5 Of Our Favourite Directorial Debuts Of 2023

Today marks the release of Dev Patel’s Monkey Man- a high-adrenaline action thriller about an oppressed man who takes revenge on those who have done him wrong, metaphorically addressing the topic of corruption in Indian society. Monkey Man is Dev Patel’s first go behind the camera as well as in front, after repeated success starring in films like Slumdog Millionaire, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Green Knight.

To celebrate that, let’s take a look at some of the best directorial debuts from 2023:

Talk to Me

Talk to Me is the directorial debut of Greek-Australian twin brothers Danny and Michael Phillipou, who are known for their YouTube channel RackaRacka. Through RackaRacka, the pair are no strangers to the horror genre, having created a variety of videos since 2013 before working on the set of 2014’s Aussie horror The Babadook- itself a directorial debut by Jennifer Kent.

For their own feature film debut, they went down the path of a group of teenagers contacting spirits using a severed, embalmed hand. The idea of conjuring spirits is certainly not a new one and whilst Talk to Me feels familiar in some respects, it feels fresh in others. The hand is not the only thing that’s gripping with an intriguing premise, deliciously gory practical effects and a wonderfully intense lead performance by Sophie Wilde as well as the rest of the cast. Talk to Me went to become A24’s second highest-grossing film of all time (only behind Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once) and its highest-grossing horror. The new directors are currently working on a Street Fighter movie and a film called Bring Her Back, as well as a sequel to their debut.

Past Lives

Another by A24, Celine Song’s heartwarming and heartbreaking debut earned her a Best Picture nomination at this year’s Academy Awards. It is a story of what could have been between two would-be lovers who lost contact in their teen years. Getting her start in theatre, Celine Song’s most notable work on the stage is Endlings, a satirical story about three elderly Korean haenyeos (“sea women”) spending their final days in reflection and diving into the ocean to harvest seafood.

Itself dealing with themes of reflection as well as identity, Past Lives is a much more sombre portrayal of the same, with a modest presentation and lack of, what Manola Darghis of The New York Times described as “visual oomph”, Past Lives remains a humbly grounded journey through said “past lives” and how life evolves- for better or for worse- and sometimes we’ll ultimately never know. The story has only three characters- thoughtfully brought to life by Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro. Celine Song is currently working with a second project with A24 titled Materialists with Pedro Pascal, Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans in talks to star.

American Fiction

Another Best Picture nominee, American Fiction is the feature film debut of Cord Jefferson, whose credits in television include Netflix’s Master of None and NBC’s The Good Place, both on which he served as a story editor and consulting producer. He also worked in journalism during his early career. His next projects are an unnamed erotic thriller as well as a neo-western.

As for American Fiction, Jefferson based his screenplay on the book Erasure by Percival Everett- a screenplay which won Jefferson the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. A satire story of a professor highly regarded in academic circles for his novels (portrayed by Jeffery Wright) he reluctantly writes a novel pandering to black stereotypes whilst assuming the identity of a black convict. To his surprise, the novel becomes a major success, and he wrestles with said success and his ambitions as a serious writer. Its humour comes from the absurdity whilst presenting a satirical reflection of how that absurdity does exist in our society and tackling themes of awareness and identity.

The Kitchen

British sci-fi drama The Kitchen is the joint effort of Kibwet Tavares and actor Daniel Kaluuya, with both of them making their directorial debuts. Kaluuya is best known for his appearances in Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Nope, and also starred Marvel’s Black Panther as well as Judas and the Black Messiah, for which he won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.

The Kitchen is a futuristic sci-fi that is grounded in reality, commenting on our society, its decay and the oppression that is ultimately created as we recede into the practices of the past. It treads over familiar territory for the most with a father-son like relationship between its characters (Kane “Kano” Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman) as they struggle in their respective roles as protector and trying to figure out where one belongs. It does offer freshness in its setting or more how that setting is built and developed. The Kitchen (being the name of the neighbourhood) is colourful but bleak, contrasting the wonders of the future with the gloom of its world.

Joy Ride

Adele Lim has been involved in a number of high-profile works in her career, with writing credits on Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon after getting her start as a script coordinator on Xena: Warrior Princess. For her directorial debut, Lim teamed with writers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong (Family Guy) and Teresa Hsiao (Family Guy, American Dad!) with the three wanting to tell a story “with characters who look like us, about women who are messy and thirsty, but have so much heart.”

Joy Ride follows four Chinese-American women (Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu) who go on an adventure to the motherland. One of the group was adopted by white parents and so it’s a chance for her to discover her roots whilst also learning about her birth mother. Whilst it may sound like a heartwarming tale of identity and self -discovery, that’s only partly the case. The majority is an absolute bonkers ride (pardon the pun) full of fun, liberation and questionable decisions. Those aforementioned themes are nicely leaned into but wrapped in a package that is akin to other cringe-humour fests like Sausage Party (Seth Rogan is unsurprisingly involved in both), The Hangover and Step Brothers. In that respect, it’s a film that certainly isn’t going to be for everybody but we have to applaud Adele Lim for having the guts to realise a vision that represents all East Asian women, no matter where they were born, grew up or what culture they do or don’t identify with.