A great crop of memorable films, the resurgence of horror and a pandemic-changed film industry helped define 2022.
With 2022 returning most of the world to “normal” – however that is now defined – I was back in movie theaters seeing films on the big screen, in addition to streaming them.
For the movie industry, the belief was that once the pandemic abated enough and mask mandates were dropped, movie patrons would head back to theaters in droves. But the world has changed dramatically through technology, and it’s “unclear whether the number of films shown in theaters will reach pre-pandemic levels.”
Likely the nation’s 40,000+ cinemas will contract further, making it even harder to see indie and arthouse films, and giving shorter runtimes to mainstream films. Streaming isn't going away. I’ve watched films this year with less than five other viewers in the theater. That’s kind of sad for the movie-going experience.
When I think of all the films that I’ve seen in packed houses, the collective laughs, sobs or gasps became a permanent part of my movie memory. As a kid watching Jaws, as a teen watching Star Wars, or as an adult watching Alien, Matewan or Delicatessen and other indies and foreign films. That wave of energy and anticipation in the theater mattered. We’ve traded collective interaction for convenient isolation. I wonder if the pendulum will ever swing back.
Resurgence of Horror Films
Much to my surprise, 30 of the nearly 130 films that I watched this year were in the genre. Horror is having a moment! From the 1980s slasher satire Vicious Fun to Alex Garland’s surreal, creepy and unsettling Men (with the great Jessie Buckley), there were a lot of great movies. More recommended standouts include: Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey, David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, Ti West’s X and its prequel Pearl.
My Eclectic Picks
As for my best-of picks for 2022, I went with a dozen films that stuck with me long after the credits rolled. It’s an eclectic collection: some films on the awards track, directors whom I admire and those I’m getting to know, and a few other off-beat titles that fascinated me. After reviewing my list, some common themes of the year in film: humanity, connection, anger, loss and grief – possibly because of the past three years.
In alphabetical order, my 2022 best-of-film list:
After Yang | Kogonada, Director + Writer
From South Korean-born director Kogonada comes this beautiful, intimate meditation of what defines being human, or more interestingly questions how an AI processes humanity as we understand it. Set in an unplaced future, Colin Farrell (who has become a terrific actor delivering fine work here and in many of my recommends), plays a husband and father who has bought a second-hand synthetic human – Yang, a “technosapien” – which functions as a brother and protector to Mika, the couple’s adopted Chinese daughter. Yang is her cherished companion and he serves as a bridge to her Asian heritage. After a humorous interactive dance-off (and one of the best title sequences of the year), Yang ceases to function, leaving a void, or more symbolically a death in the family. It’s a gorgeous film made by a master storyteller who explores how death affects family relationships, and questions prejudice and assumptions. Loved, loved this one.
Aftersun | Charlotte Wells, Director + Writer
A beautiful memory piece of family relationships and identity, Calum, a father (a stunning performance by Paul Mescal), and Sophie, his 11 year-old daughter (a remarkable turn by newbie Frankie Corio), spend a holiday together in Turkey in the 1990s, as remembered by an adult Sophie. In her debut film, Wells hones in on small details in her storytelling and sets a dream-like tone of childhood-to-adolescence – Sophie loving her father, but not really knowing the man. Intercut scenes are flickering collages, seeing just enough of the present and the past co-mingled, as elusive as memories themselves. A souvenir Polaroid is taken of the pair in the resort. As the camera lingers, the photo never fully develops. Love and loss are explored through hazy memories. Left the theater gutted, replaying it over and over in my mind.
Ahed’s Knee | Nadav Lapid, Director + Writer
In-your-face-filmmaking from language to technique, using intense close-ups, whip pans and, sometimes unbearable sound shapes Lapid’s fourth project. Y, a free-thinking Israeli filmmaker, struggles with his country’s politics when invited back to his remote hometown village to present one of his films. Over the course of one day, he tries to cope with family issues, war memories, and Yahalom, the attractive government employee hosting the event. Their rapport is flirtatious until she requires him to sign a form restricting the topics for the post-film Q&A. Y spirals into a rage-filled rant. Lapid’s story veers from the resentment of a right-leaning government to Yahalom’s complicity in carrying out its policies. Y is casting Ahed’s Knee, his new project at the film’s start, the knee metaphor, support vs. subservience serves as the film’s foundation.
The Banshees of Inisherin | Martin McDonagh, Director + Writer
On a tiny, remote Irish isle in the 1920s, there’s not much to do. Meeting friends at the pub is the primary diversion for the locals. McDonagh, more quietly than in his previous work, breaks the bonds of a longtime friendship between Colm and Pádraic (Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, paired again after In Bruges, and doing excellent work) with little explanation. There’s confusion. Then insanity – as only McDonagh can envision it – ensues. Banshees is the opposite of In Bruges: two men falling out of platonic love, set against spare, soulful landscapes, living monotonous lives. When Colm wants more from his life to focus on his music and jettisons the slightly dim farmer, it sets off complex, elliptical arguments on art, friendship and roots. Bitterly funny and dark, yet filled with humanity – it’s a fine line for a filmmaker to walk, but in all these capable hands, it’s a feckin’ gem.
Great Freedom | Sebastian Meise, Director + Co-Writer
Driven by an exquisite performance by Franz Rogowski, Miese delivers a quiet, character study about the resilience of the human spirit in the worst of circumstances. In post-war Germany, Hans is imprisoned repeatedly under Paragraph 175, a law that criminalizes homosexuality. Over the course of decades, he develops an unlikely bond with a fellow prisoner, Viktor (Georg Friedrich), a convicted murderer serving a life sentence. Rogowski consistently turns in great performances, and this may be his best yet. The film’s success hinges on less of what Hans says, and more of what is seen and done to him. Friedrich’s work is every bit his match. For all the horror of the human rights abuses, Meise keeps his direction light, letting the story evolve through the actors’ faces and the visuals.
Happening | Audrey Diwan, Director + Co-writer
Writer-director Audrey Diwan’s adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical novel, L'événement, was released in the US around the time of the SCOTUS leaked draft overturning Roe v. Wade. The film’s resemblance to the current law in the US, nearly 60 years apart, is frightening. Anna, a student in early 1960s France, discovers that she’s pregnant and is not ready for a baby. Abortion is illegal in France at that time and her options are nearly nonexistent.
The film unfolds in weeks for obvious reasons and charts the practical resolve of a desperate young woman. It’s a fearless, brutally honest film about a woman's lack of choice or support, without being judgmental or preachy. Through Diwan’s strong direction, Anamarie Vartolomei’s lead performance is stunning. Her silences through all the disbelief and horror that she experiences convey more than any words ever could.
Hit the Road | Panah Panahi, Director + Writer
Through both humor and heartache, Panah Panahi – son of the formerly imprisoned and now restricted Iranian filmmaker, Jafar Panahi – drops us in the middle of one family’s road trip through Iran. Initially, we don’t know who this family is, where they are going, or why. We see universal family dynamics play out, the good and the bad, while cooped up together in a car. Beautiful, clear vistas give way to fog-drenched landscapes. The tone shifts from comical interactions to somber discussions as the destination and reason for the journey are revealed. It’s a terrific first feature from Panahi who gracefully modulates the family’s bonds with their eventual loss, set against the backdrop of a repressive regime. The performances are strong across the board, including the actor playing the young son, who has enough energy for 20 people.
Fire of Love | Sara Dosa, Director
To say that this couple, French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, were obsessive about volcanoes would be a great understatement. The eerily beautiful documentary is crafted from the scientists’ archival footage with filmmaker/actor Miranda July supplying the voiceover. Their story is told chronologically, and it has an ominous tone from the start. The footage is nothing short of thrilling, shot from the 1970s thru the 1990s. The pair stood within feet of eruptions to document them, collect samples and take measurements. The closeups of lava spewing all around them and massive lava flows as they hike and camp as close as possible to the mouths of the volcanoes is astonishing, and symbolic of their passion for their work and each other. While they were highly respected scientists and their work with local governments helped to develop safety and evacuation procedures, I found them both brilliant and repulsive at the same time. With messianic complexes. That said, the documentary and its subjects are fascinating.
Flux Gourmet | Peter Strickland, Director
An acquired taste (no pun intended), Flux is pure Strickland. His films border on experimental and abstract. I enjoy immersing myself in them. As in all his films, sound plays a huge role. This one centers on a group of experimental performance artists known for their sonic catering – extracting sounds from food preparation as part of their erotic artform – funded by a wealthy donor and in residence at her Sonic Catering Institute. A journalist with gastrointestinal issues is hired to cover the day-to-day process of creation. He inadvertently gets sucked into the collective’s dysfunctional history and their artistic temperaments. It's a deliciously bizarre, horrific and funny kind of satire, and is one of Strickland's more accessible films with a somewhat formal narrative structure, unlike his previous films, A Duke of Burgundy and In Fabric. The director balances embracing art and artists while skewering the art world's pretension.
Kimi | Steven Soderbergh, Director
This fast-paced, pandemic-era popcorn thriller channels Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Antonioni’s Blow Up. Zoë Kravitz gives a terrific performance as Angela, an agoraphobic tech monitor of “Kimi,” an Alexa-like smart speaker. While working, she discovers an audio recording which she believes is evidence of a murder. When she reports it to her superiors, she gets further entangled in a mystery. Her only option in seeking justice is to face her fear and leave her home. Soderbergh keeps the film lean – a brisk 90 minutes, where much of the action is contained to one room. The cool lighting reflects a tech world and adds a threatening veneer as does the sound design. The film effectively taps into lockdown paranoia and combines it with the precariousness of our digital lives.
The Pink Cloud | Iuli Gerbase, Director + Writer
Gerbase’s first feature film, written and shot pre-pandemic, is eerily prescient in foretelling the effects and adaptations required under a prolonged lockdown. A deadly pink cloud appears forcing everyone around the world to stay inside. After a one night stand, two strangers attempt to mold themselves into a couple as years of shared lockdown pass. As they raise a son together, their feelings in a seemingly permanent lockdown diverge. The lighting is strangely beautiful with a soft overall pink glow in stark contrast to the claustrophobic apartment (and opposing mental states of the two characters). The director balances the partners nicely as power shifts over time. Is it too soon to watch a surreal film that was a mirror of our reality over the past few years? Up to you. I found it both riveting and haunting, and familiar and cathartic.
Three Thousand Years of Longing | George Miller, Director
Downshifting a bit from Mad Max mode, Miller presents an immensely satisfying and hopeful feast for the heart and the eyes. In this luscious, fantastical tale, Alithea (Tilda Swinton) is a solitary narratologist driven by academic reason. While at a conference abroad, she buys a souvenir bottle and releases a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. A cautionary tale – as Alithea, and we, know how wishes can backfire – posing many questions about existence and humanity. It’s a sprawling story about storytelling, with Elba and Swinton fully inhabiting their characters as the storytellers, both trapped in different ways but longing for connection, as they recount their lives, past and present.
More Notable Films of 2022
ADDENDUM: Don't miss The Batman, Benediction, Catherine Called Birdy, Crimes of the Future, Cow, Emily The Criminal, Fear, Good Night Oppy, I Was a Simple Man, Nitram, The Northman, Turning Red, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, and Women Talking.
On My List to See
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed; Athena; Boiling Point; The Cathedral; Descendant; Decision to Leave; EO; The Eternal Daughter; The Fabelmans; The Janes; Lingui, The Sacred Bonds; Living; The Menu; Moonage Daydream; No Bears; Resurrection; Saint Omer; We’re All Going to the World’s Fair; and many more.
Previous years' unofficial lists are here and here. For my official best-of-film lists, check out the past years: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015. You might find something unexpected and interesting to you.
The 2023 Oscars: Back to Indulgence
The 2023 Academy Awards are scheduled for Sunday, 12 march, in their full excess. The nominations should be interesting.
Did you return to seeing movies in theaters in 2022, or are you addicted to streaming?
Design + animation: © 2022 Janet Giampietro, popcorn photo: Corina Rainer, Unsplash | Posters are copyright of each studio, production company or streaming service.
