Forbes India Rewind 2023: Best movies we watched this year
From 'Barbie' to 'Past Lives' to 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani', here are some of the favourite movies of the Forbes India team in 2023
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Last Updated: Dec 28, 2023, 17:17 IST7 min
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Barbie
Before the Barbie movie was released, The New York Times ran a long, interactive piece on the evolution of the Barbie Dreamhouse, a wonderful proclamation of women and house ownership (the earliest ones were without a kitchen Barbie was educated and sporty, and Ken was nowhere on the house deed). But nothing quite prepares you for the sets, the scale, the feminism and the subversion that the movie delivers. Barbie"s perfect world, her sojourn into the real world, doll outfits, song and dance, and patriarchy, the film covers it all. It is clever and funny, and Ryan Gosling is an absolute hoot. If it were still running in theatres, I would go watch it a fourth time.
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Where to watch - Jio Cinema
Tetris
It"s incredible how a few oddly shaped blocks falling across a screen have captivated generations—but the story behind the seemingly simple game of Tetris is even more riveting. The 2023 movie, named after the game, is based on the true tale of how the game made it out of Russia and became a global phenomenon during the Cold War. It centres on the character of Henk Rogers, played by Taron Egerton, who is on a mission to gain worldwide licensing rights to Tetris, a game he first played at Las Vegas"s CES convention. The story features capitalism, ambition and a peek into the 1980s tech world set against a complex political crisis. The movie isn"t quite as seamless as the game, but it reveals a fascinating world.
Where to watch - Apple TV+
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CODA
When I discovered CODA this year, it invited me to see the beauty of silence. I think the film made me feel a little uncomfortable and hence became a film that will stay with me long. The story of a young girl whose life is music, living and loving in a family of mutes—what can be more ironic!
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What stood out for me in the film was the honest portrayal of a family and their struggles with their reality—a father who loves his little girl so much that he always wants to keep her around, who hides his love in the disguise of selfishness a mother who wanted her daughter to be born mute in a family of mutes, just so that she can understand her reality of life better and a brother who is as capable as they come, and is yet considered less than her sister because of his disability, who still is the only one who is the most selfless towards her sister.
The film made me think, smile, and appreciate the small things in life, and it made me feel love, anger, and pain. And the movie made me cry, and it was beautiful.
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Where to watch - Apple TV+
A Man Called Otto
The portrayal of Otto by Tom Hanks was brilliant. You first laugh with him, then at him, before you shed a few tears about his feelings. Having seen my grandfather go through some of Otto"s experiences of ageing hit home and made me miss him a little extra.
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Overall, I felt that the film was an ode to love and companionship, which can be found at any age, among strangers, even on the most peculiar streets of the world where mind you, parking is for "cars with registered permits only."
Where to watch - Netflix
Past Lives
We all have a "what if?" relationship in our life, someone with whom we have a strong connection, but we never end up together with them. Past Lives, for me, was like closure. It attempts to answer the "What if?" question you carry with you through life, saying that sometimes, while some stories stay unfinished, perhaps you are just where you are meant to be.
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Where to watch - Lionsgate Play
Kaathal: The Core
Where to watch - In a theatre. The film is yet to be released on streaming platforms.
Chithha
Where to watch - Disney+ Hotstar
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Flora and Son
There is something about the connection director John Carney shares with music. Adam Levine"s song Lost Stars for Carney"s 2013 film Begin Again introduced me to his work. Carney"s musicals almost match the current vibe of the Indian film industry—songs are plot devices, but you can just stick to the album to escape from reality for a bit. With Flora and Son, Carney has explored this trend, literally. Flora is a single mother of a rebellious teen boy, Max. Flora picks up a guitar from a garbage truck to keep him out of trouble, hoping that learning to play it might change her son. But this guitar leads to different salvations for her and the son. The ease with which Carney unfolds and straightens the struggles of Flora and her son—encases their relationship and confidence in each other—feels like a hot cup of cocoa on a winter evening. The culmination of this journey in the song High Life by the band "Flora and the Son" is when you raise your hands in the air and sway left to right sitting in your bed because you have just watched a comforting movie.
Where to watch - Apple TV+
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani
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Whenever director Karan Johar tried to wrap up political and social issues in his stories, criticism about his handling of the matters intensified. But I believe with RRKPK, he has finally cracked the code for how to sugarcoat and sting simultaneously. The easy-peasy love story of a Delhi-based couple gets slightly twisted when they swap homes to understand and be convinced that this love story will become a relationship between two families if the duo ties the knot. There have been countless stories about family expectations and how lovers deal with them. But RRKPK"s charm lies in the story that challenges stereotypes at every point. Alia Bhatt"s heroine realises that she wants more than a fling—a task usually saved for the hero of the story—or Ranveer Singh"s hero makes his future in-laws understand that their standards of how a person should be are hollow. There"s a woman suppressing the ambitions and desires of other women there is a December-December platonic relationship, and there are cheesy cliches. But all this is wrapped in designer clothes, big mansions, and Pritam"s perfect background music. What"s not to love?
Where to watch - Prime Video
First Published: Dec 28, 2023, 17:17
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