I know, I know, I am so late with this list. But I had to catch up and make sure I’d seen everything before finalizing it. Not that it made too much of a difference this year, as most of my favorite films of 2022 came out long ago, and I don’t think anything I had to catch up with at the end of the year made it into my top ten.
1) NOPE
A provocative, unusual thriller from Jordan Peele that asks you to really think about and dissect what it is you’re seeing onscreen
2) HAPPENING
An intense, claustrophobic French drama about a rebellious college student in early 1960’s France who must track down a way to get an abortion. An excellent companion piece to the classic 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
3) RRR
This was the most movie you could see all year, a big, loud, Bollywood style, John Woo influenced action buddy cop movie that was 100% fun from start to finish
4) TAR
Cate Blanchett’s greatest performance as the self-destructive world class composer Lydia Tar, who finds herself in the throws of so-called cancel culture and makes every wrong move to get out of it
5) AFTERSUN
A nearly abstract memory piece that calls on the viewer to piece together the implications of a young girl’s childhood vacation with her father (Paul Mescal)- effectively devastating
6) ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Edward Berger’s German language adaptation of the classic novel is a solid, well crafted wartime drama that radiates authenticity
7) CYRANO
Joe Wright is just so darn good at swooning period romance- even in this pandemic saddled movie Peter Dinklage shines (and sings) as a different kind of Cyrano
8) THE FABELMANS
Steven Spielberg documents his own origin story in this warm and reflective look at his childhood in AZ; Gabriel LaBelle is a discovery as the young Spielberg stand-in
9) BONES AND ALL
This teen angst road movie is filled with gore and grossness, but sensitively filmed by Luca Guadagnino- Timothy Chalamet would be a huge star in another era; in ours he’s a phenom among those in the know
10) WOMEN TALKING
Women Talking is an intelligent, literate film written and directed by Sarah Polley that turns a book into a film that could well be turned into a play, a female companion piece to 12 Angry Men
