Favorite Films of 2022

2022 in cinema continued to be challenging for the theatrical release model but showed significant progress in comparison to the pandemic-era standard of the past few years. While independent films continued to face challenges bringing audiences back to theaters, massive releases such as Top Gun: Maverick and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever found commercial success around the globe, showing signs that movie lovers still believe in the theatrical experience. Also notable, some of the world's most exciting and influential film festivals returned to full bloom in the past year, much to the rejoice of cinephiles and industry heavyweights everywhere. Through the festival circuit and traditional movie-going experience, many thought-provoking and moving films have cropped up, searing profound cinematic moments into my mind that will leave lasting marks on my sensibilities forever.

While it is nearly impossible to narrow down a list of 10 favorite films from 2022, I have done my best to complete my mission, permitting me to reflect on the year in movies and find intriguing connections between the works I have favored. Preferring to choose my "favorite films of the year" instead of the "best films of the year" allows me to explore what has been most personally affecting and moving. From blockbuster spectacles to intimate arthouse films, here are my favorite movies of the year that I have grown connected to championing as they have made their way into the world.

*At the end of this feature, you will find a list of honorable mentions and a list of the films I have not yet seen*

10. “NOPE”

Jordan Peele's NOPE was my favorite big-budget movie of 2022, a year when many quality blockbusters surprised me with impressive screenplays and performances. Peele's creative genius as one of the world's most exciting filmmakers continued into NOPE, delivering a narrative and visual spectacle unlike any movie before. The film pays homage to both the Western and Sci-fi genres while excavating the corrupt power structures embedded in Hollywood filmmaking. Central performances from Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yuen balance NOPE's immaculate visual and audio language by creating new and authentic characters to connect emotionally. Peele's latest work is one of the year's most entertaining and intellectual films.

9. “Women Talking”

Women Talking, directed by Sarah Polley, is an unforgettable movie that balances narrative with performance, unlike any other work of the year. Inspired by real-life incidents in a Mennonite society in South America, Women Talking takes place within the confines of a hayloft, where a group of Mennonite women must determine their future after learning that the men in their community have systematically abused them and their daughters. Adapted from a novel of the same name, Women Talking boasts a powerful screenplay and incredible acting from a nearly all-female cast that includes Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, and Sheila McCarthy. Although quite intimate in scale, Women Talking speaks to the current era of feeling through its investigation of one-sided, misogynistic systems of power that control and abuse societies around the world.

8. “Aftersun”

Since premiering at Cannes last spring, Aftersun, directed by Charlotte Wells, has been universally praised by critics worldwide and hailed as one of the greatest debut feature films of the year. Fascinatingly textured, Aftersun is based on Well's impressions of memory from a Mediterranean vacation with her father as a pre-teen. The film is a two-hander, with Paul Mescal playing the young father Calum and newcomer Frankie Corio as his daughter Sophie. Aftersun remains loosely tied to a traditional narrative structure, instead relying more on the tactility of details through sound and light to embody the director's memories from her past. As a result, watching Aftersun is uniquely rewarding - the type of film that washes over a viewer and leaves a profoundly haunting footmark in one's mind.

7. “Bones and All”

Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All is a romantic, enchanting road film that found the director capturing his perspectives of disenfranchised America for the first time through the eyes of misfit cannibals on the fringes of society. Guadagnino once again explores the nuances of young love and sexuality, casting the beautiful Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet as the tragic lovers at the film's core. While Bones and All received much attention for its flesh-eating themes and scenes, the film's rumination on outcasted individuals through that symbolism is effectively emotional and compelling. Deeply passionate in the manner of Call Me By Your Name and fearless like Suspiria, Bones and All will stand out as one of Guadagnino's most remarkable achievements in filmmaking.

6. “TÁR”

Todd Field's highly-anticipated return to directing after a 15-year hiatus surely did not disappoint, with TÁR standing out as one of the most mesmerizing and divisive films of 2022. TÁR stars Cate Blanchett as the fictional composer-conductor Lydia Tár, an EGOT winner and chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic working on the pièce de résistance of her career while her carefully constructed world crashes around her. Blanchett's performance is one of her best, exploring the "God complex" that Tár's character has created for herself through her abuse of power and creative process. TÁR explores the mind of an artistic genius at odds with our modern world without ever choosing sides, allowing audiences to make their own opinions about the film's central character and her manipulation of the world. While many have found TÁR's explorations of power to be grating or dishonest, they hooked me from the first scene to the last.

5. “Saint Omer”

Alice Diop's feature film debut Saint Omer remains hauntingly etched into my memory, even months after seeing it for the first time. Based loosely on the French director's experiences following a real-life court case, Saint Omer stars Kayije Kagame as Rama, a pregnant writer who attends the trial of a woman called Laurence (Guslagie Malanda), an immigrant from Senegal accused of killing her infant daughter. Closely tied to Diop's roots as a French citizen born to Senegalese parents, Saint Omer is a fascinating glance into immigrant identity and France's complicated nationalism. The movie takes place mainly within the confines of a courtroom, where Laurence's character can finally share her experience, and Diop treats her story with unique and complex compassion. Saint Omer is a bold and brilliant achievement for Diop and one of my favorite films of the year.

4. “Benediction”

Although British auteur Terence Davies' latest film, Benediction, premiered at TIFF in 2021, it was not released theatrically until the summer of 2022, qualifying it in my mind for this list of favorites. Davies again constructs an artist biopic with Benediction, concentrating on World War I-era poet Siegfried Sassoon. As part of the "Bright Young Things," Sassoon lived during a fascinating historical moment that quickly gave way to the conservatism of wartimes that plagued England for so much of the 20th century. Sassoon's capitulation to the traditional conventions of heteronormativity greatly influenced his troubled existence and spiritual torment. A filmmaker who constantly examines his own life through his work, Davies mirrors his own story with Sassoon's to expose battles with queer identity and a quest for spiritual deliverance. Although ultimately quite grievous, Benediction is cleverly scripted and gorgeously filmed to create a fully-fleshed biopic that stands out as one of my favorite movies of 2022.

3. “Both Sides of the Blade”

While the iconic French filmmaker Claire Denis was enduring pandemic-related delays on Stars at Noon (also released this year, arguably the director's messiest work), she decided to pivot to an intimate screen adaptation of a 2018 Christine Angot novel to create Both Sides of the Blade. Starring Vincent Lindon, Juliette Binoche, and Grégoire Colin, Both Sides of the Blade is a romantic and unsettling film that taps into Denis' immense talent for directing outstanding performances. Both Sides of the Blade centers around Sara (Binoche) and Jean (Lindon), a seemingly happy couple suddenly challenged when Sara sees her ex-lover on the street one day. Shot with a micro-budget with the constraints of Paris lockdowns, the film has elements of a chamber piece, further allowing the acting to deliver the intensity of emotion that oozes from the first shot to the last. Despite the emotional turmoil I felt after watching, Both Sides of the Blade is one of my favorite movies of the year.

2. “The Eternal Daughter”

Joanna Hogg is one of cinema's most daring filmmakers of our time; making works both intellectually stimulating and deeply emotional. Her latest, The Eternal Daughter, is a haunting exploration of her relationship with her late mother disguised as a Gothic horror chamber piece. Through grief and memory, Hogg's film portrays her connection with her mother in profoundly personal but relatable forms rarely seen on screen. The Eternal Daughter stars Tilda Swinton, a lifelong friend of Hogg, in both of the film's central roles. Swinton's friendship with Hogg allows the work to emit a sense of vulnerability and truth only attainable because of their shared history. While The Eternal Daughter serves as its director's first foray into genre filmmaking, Hogg's sensibilities would never allow her to fall into the constraints of a traditional Gothic narrative, forever maintaining her perspective within the film's storytelling. Genuinely spooky and deeply emotional, The Eternal Daughter is one of my favorite of Hogg's works and a favorite movie of the year.

1 . “EO”

A non-linear narrative revolving around the horrors of modern humanity as seen through the eyes of a donkey? Sign me up! 84-year-old Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO delivers one of the most audacious works of the year, loaded with moments of magnificence and heartbreak throughout its tight-88-minute runtime. Daring visuals and a bombastic score have seared EO in my brain since catching it many months ago at its Cannes premiere. The inventiveness and intellectual sensibilities of EO are unmatched by any other film of the year for me, making it my very favorite. EO will hopefully find larger audiences in the coming months as its theatrical release expands and is notably the Polish entry for Best International Film at the 95th Academy Awards.

Honorable Mentions:

All Quiet on the Western Front

Corsage

Holy Spider

Petite Maman

The Banshees of Inisherin

Favorite Documentary:

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Favorite Unreleased Movies:

Joyland

Pacifiction

R.M.N

Return to Seoul

Sanctuary

Showing Up

The Eight Mountains

Have Yet To See:

Avatar: The Way of Water

Babylon

She Said