10. After Yang
Starting off with one of the year’s quietest films!
After Yang is a unique family drama starring Colin Farrell (from the Batman), Jodie Turner-Smith (from Queen & Slim) and Justin H. Min (from the Umbrella Academy). Farrell and Turner-Smith are a husband and wife who have adopted a young girl from China, and they’ve bought a robotic child called Yang (played by Min) in the hopes he can teach her more about her culture. But he becomes a fully fledged part of the family, which makes things complicated when his technology starts to break down. The film is a mostly quiet meditative look at Farrell’s character as he tries to repair Yang in hopes of saving him and keeping his family intact. It’s a very affecting film about losing a family member and moving on, with director kogonoda centering the visual storytelling through static shots that allow us to focus on the performances. After Yang is a film that not many have seen, but it’s an underrated gem that you should definitely check out.
Why should you watch it? This film has the best opening credits of the year, bar none.
9. The Fabelmans
Now, we’re taking a look at the film that won the People’s Choice Award at TIFF, and probably the biggest front runner for most awards this year!
The Fabelmans is Steven Spielberg’s 34th feature, and his most personal. He takes a look at his own history growing up in Arizona in the 1950s as he became enamored with film. While the names are changed, the younger version of himself is played by Gabriel LaBelle (from Brand New Cherry Flavor). Michelle Williams (from Shutter Island) radiates joy as his mother Mitzi, a ditzy woman who loves art almost as much as she loves her family. But she has a secret that threatens to tear her family apart, especially after the young filmmaker discovers it. While Williams is garnering most of the attention for her performance, and deservedly so, Paul Dano (from Little Miss Sunshine) should not be looked over. His performance as the father appears unemotional, but hides a great deal of power behind his subtleties. What’s most fascinating about this film is that it isn’t just an idealized look back into adolescence of years past. It’s an examination on the desire to make art, and how that affect our loved ones. Spielberg is a filmmaker obsessed with film, but how does learning about his obsession affect his family? Let’s just say it’s not always secrets that can tear a family apart.
Why should you watch it? The film ends with the best cameo of the year.
8. RRR
Now, it’s time for a film about smashing colonialism with your best friend!
2021
de S.S. Rajamouli
Prod DB © DVV Entertainment
RRR is an Indian smash sensation that’s part of the nation’s Telugu-language Tollywood cinema. Directed by S.S. Rajamouli (who previously made box office smashes Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion), this film is about two real life revolutionaries who fought the British Raj, Komuram Bheem (played by N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) and Alluri Sitarama Raju (played by Ram Charan). While they never met in real life, this fictitious films depicts them meeting, becoming best friends, and realizing they’re on opposite sides of the film’s central conflict. Bheem is searching for a kidnapped child and is willing to fight the local administrator to do so, and Raju is working for the British police and will do anything to imprison those who would harm the Raj. What’s absolutely amazing about this film is its earnest sincerity. This is a film that garnered reactions more intense than the final battle of Avengers: Endgame in cinemas, and it was done not for superheroes or characters, but two of the biggest actors in Telugu cinema. It’s a film that swings as hard as it can, and keeps on hitting home runs. Easily the most entertaining film of the year, your life will be better with RRR in it!
Why should you watch it? There are several reasons from the intense actions sequences, to the hilarious rom-com section. But this scene right here is the biggest reason why you should see it! (Prediction Time: this will win Best Song at the Oscars.)
7. The Banshees of Inisherin
Coming in at number 7 is one the year’s saddest, most heart-breaking, and yet funniest films.
The Banshees of Inisherin is a reunion for Colin Farrell (from After Yang), Brendan Gleeson (from 28 Days Later), and writer-director Martin McDonagh (from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri). The three has worked together on McDonagh’s first feature In Bruges back in 2008. This new film is about something that not everybody has gone through, but everyone who has will always remember the experience; friendship breakups. Just like RRR, this film is set in 1920. But Banshees takes place on a small isle just off the coast of Ireland called Inisherin. Gleeson plays Colm, a local fiddle player who one days decides he no longer wants to be friends with Pádraic, played by Farrell in one of his best performances in his entire career. Pádraic keeps on asking Colm why he doesn’t want to be his friend anymore, and Colm’s refusal to give him a straight answer begins to shake the small community around them. Farrell plays a very different role than he does in After Yang, with big emotional swings and powerhouse monologues. Gleeson matches his intensity, the two make an incredibly dynamic pairing. And with McDonagh’s stellar writing showcasing every step of this breakup, the three make a dream team. With any luck they’ll work together again soon!
Why should you watch it? The film features one the year’s most heart-breaking scenes, played to perfection by Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan. You’ll know it when you see it.
6. Decision to Leave
Now, it’s time for the return of one of South Korea’s masters!
Everyone on this side of the Pacific knows Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, but long before that film came out South Korean cinema was defined internationally by Oldboy. That film was made by Park Chan-wook, who has kept working since that film came out in 2003 delivering some of the nation’s toughest and most entertaining films. His newest film, Decision to Leave, is a film that he describes as himself trying to reign in his stylistic tendencies. Yet somehow, it’s arguably his most stylistic film? Influenced by Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the film is about a detective (played by Park Hae-il from War of the Arrows) in Busan investigating a death of a man that appears accidental. But he can’t shake the feeling that the victim’s Chinese wife (Tang Wei in one of the year’s best performances) was somehow involved, and he becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth. He grows closer to her, and the two fall into a passionate romance together marred by their circumstances. The film is easily the most gorgeous looking film of the year, with several shots that could stand alone as great images of 2022. The narrative builds to a painful ending, but takes you along a beautiful journey the whole way through. You can watch this film on Mubi now!
Why should you watch it? Every frame of this film is a moving painting. It’s the biggest treat for the eyes we’ve had all year.
5. Tár
Now it’s time for the film that’s confused many critics!
Tár stars Cate Blanchett (from Carol) as world famous composer Lydia Tár (a fictional character). She’s getting ready for the biggest achievement of her career, playing Mahler’s 5th Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. She’s led the orchestra for several years as its first female composer, she’s broken the glass ceiling, and she’s given lesbians strong representation of success in the modern world. But she has a dark secret that many around her try to prevent others from finding out, and that’s that she appears to use her power to force younger women to have sex with her. In exchange for this, she gives these young women opportunities. But if they refuse, she blacklists them from the industry. Everything starts to fall apart for her as it appears cancel culture comes for her, and Blanchett excels in showing this fall from grace. From every girlboss moment to gaslight moment, she once again delivers the performance of her career. Todd Field’s direction is cold and clean, showing how Tár moves through this world as her circumstances change. But the film shines in surreal dream sequences, where her past is always haunting her. Tár is the definitive film about cancel culture, and more than other films that tackled this topic such as She Said, it understands how effective cancel culture really is.
Why should you watch it? It’s one of the finest performances of Cate Blanchett’s career, and one she will certainly win awards for.
4. Women Talking
Now it’s time for a look into a Canadian film, and the return of one of our finest filmmakers!
Women Talking is the first film by Sarah Polley (who directed Stories We Tell and Take This Waltz) in a decade. She adapts the book of the same name by Miriam Toews, which is an unforgiving examination of the effects of sexual assault. It’s set in a Mennonite colony where the majority of women are frequently raped by the men, and gaslit into believing it’s Satan doing that. But after a man is caught red-handed, the women decide they must figure out whether they can forgive the men and continue to endure, whether they should fight back, or if they should leave. The entirety of this film is set in a barn featuring actors like Rooney Mara (from the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Claire Foy (from the Crown), and Jessie Buckley (from the Lost Daughter) talking about their history of assault, and God’s role in the assaults and their actions moving forward. The film is definitely not for everybody, it’s incredibly triggering and very frank. But it’s a conversation that needs to be had, and this film provides an outlet for having that conversation. Women Talking easily charts the tension of an uncomfortable topic while providing the audience with the ability to engage with it. It’s an incredibly important film, and it’s a good thing that we have Sarah Polley back.
Why should you watch it? There are few films that are willing to directly engage with communal trauma, and this is an excellent example of a film that is willing to engage.
3. Crimes of the Future
Now it’s time for another Canadian film, one that goes in a very different direction!
David Cronenberg, also returning from a several years break, chose to go back to body horror for his latest film. Crimes of the Future stars Viggo Mortensen (from a History of Violence) and Lea Seydoux (from No Time to Die) as a performance art couple living in a dystopian world. He has a condition that makes his body grow new organs, and for their art she surgically cuts it out of him in front of an audience. This is all happening in a world where humans have evolved past pain, and the government is concerned about possible other evolutions that could change humanity. Mortensen and Seydoux’s performances are alluring, especially Mortensen draped in an outfit that makes him look like Death. But Kristen Stewart is the MVP here as a government official who becomes a little too obsessed with their art. But most importantly the film asks a tough question of its audience. In a world that is changing in a way that it will become inhospitable for humans, how would humans evolve to adapt to that? It’s one of the best films of this year, and an excellent return to form for Toronto’s own David Cronenberg.
Why should you watch it? It’s the first body horror film Cronenberg’s made in about 20 years, but for those who aren’t into body horror, don’t worry. It’s more of a psychological body horror film.
2. Nope
Next up, it’s time for a trip to Hollywood!
Nope would be one of the year’s best films just for the fact that it makes an alien version of Jaws. A wide desert terrified by a creature dubbed Jean Jacket, the film makes pure terror out of the spectacle of it all. But what truly elevates this film is that it’s a fantastic metaphor for Hollywood and its effects on all who enter. Hollywood sucks people up and spits them back out, maybe allowing them form of success. But success can only be achieved if they make a spectacle, and more often than not destruction is a hell of a spectacle. Keke Palmer (from Lightyear) truly becomes a star with her performance here, her career can only go up. Daniel Kaluuya (from Get Out) and Steven Yeun (from Okja) also offer fantastic performances as an animal wrangler, and a hopeful animal wrangler respectively. Jordan Peele is mostly known for realistic horror focused on societal issues, such as racism and classism. And while he’s still focused on that here, he’s more willing to be subtle with it and create an image that terrifies. But what terrifies is the subtext behind the image.
Why should you watch it? Nope has the most thrilling sequence of the year (that isn’t a musical number) without a doubt, the Star Lasso experience.
1. Everything Everywhere All At Once
Lastly, the best film of 2022!
Everything Everywhere All At Once is truly that. It’s simultaneously a homage to dozens of genres and styles and filmmakers, it’s an engrossing and exciting take on the multiverse that Marvel is trying to popularize, and it’s an astonishing star vehicle for Michelle Yeoh (from Crazy Rich Asians). One of the finest actors from East Asia, giving her the chance to shine here not only as an action star but as a dramatic actor gives her the best performance of the year as well. The film benefits from excellent performances from Ke Huy Quan (from the Goonies), Stephanie Hsu (from the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), and James Hong (from Big Trouble in Little China), but Yeoh is truly the star here. It took two filmmakers as crazy as the Daniels (who previously made Swiss Army Man) with all the insane ideas they could come up to make this beautiful film. But despite the multiverse, despite the action, despite the existentialism, at its core what this film is about is the relationship between an immigrant mother and her second generation child. Relationships like those can feel discombobulating, confusing and like there’s no point of connection. Everything Everywhere All At Once is the best film of 2022.
Why should you watch it? Excluding all the reasons listed above, this film has one of the year’s best comeback jokes. It involves a raccoon and a Pixar film.
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