Michael Ward on Saturday, March 11

THE BEST FILMS OF 2022

Are theaters back?

This became almost the singular conversation around cinemas, movies, and the theatrical business model in 2022. As a large number of movies failed to blow the doors off the box office as in years past, the narrative became that moviegoers were hesitant to return to theaters, following two intense years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the best movies of 2022 failed to gross a lot of money, shifting the narrative from people not wanting to go to movies to a theory that adults didn’t want to watch more dramatic/adult fare and would simply wait to watch dramas at home.

The multiplex became a place to see the blockbuster, or the big budget epic saga. Or at least that’s how it appears.

When you add in that movies and streaming series are available to consumers in higher abundance than perhaps any other moment in history, there are just so many options for viewing. Do we dare ask the question: Have movies become passé?

Before that question was answered, along comes Top Gun: Maverick, which simply told everyone “Hold my Fuel.”

Selling more than 78 million tickets and grossing $718 million in domestic box office, Steven Spielberg would tell Tom Cruise, famously, that Top Gun: Maverick singlehandedly saved the movie theater. Before 2022 would wrap up, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($438.3 million), Avatar: The Way of Water ($673 million and counting), and Doctor Strange in the Multi-Verse of Madness ($411 million) would all lay claim to some of the largest grosses in movie history.

One problem: Per the “blockbuster” narrative, those films are all sequels or continuing films in a franchise or series. Of the 18 films that grossed more than $100 million in 2022, Elvis, Nope, Smile and The Lost City were pretty much the only original screenplays to find that threshold of success.

Maybe the question we need to be asking is this: are there any original ideas that audiences are interested in, or are we simply in a period of time where nostalgia-based/episodic storytelling are simply what perks the interest of audiences? 2023 is seemingly showing a mix of films drawing interest from audiences, so perhaps time will tell.

While massive blockbusters may be somewhat absent from the following list of the Best Films of 2022, there is great appreciation for movies, of any kind, to find an audience. No matter whether they come from outside the United States or not, we should all be compelled by great storytelling; by the films and experiences that keep us guessing, keep us engaged, and keep us wanting more.

And whether characters are built around tragedy, menace, misunderstanding, or a passion to do what they do, no matter the cost, these films and stories, no matter the final auditing of ticket sales, left an indelible impression on us.

With respect to a number of films who just missed landing on this list, here are the Top 10 Films of 2022, as presented through the words of the the artists themselves.

10. RRR
Director: S.S. Rajamouli
Release Date: March 25, 2022
Where Available: Netflix

The Signature Moment:
Pick one: The “Naatu Naatu” dance sequence, the wild animal attack during the British aristocrats’ party, the bridge rescue. RRR is a film full of signature moments.

For many, S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR is truly the movie that delivers everything everywhere all at once. The Telugu-language Indian import has captivated audiences around the globe with its unbelievable combination of action, drama, comedy, music, dancing, and astonishing action sequences.

From its Oscar-nominated original song, “Naatu Naatu,” to moments that simply must be seen to be believed, along with a splash of mistaken identity and commentary on British imperialism and their rule over the Indian people at the turn of the 20th century, RRR is unlike anything you have ever seen.

(Rajamouli): “For me, finding a particular plot of a movie is just an excuse to express my emotions in a very fantastic way. These kinds of ideas are always there, I just need to build a platform on which I can mount them. Once I get a sense of, ‘OK, we have two freedom fighters whom we look up to like demigods, and I’m going to tell a fictional tale about him,’ I don’t need to stick to the facts. The points in the plotline enable me to do the fantastic action sequences. I like to stretch the audience’s imagination as far as possible, and still make them feel for those action sequences. Not just a sense of awe, but also a kind of emotional feeling for the characters as the sequences are going forward.”

(on the Oscar-nominated “Naatu Naatu” song and sequence): “[With RRR] things were different, however, because at the beginning of the film we knew that we were going to have a dance song . I needed to make it believable, so I had to create a long buildup scene for the song to happen. The song is a story in itself. I explained this to the music director: ‘I’m not looking it as a song. It should be kind of a fight. Imagine it’s a fight scene, but one where [the fight] can be celebrated.’ Those were my instructions for my composer." - Deadline, December 28, 2022

9. THE FABELMANS
Director: Steven Spielberg
Release Date: November 13, 2022
Where Available: VOD

The Signature Moment:
At his dad’s persistance, aspiring teenage filmmaker Sammy agrees to edit together footage of a family camping trip as a present to his grieving mother.

Reflecting on a career that now spans five decades and some of the most iconic movies in history, legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg turned inward and looked at his own life, analyzing the events which inspired him to become a filmmaker in the deeply personal The Fabelmans.

With a stellar cast embodying siblings, parents, and self, Spielberg unflinchingly documents the successes and struggles that made him the storyteller and person he has become. Celebrating a nostalgic love of cinema and the excitement and wonder of seeing movies as larger-than-life, it is the humbling realities of what happens when the camera is turned off which seem to matter just as much.

(actor Gabriel LaBelle on first meeting Spielberg and then creating a similar character on screen):

“When I read the script for the first time I asked him how much of this really happened and he said all of it. And I just got to hear all these stories of him growing up which is really - one, entertaining because he’s a good storyteller, and, two, insightful because I’m going to be able to utilize that in my performance.

I could see footage of him as a young kid and try to resemble him physically and his walk and his posture and his smile and then try to put as much of his experience into the script and into the character. There’s no point trying to impersonate him, no one knows how he would have behaved 60 years ago, he’s a successful established man, he’s a confident man, but back then he wasn’t Steven Spielberg. And that was just trying to use what he’d told me and what I’d seen of him and the script and trying to make what makes sense for me.” - Filmhounds, January 25, 2023

8. FIRE OF LOVE
Director: Sara Dosa
Release Date: July 6, 2022
Where Available: Disney+, Hulu

The Signature Moment:
Two young volcanists meet, connect, and fall in love as they share a common passion.

The year’s best documentary does what the best documentaries so often do - they immerse us into worlds we seldom witness or experience. Director Sara Dosa blends remarkable archival footage with a captivating narration by Miranda July in telling the tragic love story of Katia and Maurice Krafft, scientists who met, fell in love, and devoted their lives to studying and researching volcanoes around the world.

(Dosa): “I hope that Katia and Maurice’s story can really inspire an example of what it means to live a meaningful life, and ultimately die a meaningful death. So much of that was how they understood the relationship of love and their life. Like for them, they went towards the unknown that is volcanoes. All the while knowing that they could never fully understand. That’s something that they would both often say, it’s like volcanoes are beyond human comprehension. 

But they still went towards that unknown, in search of understanding because that journey brought them profound love and meaning. That kind of clarity of purpose is so powerful and so inspiring to me. I think especially at a heightened time in history, when so many people, of course, have been experiencing uncertainty, fear, disaster, catastrophe for so long, but on this global scale with a pandemic, I feel like Katia and Maurice can serve as a North Star in terms of reconciling how to navigate uncertainty towards meaning, through the idea of love and understanding. And that’s, for me, an incredibly powerful lesson. ” - Oscars Central, February 3, 2023

7. WOMEN TALKING
Director: Sarah Polley
Release Date: December 23, 2022
Where Available: Amazon Prime Video and VOD

The Signature Moment:
After coming to the realization that they have all been victimized by sexual assault, a community of women assemble to discuss whether they will collectively stay and fight or leave the only place they know as home.

Women Talking is a bold and brave film that eschews showy aesthetics and elaborate set pieces and trusts its audience to invest in the dramatic heft and personal stories being told on screen. Writer/director Sarah Polley delivers a stunning, insightful, and timely look at a multi-generational group of women, reeling from the recent realization that they have all been victims of sexual assault in an isolated Mennonite community.

Based on true events, eleven women gather in a barn to decide whether to stay and fight the men who are abusing them or depart the colony and move somewhere new. Over the course of the film, the women share stories, experiences, and debate on what next steps to take.

(Polley): “So, initially, I just wanted to write the film because that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 10 years, since I had kids. I have three little kids now, so the idea of being on set for 17-hour days felt incompatible with being able to be present with them. I said that I’d love to direct it too, but that didn’t seem viable to me, and I sort of floated the idea of changing the regular hours of a film set to accommodate people being able to see their families or loved ones. Fran (Frances McDormand, producer) said, ‘Men have written the rules of the film industry, but this is Women Talking. Let’s rewrite the rules.’

(on adapting Miriam Toews’ book in to a screenplay): “I asked her, ‘What’s the most important thing for you in this adaptation?’ She said, ‘The laughter.’ That was a great North Star for me to have. Any time we felt the pressure building up, we found a way to release it.” - Vogue, February 19, 2023

6. AFTERSUN
Director: Charlotte Wells
Release Date: October 21, 2022
Where Available: VOD

The Signature Moment:
11-year-old Sophie sings “Losing My Religion,” at a karaoke bar while her father watches, unable to join her on stage.

A debut film that stunned audiences and left them grappling with their emotions, Aftersun signifies the arrival of Charlotte Wells, who shares a heartbreaking, yet beautiful story of a father, fighting depression, spending a summer vacation with his 11-year-old daughter.

Starring Oscar nominee Paul Mescal as Calum and the powerful debut of Frankie Corio, as his 11-year-old daughter Sophie, the film is told in flashback - at first in a more conventional linear way, until an adult Sophie’s thoughts and memories begin flooding the narrative and see her address a suppressed grieving and loss for a father she can only remember through the videos and memories she saved.

(Wells): “I envisioned a film about a young father and his daughter on holiday, a father who might be mistaken for her brother, and who were very much partners in crime. And while the seed of that endured, I think the process of allowing my own memories and recollections, and my own relationship with my dad, began to seep into the structure of the film. As I sought out references, one of the things I was looking to explore with memory was how filmmakers portray memory and how they allow audiences in.” - MUBI, January 6, 2023

5. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Director: The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert)
Release Date: March 25, 2022
Where Available: Paramount+, Showtime on Demand, VOD, Theaters

The Signature Moment:
In trouble with the IRS, the Wang family visit an agent assigned to their affairs, when husband Waymond confronts his wife, Evelyn, in an elevator.

A multiverse movie on steroids, with a beautiful beating heart in the middle of all the chaos, Everything Everywhere All At Once has won audiences over with its unprecedented wild style and vision, but also with its touching, heartfelt look at a family desperately trying to find a way to heal its increasing divides.

Directed by a tandem known as The Daniels, and showcasing career-defining performances from Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, and introducing the world to Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a film, from the absurd to the sublime, well on its way to becoming a generational classic.

(Director Daniel Kwan): “It really came together when we did our table read with all the family of actors, Michelle, Ke, Stephanie, and James Hong. We read the whole thing out loud, and we would constantly be like, ‘You know what, that’s not how my family would talk.’ We would rewrite it together. And someone would say something, and we would all laugh because we were like, ‘Yes! That’s exactly what my mother would say.’ I think that made the whole thing come alive.

And the finale, the way it all wraps up, I think might get lost to English-speaking audiences. The final speech that Evelyn gives in front of her father and Waymond and her daughter starts in English so that she can communicate with her daughter, moves to Mandarin so that she can communicate with her husband, and moves to Cantonese so her father gets pulled in, and then ends once again in this Chinglish space, mostly English, almost as a way to pull it all together. So even in the structure of her speech, we try to be a metaphor for how she’s trying to pull it all together.”

(Director Daniel Scheinert): “We structurally wanted the movie to have a rewarding, broad, gentle final feeling. We looked at Groundhog Day and It’s A Wonderful Life as movies where the main character loses all hope and then regains it, as references to say, okay, underneath it all, we don’t want it to be just weird for weird’s sake.“ - The Beat, April 22, 2022

4. MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON
Director: Dean Fleischer-Camp
Release Date: July 22, 2022
Where Available: Paramount+, Showtime on Demand, VOD

The Signature Moment:
Newly divorced, a documentary filmmaker temporarily moves into an AirBnb and discovers a talking, sentient one-inch tall shell named Marcel.

The most endearing and charming film of the year is undoubtedly Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, a stop-motion animated dramatic comedy, adapted from a series of YouTube shorts, that follows a documentary filmmaker (Fleischer-Camp) shooting his interactions with a one-inch talking shell named Marcel (Jenny Slate).

Slate’s wonderful voiceover performance makes us believe in Marcel, who takes care of his Nana Connie (Isabella Rossellini) and draws the filmmaker and viewer into his fascinating view of the world and the moments which have shaped him into who and what he has become. Insightful, emotional, and quite lovely, Dean Fleischer-Camp’s film sheds the novelty of its premise and creates something truly unforgettable.

(Fleischer-Camp): “A lot of this movie was made with a hope and a prayer. And it was made in a really unorthodox way with the aim that at the end of it, we would arrive at a movie that really moved people. And even though there’s this whole technical process going on, we all had our fingers crossed that that would result in something that doesn’t feel technical or mechanical, but feels organic and emotional and really reaches people. And so I think that yeah, it’s amazing. And it gives me a lot of confidence in artistic vision, and the ability for art to connect people. They’re clichés that sound dumb when you say them out loud. but they’re very true to me right now." - Gizmodo, July 19, 2022

3. DECISION TO LEAVE
Director: Park Chan-wook
Release Date: October 14, 2022
Where Available: MUBI, VOD

The Signature Moment:
A private detective begins questioning the young widow of a deceased mountain climber.

A mind-bending mystery from South Korea, steeped in a love story that questions morality and judgment, Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave is a return to form for a filmmaker who has pushed boundaries and envelopes throughout his career, delivering films which leave images and moments resting with viewers nearly impossible to let go.

In unraveling the mystery surrounding the death of an older mountain climbing enthusiast, and his younger wife who becomes a suspect, the mental cat-and-mouse game which follows keeps viewers guessing. Knocked off-kilter, we are left to wonder not only whether the wife committed a crime, but also absorb into gorgeous cinematography, rhythmic editing, and brilliant writing that reminds us that truth and reality can often live in shades of grey and that, in some small way, every narrator can be an unreliable one.

(Chan-wook): “(My film is a) story about this unclear world and you’re trying to clearly see that blurry silhouette and that effort of trying to clearly see that blurry world. I think that is connected onto the job that I do. I think this is the attitude that a creator or an artist should have. Think about [the detective] Hae-joon with his eye drops: he’s putting them in his eyes and blinking, and trying to see objects around him more clearly. In this world where the meaning of it all is so unclear, this is the attitude that the artist should view our world with. So even though the effort of our character Hae-joon fails, and he is ultimately sucked into this curtain of mist and darkness and he fails to clearly see the world in the end, I do believe it’s the effort that matters most.

From beginning to the end, what I really intended was to make this a dreamlike world, where you feel lost and you don’t know which way to go and everything is unclear. That kind of psychological state, where you’re still searching for something, you’re still searching for clarity. That was the kind of dreamlike state that I intended to create here.” -
Deadline, January 12, 2023

2. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Director: Martin McDonagh
Release Date: November 4, 2022
Where Available: HBO Max, VOD

The Signature Moment:
Believing they are best friends, Pádraic is told by Colm that he doesn’t want to be his friend anymore.

The writing is so good in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, you cannot help but find a soft space in your heart for all of these damaged individuals. Whether heartstrings are pulled toward the hangdog demeanor of Colin Farrell, the damaged but perpetually optimistic Barry Keoghan, the gruff and angry Brendan Gleeson, or the desperate voice of reason looking to finally live a life on her own in Kerry Condon, the fantastical elements surrounding these Banshees fall away and we find a way to connect with every emotion and reaction made by a group of characters trying to survive on a remote island in 1920s Ireland.

When Gleeson’s character tells Farrell’s character he no longer wants to be friends, and will cut off one finger at a time if Farrell doesn’t stop bothering him, a fascinating role reversal occurs. We become willing participants in how these characters behave and react, mesmerized by not only the embedded pride that comes with toxic masculinity, but the impact our behaviors cause and how blind we can be to how our behaviors impact those around us.

There may not be a better film in 2022 with greater insight into who we are as people, present-day, then this film - set more than 100 years in the past.

(McDonagh): “[I was] just trying to capture the sadness of a breakup. I don’t usually write directly from personal pain—I was going through something not dissimilar in a romantic way—but I knew it would be about a platonic relationship between two guys. So the very first thing was to capture sadness, which isn’t what a film company would want you to be doing. [Laughs] But it turned out OK!

We all have egos, but I don’t have the kind of ego that needs to be the top dog. So [Colin and Brendan] trust that my ego isn’t going to get in the way, and I trust them in the exact same way. It’s all about finding solutions together to make us all better. (That) opening statement, ‘I just don’t like you anymore.’ Aside from that, I didn’t have too much more. But I find it more exciting to not know what the hell’s going to come. So even the threat about [Colm cutting off his own] fingers—that wasn’t there until that day of writing. But when something like that comes up, it gives you so much information and so many dramatic potentialities. When he made that threat, I knew that these [fingers] weren’t going to survive. It was just like: How many are we going to lose?” - Backstage, February 22, 2023

1. TÁR
Director: Todd Field
Release Date: October 28, 2022
Where Available: Peacock, VOD

The Signature Moment:
Legendary conductor Lydia Tár receives a surprise package from a former student.

You can’t shake TÁR, Todd Field’s comeback story of a master conductor unraveling scene-by-scene and moment-by-moment as her carefully constructed world falls in around her. The film is a breathtaking 160-minute suspense/thriller housed within a character study of Lydia Tár, a woman (Cate Blanchett) who has achieved the highest of heights in her career but can no longer hide from her pattern of hiding secrets and disturbing behavior. In the end, everything catches up to her in Field’s essay on celebrity, cancel culture (and the myths associated with it), power, and whether Lydia truly understands the gravity of her actions and the damage she has left in her wake.

Blanchett’s mesmerizing performance as Lydia Tár hits every unsettling note perfectly, as her ego, hubris, and outright defiance towards anything that doesn’t focus on her own career and interests is on ample display. And yet, as she starts to crack, the film hits another level of fascinating curiosity and we, as viewers, begin to question whether Lydia’s reality is truly being shown to us or whether we have dissolved into her blurred and skewed view of the world.

Todd Field’s first film in over a decade showcases his immense talents as a storyteller, while building a cinematic world for Blanchett to deliver, arguably, the finest performance of her stellar career.

Full of moments big and small, there is so much to be discovered in TÁR. You simply want to revisit it again and again, looking for clues, details, and moments that help explain the dizzying descent we take with such a complicated character.

(Field): “…Given the themes of the film and examining the sort of scandal part of it…I had no interest in pointing at the particulars of those things or the discussion around those things. Protests against hierarchical, essentially white male power, are something we all know about, that we’ve all experienced from the time we were young. Whether it was in the media or not, it was something we could passively observe on a day-to-day basis: we could see who held the power and who was able to get away with certain things that others were not.

(on working with Cate Blanchett): “So, it’s about process. The actual process of making the film was very sort of reflective of the themes of the film. It was a very, very open conversation, and we worked and collaborated as equals and were open to a lot of experimentation on a constant basis. Cate and I were holding onto each other as sort of dance partners that way. And we tried to keep a sense of play in it, which is what process is about.” - Deadline, March 6, 2023