The 20 Best Movies of 2023 So Far

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor
and Keith Kimbell, Metacritic Film Editor – July 1, 2023

Which films impressed critics during the first half of the year? In the gallery on this page we rank the highest-scoring movies debuting in theaters (or straight to VOD/streaming) between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2023. Titles are ranked by their Metascores as of June 30, 2023 and must have a minimum of 7 reviews from professional critics to be eligible for inclusion.

1 of 21 photo by Oscilloscope

82Joyland

(#20) The first Pakistani film to premiere at Cannes and a recent Independent Spirit Award winner for Best International Film, writer-director Saim Sadiq’s Lahore-set debut feature follows Haider (Ali Junejo), a gentle soul who is married to Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq) and lives in a home with his ailing father, his brother, his sister-in-law, and their four children. When Haider takes a job as a backing dancer at a Bollywood-style show, he tells his family he’s the theater manager. But soon the job because his lifeline, especially when he becomes infatuated with Biba (Alina Khan), the trans woman who leads the show.

Joyland is in the middle of its theatrical run (with more cities coming soon) and is not yet available to stream.

“Sadiq is not lecturing us or trading in types; he is taking us by sensory surprise, and the tale that he tells is funny, forward, and sometimes woundingly sad.” —Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

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