Tchaikovsky’s Wife review – feverish biopic plays as a symphony of cruelty
Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s hallucinogenic portrait is a punishing, but admirably ambitious revisionist period piece
And the 2023 Braddies go to … Peter Bradshaw’s film picks of the year
Following the Guardian’s Top 50 countdown, as voted for by the whole film team, announcing its No 1, here are our chief critic’s personal choices
The best European culture of 2023
Critics, writers and broadcasters pick their home country’s cultural highlight of 2023, which they hope will find international success in 2024
Best films of 2023 in the UK: No 5 – The Boy and the Heron
Addressing loss and grief, Hayao Miyazaki’s dazzlingly surreal animation has the tender, solemn air of an artist reflecting on his own spellbinding legacy
Godzilla Minus One review – a thunderously entertaining prequel
A failed kamikaze pilot, one furious radioactive lizard and a Japan devastated by war collide in Takashi Yamazaki’s unashamedly redemptive action thriller
The Three Musketeers: Milady review – Eva Green seduces in swashbuckling second instalment
Green captivates as the treacherous Milady de Winter in part two of Martin Bourboulon’s breathless Dumas adaptation
Best films of 2023 in the UK: No 7 – Saint Omer
Alice Diop’s award-winning courtroom drama doubles as an unsentimental study in empathy with one of the year’s most mesmerising performances
Best movies of 2023 in the US: No 8 – The Boy and the Heron
Addressing loss and grief, Hayao Miyazaki’s dazzlingly surreal animation has the tender, solemn air of an artist reflecting on his own spellbinding legacy
Joram review – gritty Indian chase thriller
A migrant labourer goes on the run after his wife is murdered in Devashish Makhija’s survival story with a background of political unrest
Trenque Lauquen Parts 1 & 2 review – beguiling mystery holds its secrets close
Laura Citarella’s lengthy romantic conundrum refuses to tie up its many loose ends but her film-making language ensures that cult status beckons
We Dare to Dream review – Waad al-Kateab’s uplifting portrait of Olympic refugee team
The For Sama director’s documentary follows the IOC Refugee Olympic Team to the Tokyo Games, and finds athletes as charismatic as they are courageous
Tótem review – exquisite Mexican family drama of joy and heartbreak
Writer-director Lila Avilés’s tender film, told largely through the eyes of a seven-year-old girl, is a minutely observed ensemble piece in which grief and celebration go hand in hand
Fallen Leaves review – Aki Kaurismäki’s almost feelgood romance is a droll delight
Two lonely souls connect in a rain-lashed Helsinki in this unexpectedly uplifting drama from the Finnish master of melancholy
Lost reels: 15 directors pick great films you won’t find on UK streaming
Many films – even classics such as Eraserhead and Chungking Express – remain surprisingly unavailable online to UK audiences. We asked film-makers from Martin McDonagh to Charlotte Wells to pick their favourites
The Shadow of the Day review – old-fashioned romantic drama with war lurking on the horizon
As Italy succumbs to the fascists, a war veteran and small-town restaurateur falls for a beautiful stranger in Giuseppe Piccioni’s robustly made and excellently acted prewar melodrama