Year in Review
2022 was a great year for cinema. For the world? Not so great, but at least the Liz Truss administration didn’t make it to 2023.
Last year, we saw fingers chopped off and fingers hot dog-ified, donkeys lionized and brutalized. We saw history confabulated in The Woman King and RRR, and history reborn in Elvis, Blonde, Till, and Weird. We became detectives for Daniel Craig, minions for Steve Carrell, and even snacks for Timothée Chalamet. James Cameron finally put out his waterlogged Avatar sequel, and we were rewarded for giving Top Gun a second chance with that volleyball scene.
I certainly didn’t catch every single film of 2022 (I notably missed everything at Berlinale), but I’ve taken some time to compile the most outstanding pieces of cinema I have had the privilege of seeing—not necessarily the most entertaining, for the record. In an industry increasingly revolutionized and commodified by the rise of streaming, a handful of films managed to break the mold and remind us why we used to trek to the theater in the first place.
“Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this.”
-Nicole Kidman in that damn AMC ad
First, the 5 films that were very close to making the list and still deserve a shout-out:
Honorable Mention
Aftersun
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 / United States 🇺🇸
Score: 3.4/5
The Banshees of Inisherin
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Score: 3.5/5
All Quiet on the Western Front
Country: Germany 🇩🇪
Score: 3.5/5
RRR
Country: India 🇮🇳
Score: 3.6/5
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Score: 3.6/5
The Official Top 10
10. Nope
Directed by Jordan Peele
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Language: English
Shaun’s Rating: 3.7/5 ★
9 (tie). Broker
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Country: South Korea 🇰🇷
Language: Korean
Shaun’s Rating: 3.8/5 ★
9 (tie). White Noise
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Language: English
Shaun’s Rating: 3.8/5 ★
8. Close
Directed by Lukas Dhont
Country: Belgium 🇧🇪 / Netherlands 🇳🇱
Languages: French, Dutch
Shaun’s Rating: 3.9/5 ★
7 (tie). Retour à Séoul
Directed by Davy Chou
Country: Cambodia 🇰🇭 / France 🇫🇷
Languages: French, Korean, English
Shaun’s Rating: 4.0/5 ★
7 (tie). Crimes of the Future
Directed by David Cronenberg
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Language: English
Shaun’s Rating: 4.0/5 ★
6. No Bears
Directed by Jafar Panahi
Country: Iran 🇮🇷
Languages: Persian, Azerbaijani, Turkish (Local title: خرس نیست)
Shaun’s Rating: 4.1/5 ★
5. Decision to Leave
Directed by Park Chan-wook
Country: South Korea 🇰🇷
Languages: Korean, Mandarin
Shaun’s Rating: 4.2/5 ★
4. Triangle of Sadness
Directed by Ruben Östlund
Country: Sweden 🇸🇪 (+ a dozen others)
Language: English
Shaun’s Rating: 4.5/5 ★
***Sin & Cinephilia’s
Bronze Ram Award 🥉***
3. EO
Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski
Country: Poland 🇵🇱
Languages: Polish, Italian, English, French
Shaun’s Rating: 4.6/5 ★
A stirring allegory for a pure soul in a wicked world, Skolimowski’s epic road tale about a circus donkey traversing modern Europe had just enough kick to score the Jury Prize at Cannes. Despite its remarkably sparse dialogue and non-human hero, EO is a deep cut into the tragedy and insanity of humanity and how much of a pain in the ass we can be. Tied together by a spellbinding soundtrack and bold cinematography, EO is a Mule’s Paradise on the big screen.
***Sin & Cinephilia’s
Silver Ram Award 🥈***
2. TÁR
Directed by Todd Field
Country: United States 🇺🇸 / Germany 🇩🇪
Languages: English, German
Shaun’s Rating: 4.7/5 ★
Cate Blanchett delivers an unprecedented and imperious portrayal of Lydia Tár, the embattled (but fictional) orchestral conductor. Field’s film twists traditional #MeToo-era cinema, stressing the fluid impacts of identity and artistry on power and abuse in a polyphonic soundscape. TÁR is dynamic and cunning, setting our mezzo piano uncertainty against her fortissimo artifice and her imposing collection of tailored suits. The film entreats you to think as much as it ensnares you to listen—think about what narrative of Lydia Tár is true, and about whether art can ever truly be separated from artists. While Blanchett certainly doesn’t need a third Oscar, it’s hers to lose.
***Sin & Cinephilia’s
Golden Ram Award 🥇***
1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
Directed by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Country: United States 🇺🇸
Languages: English, Mandarin, Cantonese
Shaun’s Rating: 4.8/5 ★
The Daniels place an everyday woman (a middle-aged, Asian, immigrant mother, struggling with marital squabbles and an IRS audit) in the driver’s seat of a Sci-Fi multiverse thriller unlike anything that even Doctor Strange could dream up, much less achieve. Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) finds herself on the front lines of generational divides, cultural barriers, and the age-old struggle between nihilism and existentialism. The film is brimming with comedy, action, and human connection at a refreshingly high resolution (and an occasionally dizzying speed), mixed seamlessly into an exhilarating and death-defyingly original story. In all her universes, Evelyn never stops fighting for her family, and EEAAO never stops fighting to show us the urgent meaning behind the seemingly meaningless and frustrating struggles of quotidian existence—the yang to abnegation’s yin. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe once said, “God is in the details,” but for Evelyn, Everything is in the details.
