Top 10 Movies of 2022
See also: https://alienationmentale.wordpress.com/2022/12/30/top-10-movies-of-2022/
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- DirectorS.S. RajamouliStarsN.T. Rama Rao Jr.Ram CharanAjay DevgnA fearless warrior on a perilous mission comes face to face with a steely cop serving British forces in this epic saga set in pre-independent India.RRR is cinematic passion epitomized; a reminder that "spectacle" not only still exists to be discovered for anyone willing to search outside Hollywood, but is also possibly at an all-time peak over in Tollywood. This is the best time I've had watching a movie in God knows how long and even just sitting here writing about it, I have a big stupid smile on my face.
Every single element of RRR "goes hard", as the kids say. The editing, the cinematography, the crazy (but inspired) setpieces, the way the characters and their emotions are realized, the way their interactions are presented, the visual effects, the sets (which are part of why this film has earned the epithet "epic"), the song-and-dance performances, the score, even the way the dialogue is recorded (as per Tollywood tradition, it's 100% ADR -- whether you're watching the "original" Telugu version or the "official" Tamil dub -- since diegetic audio won't achieve a sufficiently booming sound).
I can also guarantee you haven't seen this story before. Two Indian historical figures -- Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju reimagined as nigh-invulnerable superheroes -- become the best of friends (though they find out that they are actually enemies, that are actually-actually friends) and go on a musical-mystery-action adventure that involves drippingly sadistic Englishmen (the British Crown finally gets the Nazi-esque treatment that their colonial history warrants), love, betrayal, insane rescue missions, and also animals.
All of this is far more unapologetically over-the-top but also more straight-faced than a lot of modern Marvel Studios fare. We laugh, but we also care. We have a blast during the convivial "Naatu Naatu" number (which, essentially, also shows the British Empire getting defeated with a dance-off) but may also raise our fists in solidarity as a freedom fighter sings his people to action in "Komuram Bheemudo". Everything about this is just fantastic and I could go on and on ad infinitum. Instead, I leave you with a Letterboxd review from Patrick Willems that summarized the film superbly: "RRR is the best action movie of the year, the best musical of the year, the best romantic comedy of the year, the best historical drama of the year, and the best movie ever made about fighting colonialism with dance battles and armies of rampaging animals and most of all, friendship." Hear hear. - DirectorRuben ÖstlundStarsThobias ThorwidHarris DickinsonCharlbi DeanA fashion model celebrity couple join an eventful cruise for the super-rich.Ruben Östlund's Triangle of Sadness is a first-rate cringe comedy that may also be the ultimate satire of the current moment. It's not a subtle one at that (even if it does exhibit subtle touches in addition to the overt commentary; see Brian Tallerico's observation of the symbolic usage of the superyacht decks), but it's so well-made and thoroughly, aggressively entertaining that it makes me question if subtlety is a requirement. I sometimes tell people who whine that movies have gotten too political that, since a lot of the films they like are also "political", they aren't actually mad that movies are political, but that they're preachy and unsubtle.
Again, though, Triangle of Sadness isn't exactly discreet with its themes. However, I'd still argue that it lacks the preachiness -- or the obvious mouth-piece character -- that makes performatively woke Hollywood products undesirable to people, as well as their simple-mindedness (for all of the film's "blatant" jabs at capitalism, the rich, and the industries that get them that rich while others get nothing, something not too dissimilar from "the system" begins to take form when a bunch of characters wind up on a desert island and fancy themselves freed). Also, it is simply just an obscenely well-crafted comedy; a piece of escalatingly uncomfortable cringe humor that climaxes in utter catastrophe as a luxurious yacht gets caught in a storm and everyone vomits/defecates their fancy cuisine all over their expensive garments and silverware -- all while a drunken Zlatko Buric and Woody Harrelson slurredly discuss economics and philosophy amongst themselves.
This entire sequence, which inspired the vomitive money shot on the poster, is the hardest I've laughed in a theater in a long time, which feels odd to say about what technically qualifies as potty humor. Again, though, it's all about how it's done -- what builds towards it, what punctuates it, and what else is happening around it. It's a film that works in several ways; you'll have as much fun discussing "what really happened" during that final shot as I did laughing at the seasick supermodel getting doused in septic fluids. Yes, despite the issue of what the film "has to say" and how intelligently it truly does so, it turns out you can just praise a comedy based on how much it made you laugh. - DirectorMartin McDonaghStarsColin FarrellBrendan GleesonKerry CondonTwo lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.Another film I managed to catch on VOD, The Banshees of Inisherin is likely the most personal film that Martin McDonagh has ever made -- if he did indeed base this on experiences of his own; all I know for sure is he's back to his roots, filming in Ireland and reuniting Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, the starring duo of his In Bruges. It's hard to settle on what exactly to write here, as it's one of those movies where nobody can quite decide on what the film is about. What most will agree on is the following surface-level reading: It is (A) a story about friendship and (B) one of the most Irish movies ever made. (Subtitles are recommended even if English is your first language.)
It is also one of those movies that made me want to yell at the screen and I mean that in the best possible way. It's a film where things progressively get worse, and every time something does, characters will insist on making them worse than worse. We want to knock sense into them at every turn. However, we aren't frustrated because they're poorly written or too stupid to exist; we're frustrated because we can believe that these people are real and that their lives and situations would've led them to a point whereby this makes sense to them.
It helps that the actors are absolutely pitch-perfect; critic Glenn Kenny remarked that, for all of McDonagh's successful attempts at making films about America, "nobody does self-loathing quite like the Irish". In addition to the transfixing chemistry between Farell and Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan appear in show-stealing supporting roles.
The film also makes marvelous use of the Irish vistas (featuring several memorable shots of peaceful fields lined with dry stone walls and minuscule figures brooding atop the towering coastal cliffs) and Carter Burwell's score is both beautiful and haunting where it counts. And yes, there are many ways to read the text -- the significance of the animals, the cloaked whatever-she-is that lurks about the island (usually before something terrible happens), the possible Irish History allegories to be found, the existentialist question of basing your identity around your relationships (and the destruction that may take place once they end)... In any case, it's just a fecking good time. - DirectorTodd FieldStarsCate BlanchettNoémie MerlantNina HossSet in the international world of Western classical music, the film centers on Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer-conductors and the very first female director of a major German orchestra.Lydia Tár has been hailed as one of the best movie characters of the year. Some people were even made to assume that there exists a real Lydia Tár and that she really holds the commendable honor of being the first lesbian conductor at the Berlin Philharmoniker -- and also that she really is the predatory, manipulative fiend that the stories tell of. When I said "best movie character", let's just say I wasn't strictly praising the personality.
Indeed she is an unsettling creature, but also fascinating; one who -- like the band instructor in Whiplash -- bears kernels of truth. ("If Bach's talents can be reduced to his gender, birth country, religion, sexuality, and so on, then so can yours" she instructs a new pupil who's just announced that "cis white male composers" just aren't "his thing" anymore.) She’s played flawlessly by Cate Blanchett, who supplies some of the most memorable and (when she’s not being impressively unnerving) downright hilarious line deliveries of the entire year. Her winning the Oscar next year would be super predictable, but no less well-deserved.
Todd Field's meticulous direction and pitch-perfect compositions (an inevitable term to use in a cheeky manner whilst reviewing a film about conducting) have yielded comparisons to Haneke and Kubrick alike, but Slate writer Dan Kois, who argues that the final third is either a paranoid nightmare or an excursion into the supernatural (using highly convincing and bone-chilling textual evidence), felt that the film ultimately resembles Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979) more than anything else. TÁR is simply a magnificent film and I'm glad VOD allowed me to see it before this recap (and yes, I do have access to the caliber of a system that a picture like this deserves). - DirectorDaniel KwanDaniel ScheinertStarsMichelle YeohStephanie HsuJamie Lee CurtisA middle-aged Chinese immigrant is swept up into an insane adventure in which she alone can save existence by exploring other universes and connecting with the lives she could have led.There is too much to say about Everything Everywhere All At Once to sufficiently summarize it here -- and there's a good chance you've already heard everyone else mention it anyway. I've seen people call this their new favorite film of all time, and while I'm not prepared to go that far (almost out of protest, since the film has amassed a weirdly touchy fanbase), I can see why this has moved a great number of people:
The way that its relentlessly zany multiverse-hopping actually has thought behind it and stays largely consistent. The way it takes cues from the Wachowskis, Wong-Kar Wai, and even Pixar while feeling completely original. The way it makes us teary-eyed at even the goofiest sights. The way that its initial craziness -- its full understanding of the fact that an infinite multiverse brings infinite possibilities of comedy and action (take notes, Marvel) -- eventually leads to oddly poignant musings on free will, meaning, and the futility of worrying over what one's life could've been; in harping on the paths one could've taken, at the expense of what's already there; of endlessly pondering what power we have in the great cosmic comedy that might already have its ending planned when all you really should be focusing on is holding someone's hand (whether or not you inhabit a universe where everyone has sausage fingers).
It's not that we're all "small and stupid" and that life is pointless in the grand scheme; it's that the point of life may as well be a simple one.
And really, I think something similar can be said of the way that people connected with this film. For all the nifty things about it and all its "grand" ambitions, it's ultimately just a sweet movie about family. The mother-daughter dynamic at the center isn't new, but it's rare to see it mainly from the mother's perspective. She's played excellently by Michelle Yeoh, who is backed by a hilarious Jamie Lee Curtis, a cute-yet-menacing Stephanie Hsu, a similarly multifaceted Ke Huy Quan, and of course, the utterly legendary James Hong, still on fire at nearly 100. I'd say "go see it" but you probably already have. - DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsPark Hae-ilTang WeiLee Jung-hyunA detective investigating a man's death in the mountains meets the dead man's mysterious wife in the course of his dogged sleuthing.It's hard to find a frame of Decision to Leave, the latest film by South Korean master Park Chan-wook (of 2016's impeccable The Handmaiden and "greatest film of all time" contender Oldboy), that isn't clever or purposeful. Every aspect in which Park always goes above and beyond is just as skillful and deliberate here as usual: the editing, the framing, the zooms, the colors, the neat POV shots, the fearless intensity of the actors, et cetera. Especially striking this time is what he does with the focus during a scene where the two leads are having a face-to-face conversation in front of a mirror.
Really, pretty much every opportunity that a director could take for something extra is seized once Park is in the director's chair. The story? Well, maybe it's not his most interesting, but it's still a damn sight more complex than a lot of other police mysteries, focusing on a detective (Park Hae-il) who falls terribly in love with a prime suspect (Tang Wei).
It's funny that Park would claim that this is him reeling back his style somewhat when this is still one of the most immaculately designed and gorgeous-looking projects of the year. The fact that this is him "holding back" should tell you something -- not just about the sheer passion of Park and many other South Korean movie-makers, but the increasing lack thereof within Hollywood. - DirectorJordan PeeleStarsDaniel KaluuyaKeke PalmerBrandon PereaThe residents of a lonely gulch in inland California bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.When I began typing out this post, Nope didn't make the Top 10 cut and I wasn't sure why I didn't love it as much as certain other critics when it first came out. It seemed like the sort of thing I'd be all over; a uniquely unsettling sci-fi horror that uses its imagery to comment on the mechanisms, injustices, and exploitative tendencies in film history -- even featuring descendants (played well by Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Keith David) of the now-forgotten black gentleman who rode a horse for Muybridge's 1878 "Horse in Motion" sequence. My ultimate verdict was that the film is really, really good; just not amazing.
Rewatching the film, however, I began to see connections that weren't obvious on the first viewing -- e.g. the thematic significance of the backstory of Steven Yeun's character or the truth of what we're truly observing during the title sequence -- and thought to myself "Oh right, this is one of those filmmakers where you pretty much have to see the film twice". With regards to the filmography of Jordan Peele, I initially judged that the film was better than Us but not as good as Get Out. Now, I think it might be even better -- even when we excuse the inevitable debut-film hiccups of Get Out.
Peele's sense of atmosphere is perfected here (with some of the most masterfully disturbing sound editing you'll ever hear), and his writing gets better and better; the lines don't feel quite as obvious here as in some of his previous works (Michael Wincott's monologues are immensely memorable, and it ain’t just that sexy voice of his). And of course, since my first viewing, I do still enjoy the references to cinema both classic (Spielberg; Shyamalan) and downright primordial (Muybridge). - DirectorRobert EggersStarsAlexander SkarsgårdNicole KidmanClaes BangA young Viking prince is on a quest to avenge his father's murder.Robert Eggers' The Northman is both accessible and artful in all the right ways; a movie that, on one level, can be enjoyed as an inordinately well-produced action blockbuster, but recognized for its subversive genius on another. 'Tis a thunderous and rousing Viking drama that leaves you with something to think about -- you can join snobs such as myself in analyzing its proto-Hamlet plot (it's based on the Scandinavian myth that inspired Shakespeare's play), its defiant themes, and its homage to the Soviet anti-war epic Come and See, and join the average film-goers in swooning over ultra-buff Alexander Skarsgård.
Basically, someone on Twitter put it best when saying that every single minute of The Northman is, in the best possible way, exactly what you'd expect from a big-budget action movie as done by the man behind The VVitch. There are a few scenes here that I would dub "unneeded", but its strengths are undeniable -- and I don't just mean Skarsgård's bulging trapezei.
Best of all is probably the casting; Anya Taylor-Joy and Björk are flawlessly selected as ethereal, mystical sorceresses, Willem Dafoe makes for a great perverted jester who may also know the future, Nicole Kidman is singularly menacing, and Claes Bang does well as an antagonist who starts out loathsome but winds up kind of pitiful. I'm not sure I would've gone with Ethan Hawke as King War-Raven, personally, but he's good too. - DirectorJuho KuosmanenStarsSeidi HaarlaYura BorisovDinara DrukarovaAs a train weaves its way up to the arctic circle, two strangers share a journey that will change their perspective on life.There's something singularly striking about Compartment No. 6 (org. Finnish title Hytti Nro 6). When I look at this movie, I don't simply see a period piece set in 1990s Russia right after the fall of Soviet; I'm looking at the actual past, as if the film is a window through time. It's hard to explain why it works so well, but there's something about the grainy image and the look of these actors that make it feel like an actual 90s film and not just an emulation.
In the movie, two strangers -- a Finnish college student played by Seidi Haarla and a peevish Russian played by Yuri Borisov -- wind up in the same compartment on the Trans Siberia Express and discover an unlikely friendship that becomes something more. Not a romantic relationship, mind you. Just... I don't know. Something you don't really have with the friends you've known for a long time and are always close at hand. As I said in my review, we see the kind of unique connection that might only be possible when two people are "forced" to spend several days together.
The film makes impressive use of its cramped settings, featuring several single-take tracking shots through the tight(ly populated) train cars where the cameraman doesn't stumble even once. The use of Desireless' banger "Voyage, Voyage" ain't bad either. - DirectorPhil TippettStarsAlex CoxNiketa RomanSatish RatakondaThe Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.This is the project that Phil Tippett, the man who did stop motion and puppetry as well as movement design for many of the sci-fi films we grew up with, has been working towards for most of his career. He's been toiling away at this piece on and off since the release of Jurassic Park and recently got the Kickstarter backing to complete it.
Mad God, still viewable on Shudder (the streaming site that probably gives the most of a fuck about platforming "smaller" creators), is one of the most thoroughly disturbing animated films ever created and possibly the best of all time in terms of maintaining a certain vibe throughout. That doesn't make it boringly one-note, however. I was interested the whole time and, when I wasn't squirming at all of the imagery (some of which would be considered too intense for even a David Firth short), I was curious about the world -- each new revelation made me ask follow-up questions about this universe, what other levels exist in it, and how else it resembles our own (on top of all the surveillance devices and the "faceless, disposable workers", here visualized as literally as possible).
Of course, some of you are at risk of finding the film repetitive after a while, and sometimes it's a bit obvious which parts were produced before/after Tippett got proper funding for the project. All the same, this is one of the most uniquely skin-crawling horror films I have yet seen, and in case you're still worried the film may be one-note, be aware that there's a lot of variety to the presentation, from stop-motion to puppetry and even a bit of live-action. - DirectorSean BakerStarsSimon RexBree ElrodSuzanna SonMikey Saber is a washed-up porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown, not that anyone really wants him back.
- DirectorDavid BrucknerStarsOdessa A'zionJamie ClaytonAdam FaisonA young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites.Hellraiser has no reason to be as creative or mostly cliché-averting as it is, but someone thought "This isn't just another slasher-villain remake; this is Clive Barker" and went and made a good movie anyways. You can dub me a shill for putting this one on the list all you please (the movie boasts the first big horror villain to be cast with a trans woman, namely Jamie Clayton), but its strengths are undeniable. The atmosphere is palpable and the gore, while lacking the "psychosexual strangeness" (to quote Jack Saint on Letterboxd) from previous entries, is effective enough to inspire comparisons to French Extremism.
- DirectorDean Fleischer CampStarsJenny SlateDean Fleischer CampIsabella RosselliniA cash-strapped documentary maker decides to make his newest documentary about a mollusk shell he finds living in his Airbnb with his friends.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsAlana HaimCooper HoffmanSean PennThe story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.
- DirectorEric AppelStarsDiedrich BaderDaniel RadcliffeLin-Manuel MirandaExplores every facet of Yankovic's life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like 'Eat It' and 'Like a Surgeon' to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.As usual, these "honorable mentions" slots don't strictly represent my contenders for the Number 10 spot, but rather films that I either personally really like (while not considering them as great as some of the other runners-up) or ones that do something I find interesting, like commemorating the life of parody music king "Weird Al" Yankovic by giving him a biopic that is itself a parody. This was relentlessly enjoyable to watch from start to finish, even if its transformation into a UHF sequel -- while understandable -- seems superfluous. Is Daniel Radcliffe a perfect Weird Al? Well, no. And that's the joke.
- DirectorAlex GarlandStarsJessie BuckleyRory KinnearPaapa EssieduA young woman goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside following the death of her ex-husband.
- DirectorJoseph KosinskiStarsTom CruiseJennifer ConnellyMiles TellerThe story involves Maverick confronting his past while training a group of younger Top Gun graduates, including the son of his deceased best friend, for a dangerous mission.Top Gun: Maverick brings excitement and effort back to the blockbuster. This is nostalgia done and Member Berries done right (someone even quipped that it's the first movie ever made to acknowledge that Tom Cruise is, in fact, old). Its call-backs to the original movie are fun and bittersweet in the right places (there's a scene with Val Kilmer that's certain to bring you to tears, even) and the flying scenes are vastly improved -- in terms of both camera work and sound mixing. It feels clichéd at points, yes, but one might argue that that's part of the love letter.
- DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulStarsTilda SwintonAgnes BrekkeDaniel Giménez CachoA woman from Scotland, while traveling in Colombia, begins to notice strange sounds. Soon she begins to think about their appearance.My relationship with Memoria is a bit complicated. I'm all for movies that serve more as meditative accompaniment than entertainment or exciting drama, but this particular film -- for all its successful attempts at emulating Tarkovsky (mainly through languid camera work, but also through its use of nature sounds) and doing a great job of placing us in Tilda Swinton's lonesome, confounded headspace -- has several moments where I just sort of went "This really doesn't feel necessary to the point that's (supposedly) being made". I was distracted by a few hokey performances too.
I suppose I enjoyed the meditative aspect, but didn't care enough to try to figure out what was happening in the story, or what I was supposed to realize when we learned what The Sound was. Maybe I'll do better with Apichatpong Weerasethakul's older films -- Uncle Boonmee, for one, has been on my watchlist for nearly a decade. The important thing is, I am intrigued by the director and crave more. - DirectorCharlotte WellsStarsPaul MescalFrankie CorioCelia Rowlson-HallSophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't...
- DirectorJane SchoenbrunStarsAnna CobbMichael J RogersTurner GreavesAlone in her attic bedroom, teenager Casey becomes immersed in an online role-playing horror game, wherein she begins to document the changes that may or may not be happening to her.