20 Best Movies Of 2023

4. Maestro

Bradley Cooper's second turn in the director's chair proves that A Star Is Born wasn't a fluke, but rather the start of a career destined to go from strength to strength. Maestro is epic, bold, romantic, tragic and filled with some of the most exquisitely crafted sequences of the year.

Brilliantly, the drama also features the best performance of Cooper's career, too, his turn as renowned composer Leonard Bernstein a transformative feat that is at once deeply heartfelt and poignantly flawed. He's matched by Carey Mulligan at every turn, her portrayal of Bernstein's wife Felicia offering the film its emotional centre.

Shifting between full colour and black-and-white cinematography, Cooper's passion project leaves no stone unturned in Bernstein and his family's story, a tale as achingly human as it is thrilling. Whatever Cooper does next, it seems likely he's just getting started.