of that age. The fun, sweet dramedy is entertaining as Cola gets to flex her chops as the lesbian bestie. — JT

They Cloned Tyrone

“They Cloned Tyrone” has all the makings of a cult classic. John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris star in the pulpy sci-fi thriller, playing an unlikely trio — a dope boy, a pimp and a sex worker ­— who discover a government conspiracy that touches every corner of their community, from the barbershop and the beauty salon to the local fried chicken joint. It premiered in July to strong reviews and launched onto Netflix’s top 10 list in 56 countries, but debuting during the first week of the SAG-AFTRA strike and without promotional appearances from Foxx, who was recovering from a serious medical emergency, muted some of that buzz. Nevertheless, the slick and stylish film, which takes tropes from the Blaxploitation genre and turns them on their head, heralds director Juel Taylor, who co-wrote the film with Tony Rettenmaier (“Creed II”), as one to watch. — AJ

When Evil Lurks

This horror film from Argentina takes the twisted crown as 2023’s scariest movie. “When Evil Lurks” starts with a stomach-churning bang and doesn’t let up. Two brothers discover an unfortunate man possessed by a demon — his bloated, pus-leaking body is one of the grossest images you’ll see on a screen this year. Everyone who crosses paths with the devil is doomed to a truly awful fate, and there are some downright upsetting kills and shocking moments that follow. The ending will leave you gut-punched, sitting there in traumatized silence at the horrors you just witnessed. — JM