From TÁR to RRR, let’s talk movies both glacially-paced and action-packed. Contemplative and combustive. There’s something for everyone.
I was looking forward to several franchise blockbusters last year, but quite a few of them disappointed me. Avatar: The Way of Water failed to grip me with its characters or story. Jurassic World Dominion should have stayed buried. And Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness wasn’t even the best multiversal movie of 2022. (Hello, Everything Everywhere All At Once.)
But not everything was a wash. I thought we didn’t need another Batman so soon, but Matt Reeves proved me wrong. And I’ll watch a new Knives Out mystery any day of the week.
My annual refrain: I don’t hate reboots, remakes, and sequels. (There’s one on my list at #5…) I just wish more studios and directors didn’t phone it in for the almighty dollar.
Like what you like, but keep supporting great original stories and independent filmmakers. On to my list of my favorite movies of 2022, presented in reverse order.
5. Top Gun: Maverick (dir. Joseph Kosinski)
I’m one of those people who:
- Saw the original Top Gun for the first time last year
- Caught the spelling error in the opening caption (see above)
- Fell in love with Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone”
- Thought the pacing was weird, the stakes too low, and the whole movie forgettable
Top Gun: Maverick, on the other hand, is one of those films that takes you through this progression:
- “Wait, why do we even need this movie?”
- “Wait—now that I’m in the cockpit, this whole enterprise is pretty entertaining…”
- “Wait, this mission is basically Star Wars: A New Hope!”
- “Yeah, I guess I don’t care, I’m actually having a lot of fun.”
(In the new movie, the spelling error in the opening caption is fixed. And that about sums it up for me…)
4. The Banshees of Inisherin (dir. Martin McDonagh)
So you awake to find your best friend now despises you for no apparent reason. What now? The Banshees of Inisherin plunges this premise into grim and grinworthy depths.
Set during the Irish Civil War in 1923 on a gorgeous, fictitious isle, this dramedy is buoyed by the stellar chemistry of Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell (reunited after 2008’s In Bruges) as the quarreling friends. Why exactly are they quarreling? The question spurs our interest, and before long the narrative veers into some pretty unexpected territory. As the yarn unspools, it strikes me how both Gleeson and Farrell can work wonders with a single look—at times impenetrable; at others, more telling than we could ever articulate.
But beyond the acting, there’s no denying the magic of Martin McDonagh’s sharp screenplay and direction. McDonagh’s last film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), proved a brash, incendiary Best Picture contender. But Banshees is more understated as befitting its quiet isle—and I think the better film for it.
3. TÁR (dir. Todd Field)
Last week I started following virtuosic composer-conductor Lydia Tár on social media. The fact that many wouldn’t bat an eyelash at that statement is telling. Also telling: the Google Suggestions that appeared when I typed “lydia tar” into the search bar of my browser:
- Lydia tar real
- Lydia tar wikipedia
- Lydia tar is not real
- Lydia tar conductor
- Etc.
Inquiring minds want to know—and all this is a testament to TÁR’s verisimilitude. Lydia Tár is so fully realized, the world of the film so well-crafted, that when The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik (playing himself) interviews Tár onstage about her multifarious accomplishments, we simply accept it all.
But just when you think this is run-of-the-mill biopic fare, writer-director Todd Field takes this narrative into left field. To my shock (and delight), Field shoots several scenes like a thriller. Meanwhile, discerning cinephiles point out that TÁR can be interpreted as, among other things, a ghost story. There is enough mystery and madness to go around, but if anything, come to behold the wonder of Cate Blanchett as Tár herself. (You know, because the real Lydia Tár wasn’t available during filming.)
2. RRR (dir. S.S. Rajamouli)
Some dislike the Fast & Furious movies because the gonzo action sequences strain credulity. To which I respond, at times I don’t think Vin Diesel and co. have gone gonzo enough.
RRR is, frankly, bonkers in the best of ways. Let’s start with the acronym: Rise, Roar, Revolt. That should speak volumes, but if you want more, let’s just say it’s The Fast & The Furious set in the powder keg of 1920s colonial India. RRR follows a great lineage of Indian action movies where characters defy gravity in creative ways, kick motorcycles into people, and break into mesmeric song or dance at a moment’s notice. This is a 3 hour movie, but I’ve seen it twice now and the stirring blend of action, comedy, and drama never runs dry.
Director S.S. Rajamouli knows what he’s doing—and he’s doing what he likes. The Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll comes around once a decade and tends to feature directors heralding the acknowledged classics. Citizen Kane. Vertigo. 2001: A Space Odyssey. On S.S. Rajamouli’s 10 best movies ballot? Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Lion King. Freakin’ Kung Fu Panda. He’s a man of the people, and RRR is populist cinema done right.
1. Aftersun (dir. Charlotte Wells)
My favorite movie of 2022 features the simplest of plots: A father named Calum and his 11-year old daughter Sophie spend time bonding at a cheap European resort in the 90’s. Those who expect a traditional narrative or action-packed spectacle will be sorely disappointed. (This is the anti-RRR, folks.) But take Aftersun on its own poetic terms, and you’ll be richly rewarded. It’s been three weeks since I saw writer-director Charlotte Wells’s debut, and its patchwork of images still haunts me.
Part of the film’s brilliance? It’s a creative exploration of memory that is at turns beautiful and devastating while staying naturalistic and subtle. Everything in Aftersun is buried just below the surface; many things are implied without confirmation. It seems the older Sophie is revisiting the camcorder memories of her father searching for…something. What is she looking for exactly? Who was her father, anyway?
It’s remarkable how our present can reframe our understanding of the past. But a few of the most striking moments in Aftersun are neither here (in the present) nor there (in the past). The way Wells represents this grappling with memory in a liminal space is masterful. And don’t get me started on the ending. This is a coming-of-age story for the ages.
What movies did you enjoy in 2022? I’d love to know!
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