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.

19 of 21 photo by Grasshopper Film

92De Humani Corporis Fabrica

(#2) The latest documentary from Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Leviathan, Manakamana) is fittingly titled after the groundbreaking anatomy books written by Andreas Vesalius five centuries ago. Castaing-Taylor and Paravel reveal the human body in extraordinary detail thanks to French surgeons, doctors and nurses, and the range of instruments they use to perform surgeries—x-rays, scalpels, clamps, and microscopic cameras that can go almost anywhere. The directors cover the cycle of life, from a birth via c-section to a sheet pulled over a lifeless body, but they also give voice to the medical community and the challenges they face, not through interviews, but through captured moments of humor, anger, and vulnerability.

De Humani Corporis Fabrica recently completed a theatrical rollout and is not yet available to stream.

“Part Frederick Wiseman-esque medical study, part endoscopic-horror tour de force, it is a thing to be experienced, ideally in a theater — a movie theater, not an operating one, though the filmmakers have a particular genius for blurring the difference.” —Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

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