The best movies of 2023 (so far). And where to find them

In this gripping, precisely modulated drama, directors Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka take a compassionate but tough-minded look at the life of a 20-year-old Chinese woman (an outstanding Yao Honggui), striving to find her place in a nation driven by the cruel logic of economic necessity. If that sounds dull or deterministic, it isn’t; in every bustling frame, the filmmakers show us a world in fascinating, never-ending flux, where, for young people especially, the conditions of work and the means of survival are forever being renegotiated. (“Stonewalling” is still playing in select U.S. theaters.)

And a few more standouts: “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.,” “Emily,” “Godland,” “Joyland,” “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” “Reality,” “Rimini,” “Skinamarink,” “A Thousand and One” and “Tori and Lokita.”