From an alien invasion movie (Nope) to a comedic murder mystery (Glass Onion), the best movies of 2022 showcased refreshing originality and diversity.
With 2022 almost in the history books, there’s a danger it will be known as a disappointing period for cinema. Driven by a narrative consumed by fluctuating box office grosses and depressed stocks, studios, streamers, and independent distributors alike are nervous about the future, and film industry prognosticators are all too happy to declare that moviegoing as we know it is dead.
Baloney. 2022 was one of the strongest years for film, right up there with 2019 and 2010 as great times for movie lovers. Whether domestic or foreign, big-budget studio tentpoles or low-budget indies, films in 2022 could be as diverse and rewarding as an alien invasion western (Nope), a meditative study on fatherhood and memory (Aftersun), a rockabilly biopic of one of the greatest entertainers who ever lived (Elvis), and a sexed-up French costume drama about the dangers of “fake news” (Lost Illusions). The only downside to this wonderful year is that it had to end at some point. The following is a list of the top 10 films of 2022 and a runner-up list that could’ve easily been in the top in a weaker year.
2022 was a banner year for horror films, with Scream, Barbarian, Smile, and Speak No Evil resonating with critics and audiences alike. The best of them was X, Ti West’s stunningly simple take on the slasher subgenre. There’s not much to X: a group of good-natured pornographers want to film a movie on a remote farm, and are picked off one by one by their jealous elderly landlords. Yet like the great horror movies of the ’70s that it shamelessly evokes like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, X has an underlying subtext that’s there if you want it: the horror of old age, the joy of being sex-positive, the lingering trauma of the Vietnam War, just take your pick.
Yet West doesn’t forget that this is still a slasher film and unlike recent elevated horror movies, he delivers the bloodshed. Throats are cut, eyes are poked out, and, in a memorable scene, a character meets her unfortunate end in the jaws of a hungry crocodile. One of West’s secret weapons in elevating this mayhem into art is lead star Mia Goth, who pulls double duty here as the cocaine-consuming porn ingenue Maxine and the murderous and still horny old lady Pearl. Coupled with her work in the inferior prequel Pearl, Goth gave three performances to remember in 2022, all in service to West’s vision of sex, death, and the hunger for fame in America’s desolate heartland.
You can stream X on Showtime.
2022 was also kind to the mystery genre, which captivated audiences on both the big and small screens. The second season of The White Lotus offered more satirical digs at the rich and bored class (and would’ve been No. 1 on this list if it were a seven-hour movie) while two films, Glass Onion and Confess, Fletch, drew inspiration from two ’70s mysteries.
Glass Onion cribbed from 1973’s The Last of Shelia, borrowing its central idea (a rich man invites his friends to a secluded location) and expanded upon it to comment on the rise of the tech tycoon and idiot culture. Daniel Craig is at peak form as the loquacious dandy detective Benoit Blanc and the ensemble cast, particularly Kate Hudson as a ditzy influencer, is terrific. You can sense the writer/director, Rian Johnson, having the time of his life creating his latest puzzle box, and that feeling is infectious.
Glass Onion is available to stream on Netflix.
The shaggy spirit of Robert Altman’s superb New Hollywood mystery The Long Goodbye informs Confess, Fletch, a criminally underrated movie that got a botched theatrical release in September. Jon Hamm finally gets a big screen role that’s worthy of his talents, and he leads a pitch-perfect cast of fine character actors like his Mad Men co-star John Slattery and Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden.
Fletch‘s comic pleasures are so quick and slight, you may miss them, but if you look closely and have patience, you’ll be rewarded with a sly suspense yarn that’s destined to become a cult classic. At long last, after two failed attempts in the ’80s, Hollywood finally got Gregory Mcdonald’s slippery sleuth right; it’s just a shame no one was around to see it.
Confess, Fletch can be streamed on Showtime.
What seems like a stunt quickly becomes something richer and deeper in Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter, which is more than the genre exercise it appears to be.
