Everyone has their own idea of cinematic ‘cool’: maybe you think Bogart in The Big Sleep can’t be beat, or that Brando’s Wild One is the ultimate, or that Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in Alien franchise is tops. Hey, it’s all valid, but if your list doesn’t have Alain Delon in Jean-Pierre’s so-cool-it’s-glacial 1967 masterpiece Le Samourai, somewhere on it, well…your list is defective.

Turns out, maybe colonialism isn’t so great after all. And Ena Sendijarevic’s magnificent Sweet Dreams, one of the best films of 2023, “captures the putrefaction of colonial rule with a morbid sense of humor” (Slant). Set in the Dutch East Indies at the dawn of the 20th century, Sweet Dreams focuses on the aftermath of the death of a Dutch sugar-plantation owner. His widow summons their children from the Netherlands for the reading of the will, believing that the passing-on of the estate is a mere formality. Surprises await.

Believe it or not, The Old Oak is Ken Loach’s final film. After a career of more than 60 years, the British director — a two-time Palme d’Or winner whose works include such masterpieces as Kes, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Land and Freedom, and My Name is Joe — is calling it a day.