This weekend, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will pretend to know what the “best” movies of 2022 are. (They’ll probably give the Big Award to Everything Everywhere All at Once… or, maybe The Fabelmans.)
And I will suffer through it as usual — the flaunting of wealth, the idolatry, the absurd popularity contest — just to savor those few moments when we see real human beings expressing their gratitude to other human beings for their support and inspiration.
“Best.” Okay. Come on. No human beings have seen all of the feature films of 2022. Very few have seen several 2022 releases more than once., Far fewer would be able to demonstrate that they are moviegoers with enough education, experience, and insight to engage in substantial critical conversation. And far fewer have engaged in ongoing and substantial conversations about many of those films. So… no. It’s my opinion that nobody anywhere is qualified to declare the “Best Films” of 2022. And those that do should admit that this is all a dubious and speculative endeavor.
Switch the word Best for Favorite … and we have a whole new conversation.
What are your favorite films of the year? And why? If you tell me that, you’re probably telling me as much about yourself as you are about the films. And that’s a good thing! I want to get to know you. If I tell you about my favorites, you’ll learn a lot about me: my history, my beliefs, my loves, my fears, my questions, my idiosyncrasies.
What if the Academy switched the word “Best” with “Favorite” for each award? That would be more honest. The awards would much more clearly represent which films they want to honor at this moment, given the limitations of their own viewing and understanding?
But I’ve ranted about these things before. Let’s change the subject…
Paid subscribers to my journal Give Me Some Light got to read this list
more than two weeks ago, and they also get to see exclusive video reviews
of each film in my top ten. Subscriptions to exclusive posts are only
five bucks a month.
2022 was the year we found out if the big-screen experience was a thing of the past or not. And the answer was (much to our relief) “No!”
Not yet, anyway.
Crowds packed the house for Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water and Everything Everywhere All at Once. And I got the cinemas to see movies the way they were meant to be seen many, many times this year. Big blockbusters, arthouse films from overseas, obscure documentaries — all projected onto a big screen in front of a community. I went with groups of friends; I took Anne out on movie dates; and I saw quite a few “alone” but in the company of my neighbors. And I had the joy of seeing my favorite film of the year at the Seattle International Film Festival’s Uptown alongside some of my students in the midst of a huge and celebratory audience that laughed and cried together. 2022 was one of the richest moviegoing years of my life, and it seems like new waves of creativity are transforming cinema, with the most imaginative and wildly unconventional Oscar Best Picture nominee of all time looking likely to win the award. That’s so encouraging.
I’ve invested more time and energy in reading about, discussing, and writing about the movies of 2022 than I ever have for a film year before. You can track my writing, my conversations, my second-thoughts, and more in a variety of places: here at Looking Closer, on Letterboxd, on my new Substack journal Give Me Some Light, on the movie-year-in-review episodes of Veterans of Culture Wars (Part One and Part Two), and beyond.
10
- Writers and directors: “Daniels” (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert)
- Synopsis via Letterboxd: “An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, where she alone can save what’s important to her by connecting with the lives she could have led in other universes.”
- My synopsis (from Looking Closer): “Evelyn (played by the great Michelle Yeoh) lives an exasperating life of multi-tasking as a wife trying to save her marriage to Waymond (Ke Huy Quan); a mother trying to save her relationship with her despairing daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu); a laundromat manager trying to save the family business from an aggressive auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis); a daughter trying to take care of her declining father Gong Gong (James Hong); and a dreamer (a novelist, a singer, and more) trying to sustain her romantic hopes — but when she discovers that she is just one of countless Evelyns living different lives across an incomprehensibly complicated ‘multi-verse,’ she must learn to advance her multi-tasking skills exponentially in order to fight a demonic power called Jobu Tupaki, a black hole that threatens to suck all meaning from the universe, and that is rapidly corrupting her daughter.”
Here at Looking Closer, you can read my mulitiple conversations about multiple viewings of this multi-verse movie.
Listen to me rave about this film in Part One of the Veterans of Culture Wars annual special on “The Best Movies of 2022.”
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
9
- Director: Maria Speth
- Synopsis via Letterboxd: “Mr. Bachmann And His Class explores the close bond between an elementary school teacher and his students. His unconventional methods clash with the complex social and cultural realities of the provincial German industrial town they live in.”
Here are my Letterboxd notes.
Listen to me rave about this film in Part Two of the Veterans of Culture Wars annual special on “The Best Movies of 2022.”
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
8
- Writer and director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Synopsis via Letterboxd: “A Scottish orchid farmer visiting her ill sister in Bogotá, Colombia, befriends a young musician and a French archaeologist in charge of monitoring a century-long construction project to tunnel through the Andes mountain range. Each night, she is bothered by increasingly loud bangs which prevent her from getting any sleep.”
Here’s my review.
Listen to me rave about this film in Part Two of the Veterans of Culture Wars annual special on “The Best Movies of 2022.”
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
7
- Writer and director: Martin McDonagh
- Synopsis via Letterboxd: “Two lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.”
Here are my Letterboxd notes for the first viewing and the second viewing.
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
6
- Director: Brett Morgen
- Synopsis via Letterboxd: “A cinematic odyssey featuring never-before-seen footage exploring David Bowie’s creative and musical journey.”
Here are my Letterboxd notes.
Listen to me rave about this film in Part Two of the Veterans of Culture Wars annual special on “The Best Movies of 2022.”
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
5
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Writers: Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner
- Synopsis via Letterboxd: “A coming-of-age story about a young man’s discovery of a shattering family secret and an exploration of the power of movies to help us see the truth about each other and ourselves.”
Here are my Letterboxd notes.
Listen to me rave about this film in Part Two of the Veterans of Culture Wars annual special on “The Best Movies of 2022.”
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
4
- Writer and director: Sarah Polley
- Based on the novel Women Talking by Miriam Toews.
- Synopsis via Letterboxd: “A group of women in an isolated religious colony struggle to reconcile their faith with a string of sexual assaults committed by the colony’s men.”
Here are my Letterboxd notes.
Listen to me rave about this film in Part Two of the Veterans of Culture Wars annual special on “The Best Movies of 2022.”
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
3
- Writer and director: Alexandre Koberidze
- Synopsis via Letterboxd: “In the Georgian riverside town of Kutaisi, summertime romance and World Cup fever are in the air. After a pair of chance encounters, pharmacist Lisa and soccer player Giorgi find their plans for a date undone when they both awaken magically transformed with no way to recognize each other.”
Here are my Letterboxd notes.
Listen to me rave about this film in Part Two of the Veterans of Culture Wars annual special on “The Best Movies of 2022.”
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
2
- Writer and director: Kogonada
- Synopsis via Letterboxd: “When his young daughter’s beloved companion, an android named Yang[,] malfunctions, Jake searches for a way to repair him. In the process, Jake discovers the life that has been passing in front of him, reconnecting with his wife and daughter across a distance he didn’t know was there.”
Here are my Letterboxd notes.
Listen to me rave about this film in Part Two of the Veterans of Culture Wars annual special on “The Best Movies of 2022.”
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
1
- Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
- Writers: Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Nick Paley
Synopsis via Letterboxd: “Marcel is an adorable one-inch-tall shell who ekes out a colorful existence with his grandmother Connie and their pet lint, Alan. Once part of a sprawling community of shells, they now live alone as the sole survivors of a mysterious tragedy. But when a documentary filmmaker discovers them amongst the clutter of his Airbnb, the short film he posts online brings Marcel millions of passionate fans, as well as unprecedented dangers and a new hope at finding his long-lost family.”
Listen to me rave about this film in Part Two of the Veterans of Culture Wars annual special on “The Best Movies of 2022.”
Paid subscribers to Give Me Some Light have access to my video review of this film.
