Read: The 10 Best Books of 2023
Best TV Shows
Nathan Fielder, the Canadian actor known for his deadpan delivery, is back with a dark comedy called “The Curse.” Here’s a trailer. It’s streaming on Paramount+ Canada. (Mr. Fielder was an executive producer on “How To With John Wilson,” another show that critics say is worth your time.)
Read: Best TV Shows of 2023
Best Movies
“Past Lives,” the debut film by the South Korean-Canadian director Celine Song, is “an examination of destiny, chance, love and the invisible thread that binds one soul to the next,” writes Alissa Wilkinson, a movie critic at The Times. (I enjoyed watching this film at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, which has made it available for rent. You can also catch it on streaming platforms in Canada.)
An honorable mention on the list goes to “BlackBerry,” by the Toronto-born director Matt Johnson. The movie is adapted from the 2015 book by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff, two Canadian business writers, and tells the story of the rise and fall of the Waterloo, Ontario, company behind the wildly popular smartphone. If you’re interested in an extended cut of the film, you can check out the three-part miniseries of “BlackBerry” on CBC Gem.
Read: Best Movies of 2023
Best Songs
Three pop music critics at The Times offer their picks of best songs of the year. A few Canadians made the list of 77.
Allison Russell, “Eve Was Black”
“The tune could be a toe-tapping Appalachian hoedown. But the title’s blunt, irrefutable statement carries Allison Russell toward harsh thoughts about racism, slavery, exploitation, lynching and sin — and then to an unexpected coda.” — Jon Pareles
Mustafa, “Name of God”
“Few artists conjure a richness of sorrow the way the Canadian folk singer Mustafa does. Here, his singing is beautiful and a little distant, as if flinching ever so slightly from a pain that will never be anything but raw.” — Jon Caramanica
Ken (Ryan Gosling), “I’m Just Ken”
“When this stridently sad song from the ‘Barbie’ movie hits its apogee, it’s channeling Dashboard Confessional, Meat Loaf, the Phantom (of the Opera) and maybe even Scott Stapp. Slash plays guitar, salting the melodrama hard.” — Jon Caramanica
Drake featuring Sexyy Red and SZA, “Rich Baby Daddy”
“Exhibit Z that Drake is at his best not when he tsk-tsks grown women, but when he risks being outshone by inviting them on the track.” — Lindsay Zoladz
Read: Best Songs of 2023
