My Top 20 of 2022
There may not has been as much to love in 2022, but there were countless works to admire.
It is nearly the end of the year, and I was aghast to check my Letterboxd stats and see just how low my movie-watching has been compared to previous years. I’ve certainly had my spikes in viewership, particularly with two runs of festival watching (Sundance virtually in January, and the Chicago International Film Fest in October), surgery recovery, and the current bout of COVID I received just in time for Christmas. I’ve also watched a deal more television than I normally do, particularly as I finally, finally, embarked on watching The Sopranos in its entirety. Did you know that show is pretty good? Blew my mind!
That said, I’ve still watched over 200 movies this year, with nearly 60 of them being new releases. In typical Virgo, list-maker fashion, let’s dive into my top 20 of the year:
Top 20 Movies of 2022
Top Gun: Maverick (Dir. by Joseph Kosinski)
Available on Paramount+ and Epix.
I never thought I’d be won over by this one, and maybe it was the COVID talking, but even on my TV screen and without having watched the original Top Gun, I was charmed and thrilled. When y’all are right, y’all are right. Sometimes it’s enough to see planes go zoom.
Barbarian (Dir. by Zach Cregger)
Available on HBO Max.
I think the writing is a little too winking for its own good, but the filmmaking decisions made by Cregger in this bizarre and nasty flick were a refreshing jolt of sheer horror and surprising comedy.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (Dir. by Halina Reijn)
Available to Rent.
Another one whose script almost gets in the way, but you gotta admire a committed cast in this quick and easy watch.
Turning Red (Dir. by Domee Shi)
Available on Disney+.
Unique, stylistic animation and a story at equal times goofy and heartfelt make this one of the better Pixar outputs in recent memory.
The Novelist’s Film (Dir. by Hong Sang-soo)
Currently unavailable to rent or stream.
There have been many jokes about how many movies are “Love letters to movies” this year, but The Novelist’s Film (and one other movie on my list) may be the most underrated and complicated examples of the role art holds in our lives. This intimate and quiet meditation centers on a novelist, actress, and bookstore owner whose lives intersect (or re-intersect) as they try to evade the spiral of a loneliness that can only come from wondering “Did I miss my chance?”
Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul (Dir. by Adamma Ebo)
Available on Peacock.
Regina Hall has to balance two precarious sides to her character that are at odds against one another — but she pulls it off in this satire of the megachurch hustle that isn’t afraid to let its dark undercurrent be known.
Plan 75 (Dir. by Chie Hayakawa)
Currently unavailable to rent or stream.
Plan 75 is a devastating and necessary text on how systems repackage disposability as dignity. Though the film may be culturally specific to Japan, it’s impossible to ignore its ubiquitous relevancy, particularly as COVID continues to ravage through our world’s residents without support systems in place.
Women Talking (Dir. by Sarah Polley)
Now playing at select theaters, currently unavailable to rent or stream.
I’ve been a Sarah Polley fan through and through and was once again amazed by her sure hand as a director of this difficult adaptation. It may not be for everyone (the cinematography, place-setting, and approach to discussing sexual assault can all be very alienating), but in contrast with a film such as She Said, which luxuriates in brave, heroic narratives of justice, Women Talking delves into what it really means to form a coalition, how one pursues justice when justice may be in conflict with faith, and above all, what does it mean to move on from what has happened.
Nanny (Dir. by Nikyatu Jusu)
Available on Prime Video.
This new entry into the Folk Horror canon doesn’t hold back in giving the secondhand sensation that something bad is happening, and there’s nothing you can do. The film doesn’t fully stick the landing for me, but it is such a bold swing and assured debut that it stands out as one of the most challenging visions of the year.
The Batman (Dir. by Matt Reeves)
Available on HBO Max.
By all accounts, it shouldn’t work, but Reeves’ and Pattinson’s obvious passion for the character brings a rich level of world-building thrill to this slimy, sexy addition to the Batman universe.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Dir. by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert)
Available on Showtime and Paramount+.
Once again, by all accounts, it shouldn’t work, and personally, I probably prefer the madcap antics of the Daniels’ previous Swiss Army Man, but once Everything Everywhere All at Once puts its cards fully on the table, it’s difficult to deny its heart and magic. The multiverse isn’t just a tool for Evelyn and her daughter Joy to understand their place in the world, it’s a vocabulary to open Evelyn’s mind to the possibility that the things she thinks she knows, the things that have been ingrained in her all her life, can be unlearned to make way for new and beautiful possibilities.
White Noise (Dir. by Noah Baumbach)
Coming to Netflix December 30.
I may remain in the minority in this one (and to be fair, I still haven’t read Don Delillo’s infamous book of the same name), but White Noise hit all the perfect notes for me. From the scale of the feeling that the world is coming down to what is Adam Driver’s perhaps most comedic and nostalgic performance, there is a dry hopefulness to White Noise that spoke to even the darkest depths of my cynical heart.
Decision to Leave (Dir. by Park Chan-wook)
Available on MUBI US.
One of the funniest movies of the year in a way that pairs perfectly with Bong Joon-ho’s pitch-black humor in Memories of Murder, Decision to Leave may be a little rough around the edges, but delivers some of the most ingenious and delicately filmed sequences of the year. A must-see, if only for the visual symphony.
Babylon (Dir. by Damien Chazelle)
Now playing in theaters.
Babylon is a curious, curious movie. It’s long. It’s gross. It has one of the most thinly created female leads I’ve seen in a long time. I hated half of it. And yet, from the moment it ended, it stuck with me like a welcome earworm. Damien Chazelle swings hard with big vision and little fucks to give. I can’t say I recommend Babylon to anyone (except maybe the folks who thought Elvis didn’t go far enough), but I’m amazed by its existence and can’t stop thinking about it. It also houses some of the greatest comedic performances and sequences of any movie on this list. For every scatological gag I wasn’t fully on board for, there was a balls-to-the-wall supporting performance that had me gasping for air. I still am not sure how every piece of Babylon serves its disgust and awe towards Hollywood, but I’m also not sure I’d change a thing.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Dir. by Daniel Goldhaber)
Currently unavailable to rent or stream — set to release sometime in 2023.
I haven’t had many theatrical experiences like the one I had watching How to Blow Up a Pipeline (which was followed by one of the more thoughtful director Q&As I’ve gotten to attend). I’m sure there are many arguments to make against the movie and its source material for its positioning in relation to climate action, but those arguments aside, Goldhaber’s sophomore film is as tight as a welded screw. The film cleverly turns eco-terrorism into a heist movie, cleverly paying homage to tropes you wouldn’t expect to see in such a film (and that had me smiling like a doofus at certain points, thinking “My god, they actually did it. They did THAT trope.”) It’s smart, it’s fast-paced and nail-biting, and it is bold in its matter-of-factness of laying out exactly what’s in the title.
Burning Days (Dir. by Emin Alper)
Currently unavailable to rent or stream.
I wish I knew when or how this Turkish political thriller will become available to U.S. viewers, but if/when it does, I’ll be the first in line to convince you to watch this one. Burning Days is many things: It has a heart as black as a David Fincher movie, timely political machinations as tense as the paranoid thrillers of the 70s, and immensely strong and often tough-to-watch performances from the entire ensemble. To speak too much of the plot would be to give away too much of what’s at play, but to see it is to feel it, in all its sweaty, sickening glory.
Nope (Dir. by Jordan Peele)
Available on Peacock.
Nope is a quietly brilliant blockbuster that puts adventures first, allowing its themes and character work to occur largely through subtext and sublime performances. With the exception of The Fabelmans (which I haven’t seen yet), Nope is a better Spielberg film than Spielberg himself has put out in years, and perhaps a perfect accompaniment to Spielberg’s underrated War of the Worlds adaptation. How do you make it to the other side without giving something up along the way? Whether it’s an unidentified flying object or the dog-eat-dog nature of Hollywood, Peele takes our hand and shows us a way.
The Banshees of Inisherin (Dir. by Martin McDonagh)
Available on HBO Max.
A response to In Bruges — which posited that humanity is a scourge — to answer that humanity is merely the symptom. Some of the finest work of everyone involved, and one of the most accurate depictions of the devastation — and oftentimes nonsense — of depression.
TÁR (Dir. by Todd Field)
Available to rent.
I’ve previously written about why I think TÁR is excellent, and I hope you give it a read here on my Substack. I will only add that I called this almost two months ago:
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Dir. by Laura Poitras)
Currently unavailable to stream or rent, (in theory) coming soon to HBO Max.
I am admittedly not a big documentary watcher, so it is no small feat for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed to have made it as my absolute favorite movie of the year. As I said, tt's become a joke this year of the sheer quantity of 2022 releases about "the magic of movies," but with regards to them all, there is no greater depiction this year of the power of art and images than this film. At first, it seems like two stories: One of artist Nan Goldin, one of a specific movement against the Sackler family. But quickly, it reveals itself as more; astounding, heartbreaking, everything. When so many are left behind, what can we do to preserve their memory, and how can we fight for the world they deserve to have all along? The future they should have been entitled to? The documentary doesn’t necessarily have answers, but within the mourning, it does have hope.
There are a handful of 2022 releases that I have yet to see that could be contenders for this list (the aforementioned Fabelmans, Aftersun, The Northman, Bardo, and more), but I feel strongly about these 20, and I hope you get a chance to check one or two out.
Otherwise, I’m continuing to recover from COVID, trying to finish my screenplay, and working on some pieces on my favorite non-2022 new-to-me watches of the year and the American myth as told through the bombastic epics of Babylon, Blonde, and Elvis. Stay tuned!
That’s it for now. Let’s get 2022 over with, already!