Killers Of The Flower Moon has been named the greatest film of 2023 by reviewers.
Barbie, I am sorry!
Martin Scorsese, director of the film Killers Of The Flower Moon, said he was ‘moved’ that it had won a vote picking the finest films of 2023.
The epic Western criminal drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone was named number one by 100 of the world’s leading cinema reviewers in the BFI’s Sight and Sound magazine’s end of year survey.
The film is based on the non-fiction book of the same name, which details the killings of the Osage Native American tribe following the discovery of oil on their property.
‘I’ve been very thrilled by the reception to Killers Of The Flower Moon,’ Martin said of the accolade.
‘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.
‘When I was told that it had topped the critics’ poll at Sight and Sound, I have to say that I was moved. The magazine has been so important to me, for such a long time.’
The Oscar winner previously finished third in the poll with his flicks The Departed and The Irishman in 2006 and 2019, respectively.
Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest, a Holocaust drama, comes in second on the 2023 list after winning the Grand Prix and Fipresci awards at the Cannes Film Festival.
Third and fourth place went to Celine Song’s directorial debut, Past Lives, on the immigrant experience, and Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Rounding out the top five was a fitting tie between Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, both of which drew crowds to the theatres this summer.
‘2023 has been great for film,’ said Sight and Sound editor-in-chief Mike Williams.
‘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.
‘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.’
