Favorite Films — 2022

Twenty-five films that left an impact on me — emotionally, intellectually, viscerally, a combination of many and more. Films that surprised me, enchanted me, and dared me to do better.

Most importantly… they were unforgettable.

25. Men

The best of the three films that Alex Garland has directed, Men is an absorbing, haunting, strange, and empathetic tale of a woman (a gripping Jessie Buckley) trying to sort out her own life post-tragedy, and realizing that there are some things she can’t escape. It’s emotionally intimate and visceral in ways Garland’s films haven’t been previously, and more intriguing and complex than its title may suggest.

24. Hit the Road

The key to understanding why this film is so good is Rayan Sarlak. This isn’t just because he gives one of the best child performances of any actor of recent years, but because his character, in the tradition of great child characters, isn’t designed to be “palatable” to mainstream audiences. He is brash, loud, annoying, adventurous, hilarious, weird and compassionate. These traits are not viewed as contradictory but complimentary.

23. Benediction

Terrence Davies’ tragic retelling of poet Siegfried Sassoon’s (wonderfully played by Jack Lowden) life, from his courage refusal to return to service during WWI, to his various affairs with men throughout the years, his attempts at assimilation, and ultimately how he struggles to handle the grief of not just his life, but others. Tender, empathetic, compassionate, yet also fearless in its darkness and how some wounds can’t fully heal.

22. Moonage Daydream

Brett Morgen’s stunning & visceral documentary that doesn’t seek to portray David Bowie in a classic biopic sense, but to capture his essence with a transcendent journey through time and space. Like the great music biopic I’m Not There, Morgen isn’t interested in something straightforward but something that as strange and unique as the man himself.

21. The Northman

Robert Eggers’ viking epic would be impressive enough on a craft level-alone (aided especially by DP Jarin Blaschke), but what makes this film unforgettable is how it seeks to not only deconstruct their myths, but how to put them back together. The Northman takes it times to reveal its true ethos, but once its revealed it enriches everything that came before and after with a unique sense of fatalism. The victories are hollow… but they’re still victories.

20. Emily the Criminal

The ruthlessness of capitalism laid bare in this gripping, tightly-controlled thriller centered on an incredible dramatic performance from Audrey Plaza. We feel the screws twisting in every corner, but they never feel superfluous — it all feels inevitable. A reminder that you don’t need all the tricks in the world to feel like the walls are closing in — you just need a good script and a sure hand from writer/director John Patton Ford.

19. Anaïs In Love

A hilarious and genuinely charming romantic comedy about a young, chaotic woman who finds herself in the midst of an affair with an older, married man, only to fall in love with his wife. Come for the comedic shenanigans that ultimately arise from that scenario, and stay for the sexy love story & nuanced drama that arises from that scenario too. It might be the most underrated film of 2022.

18. Resurrection

So much of horror coasts by on characters recognizing the horror around them, pointing it out, and no one believing them. It’s a tale as old as time. But Resurrection, Andrew Semans’ stunning film, makes this old tale feel raw again by threading in eternal questions such as “can we leave the past behind?” “What do we owe others?” These questions are explored through two of the year’s best performances from a never-better Rebecca Hall and an especially unnerving Tim Roth.

17. You Won’t Be Alone

You Won’t Be Alone asks if we’re capable of change. The answer is complicated. Our protagonist, a lonely witch, kills people and physically transforms herself into each of her victims. However, she discovers that, just because she can embody the identities of her victims, doesn’t mean that she herself can change. It’s about someone whose life is born of tragedy trying to seize control of her own life, no matter the consequences.

16. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

An incredible portraiture of the extraordinary Nan Goldin, drawing a line from her activism fighting against the indifference of a past government to victims of AIDs to the indifference of the current government to victims of the opioid epidemic. The story of someone who knows that to be heard — to be seen — to be valued — to make sure others live — you must raise hell.

15. The Eternal Daughter

The Eternal Daughter feels like the embodiment of this great line from last year’s film Spencer: “The past and the present are the same thing.” An impeccable ghost story from one of our best living directors (Joanna Hogg) that moves through time so seamlessly that we don’t notice how quickly it has all passed us by till its too late. We feel it through Tilda Swinton’s double-performance as Julie and her mother Rosalind, mining so much nuance and specificity from her characters in ways these double-performances don’t usually do.

14. All Quiet on the Western Front

War is a ticking clock, and sometimes we know the time… and other times we don’t, living in the dread of the unknown, or the terror of realizing we still have time. Terrifying and gripping, and also depressing in not just its grand gestures, but its banality. It’s both a film where a battle scene can be as tense as two soldiers robbing a farm, where you genuinely fear that a general’s feelings about a croissant could lead to more death.

13. Top Gun: Maverick

The most incredible leap in quality from an original film to its sequel, Top Gun: Maverick soars not because it ignores what came before it, but treats it as the world’s most pathos-laced backstory. It’s a hyper-sonic cinematic experience, lacing its jaw-dropping training & combat sequences with genuine stakes, some of them existential. What the hell is the point of even putting a man in a fighter jet in the age of automation? The film answers that question with a weary, but optimistic heart, still beating after all these years, hoping to see another sun rise over the clouds.

Also, my friend Bowen Tibbetts worked on this movie. Hi Bowen!

12. Murina

A chamber drama set on a Croatian island, in the beautiful sunlight and darkness of water. Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s feature is an astonishing character study that is so sensitive to her characters’ wants & needs, and how they conflict with one another, often externally, sometimes internally. It’s easier said that done, but in Kusijanović’s hands, sparks fly, especially in the murky depths of the water that surrounds our ensemble.

11. Broker

Hirokazu Kore-eda takes what could have easily been a melodramatic premise (people who sell abandoned babies on the black market becoming a family of their own), and plays it as straight as possible, letting the drama (and humor) naturally emerge, never forcing it. It’s so astute, so complex, so nuanced and genuinely surprising. It’s able to move you without ever over-playing its hand. The film just trusts its characters to do that for you.

10. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

The story of the little shell that could. What makes this wonderful little film so remarkable is that it could’ve coasted by on its comedy, but instead uses it as a jumping off point for something deeper and more melancholic. There’s an amazing vocal performance at the center obviously by Jenny Slate, who finds pathos in what could’ve been a one-note character.

9. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

There’s more to this familiar story than we know. Not just because Guillermo del Toro updates this familiar tale to Mussolini’s Italy, or the original songs that thread this film, but because of the film’s haunting & genuine meditation on life & death. It transforms this tale from merely another retread into something unexpectedly moving and unforgettable, filled with dark humor, visual splendor, and complex characters.

8. The Fabelmans

Both a classic Steven Spielberg film with its usual trademarks and emotional highs and lows, but also threaded with a humility that isn’t always present in his work. A story about accepting how out of control life is, how you can’t always fix things — sometimes you have to let life unfold. Even for Spielberg, a filmmaker with over five decades of films, this feels like a step forward.

7. Catherine Called Birdy

An adorable, hilarious, and original comedy set in medieval England about a rebellious young girl (played by an extraordinary Bella Ramsey) dealing with the trials and tribulations of growing up, with the added complication of her father wanting to marry her off for money. The style is wonderful, every character has a distinct POV, and at its core it’s a moving story about someone trying to hold onto their childhood in a world where it’s becoming increasingly difficult.

6. The Banshees of Inisherin

Martin McDonagh takes such a casual premise —one friend tells another he doesn’t want to be friends anymore — and uses it as the foundation for a tragicomedy to explore all the resentment, insecurity and anger that animates our lives. It’s a film that could have rested on its sparkling dialogue, or its darkly comic elements, but instead McDonagh uses them as scalpels to get at something deeper, and more profound, with one of the best casts of any film this year.

5. Happening

The greatest type of thriller — one that is locked in on our protagonist, faced with a seemingly quixotic task in 1960 anti-choice France: trying to get an abortion. The film doesn’t need to be didactic for you to feel tense, overwhelmed and furious: it just needs to live in the day-by-day, how our protagonist Anne (an incredible Anamaria Vartolomei) deals with the indignities of a fascist system that wants to force her to give birth. It’s an incredible film that proves how you don’t need a large budget to make a gripping period thriller — you just need a sure hand in the form of ascendant director/co-writer Audrey Diwan.

4. Turning Red

Domee Shi, the director of one of Pixar’s best short films (Bao), is now also the director of one of Pixar’s best feature films (Turning Red). Her stunning feature debut brings to the forefront a Chinese-Canadian girl (Mei Lee, voiced by an incredible Rosalie Chiang) not just struggling with puberty, but how when she’s anxious she turns into a giant red panda. Like Pixar’s best, it deepens the character and the story in ways we could never expect, with a wonderful ensemble, rich themes, and surprising comedy, as well as some of Pixar’s most expressive & freewheeling animation.

3. TÁR

There’s not enough words I can say about Todd Field’s masterpiece, with its remarkable patience, fascinating world, and complex characters. It’s some sort of cinematic miracle — one that takes its time to slowly unravel its protagonist Lydia Tár (one of Cate Blanchett’s greatest performances). It’s tense without being melodramatic, finding small notes that together build an unsettling narrative. Most importantly, it trusts its audience, knowing that we’ll be able to put the story together without holding our hands.

2. Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Daniels’ multidimensional dramedy that quickly and eloquently reveals itself to not just be a story about a multiverse collapsing, but about a family that explores all their trauma, sadness, pain, hope and joy, across the most sprawling cinematic canvass imaginable. For a film that feels so expansive, at its core it’s so intimate. Like Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze before them, the Daniels’ silly & ridiculous ideas are always in service of character & theme. Thus it doesn’t feel like a ride, or even an adventure, but a transformation.

1. Aftersun

Aftersun is a movie that challenges our notions of what a narrative could be. It sneaks up on you — luring you in with a casualness that almost feels objective, till you realize the rug has already been pulled from under you and you’re left to deal with what’s there. Writer/director Charlotte Wells’ stunning feature debut is about an unbridgeable divide, about people who want to connect… but can’t. Through no fault of their own, they’re pulled away by life itself. It’s a beautiful film — an emotional puzzle box that ultimately reveals the futility in solving the puzzle. Sometimes there aren’t answers… and that’s OK. That’s just life.

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Favorite Performances

My favorite performance out of any film this year is Frankie Corio’s in Aftersun. A brilliant breakout performance that is so nuanced, precise, but also demonstrating such ease. Like Rayan Sarlak’s incredible character in Hit the Road, this isn’t a Hollywood kid but an actual kid who exists as they are, narrative contrivance be damned. It’s such an assured performance for such a young performer.

My other favorite performances this year include:

• Anaïs in Love — Anaïs Demoustier
• The Banshees of Inisherin — The entire cast, but especially Kerry Condon
• Benediction — Jack Lowden
• Catherine Called Birdy — Bella Ramsey
• Corsage — Vicky Krieps
• Decision to Leave — Tang Wei
• The Eternal Daughter — Tilda Swinton
• Everything Everywhere All At Once —Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu
• The Fabelmans — Paul Dano
• Hit the Road — Rayan Sarlak
• TÁR — Cate Blanchett

Favorite Scenes of the Year:

Links to videos where available.

• Aftersun — “Under Pressure” (favorite overall scene of the year)
• Anaïs in Love — The beach scene (no English subtitles)
• Babylon — Nellie goes to “college”
• The Banshees of Inisherin — “Are you fecking stupid?”
• Everything Everywhere All At Once — The Hallway Fight
• The Eternal Daughter — “Happy birthday”
• The Fabelmans — The bully confronts Sammy after the Film
• RRR —“Naatu Naatu”
• TÁR — The Leonard Bernstein video
• Top Gun: Maverick — The Mission
• Turning Red — Mei and her Mother in the Astral Plane