Usually around this time of the year I will remake the list of my favorites from the last year, as I have seen more of those films and have more perspective.

This year as I was looking at my list, I noticed that it wouldn’t change that much. Probably two, maybe three movies in a top 10. That’s not enough for me to justify the new list. So, since I like to talk about obscure or lesser known movies, here are some from 2023 that I feel should receive more attention for whatever reason.

The beauty of movies and art in general is that while Hollywood movies will try to hit all four so-called quadrants (young males, young females, adult males, adult females), the lesser known movies are often made with smaller budgets, so they can aim to please one quadrant or something completely outside of that thinking. Now your target audience can be something like fans of a specific genre or a specific minority or a local ethnic group or people with certain political views. So, that is why I try to do my little bit for movies like this. There is always a chance they will actually be formative for someone.

I don’t know if these movies are like that for anyone in my small audience, but I also know there’s potential. Anyhow, here’s seven of them.

The Sudbury Devil

A folk horror movie I have already mentioned before on the list of my favorite folk horror movies. It will probably remain pretty obscure because of lack of marketing, but if you are a fan of that genre, this is definitely worth seeking out. The movie it has the strongest vibes with is probably A Field in England, if you are aware of that movie. The writer/director/producer is a history enthusiasta himself, so there is definitely a feel of the kind of folklore people got up to back in the day.

Je’vida

Sami are a small minority in the north Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. There aren’t many movies about them or their oppression or their trauma. Here’s one.

I Used to be Funny

Speaking of trauma… This is a movie rife with opportunities to spoil it, so I want say too much, which makes it kind of hard to describe. We start in a situation where a young woman is contemplating on whether to join the search for a missing teen she used to nanny. It definitely isn’t straightforward whether she should or not.

Ribâ, nagarenaide yo or River

A Japanese magical realism movie. The staff and the guests of a small hotel in near Kyoto notice that for some reason they are in a time loop of a couple of minutes. So, they have to figure out how to get out of it while keeping the guests happy. This is quite light and lighthearted.

Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant or Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Kind of a weird parody of a YA-story. It’s not the funniest movie, but it is kind of endearing in a weird way. I mean, just look at the title. You know how that is going to turn out (because you can read between the lines).

Zielona granica or Green Border

This is a tough movie to watch, but also kind of necessary. It’s about the human tragedy caused by the hybrid warfare waged by Russia and Belarus against the EU with asylum seekers as the weapons. We look at the situation through the eyes of the refugees, the border patrols in Poland and the volunteers, who want to protect the vulnerable people. It’s a rough movie. The kind you may easily lose sleep over. Which is kind of proof that it’s worth seeing.

Scrapper

Georgie is just a 12-year-old girl living alone in a house she is trying to maintain through various crimes. Then her world changes when her estranged father returns unexpectedly. In some ways this is something Georgie doesn’t want to happen, but it also kind of has to happen for various reasons.