5. “Aftersun” (Charlotte Wells)
Do we ever really understand who our parents are when we’re children? There have been films about memory before, but few have tackled the way we use it to try to wrap our arms around a parent like Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun.” With her stunningly confident debut, Wells delivers a film that’s incredibly hard to pin down for most of its runtime. She trusts her audience to meet the film halfway, allowing it to linger like the hazy days of the father-daughter vacation that it documents. As a woman remembers a trip she took with her father when she was younger, there are hints that she didn’t quite see him as completely as she can now in adulthood. Wells’ brilliant stars—Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio—have such a natural chemistry that it’s easy to get lost in their story and see them as real, until the film’s final moments hit with all the emotional wallop of a family revelation, turning a film about memory into one that will flash in the minds of its viewers for years to come. – Brian Tallerico (Our review of “Aftersun”)
4. “Nope” (Jordan Peele)
Jordan Peele’s “Nope” might be his most polarizing movie yet, but it is the greatest display so far of his confidence as a bonafide all-eyes-on-them writer and director. For all of the heady scares he pulled off with “Get Out,” and the intricate puzzle-making of “Us,” his third movie “Nope” has him relying on the spaciousness of a Western, as mixed with the ambitiousness of the surprise “Jurassic Park” movie it gloriously evolves into later. It all makes sense within the focus of its characters, a makeshift film crew who try to get the “Oprah shot” of a strange, deadly anomaly in the sky. “Nope” brings in an illustrative, tight ensemble that includes the stoicism of Daniel Kaluuya, the vibrancy of Keke Palmer, and the buried trauma that ekes out of Steven Yeun. Yeun’s performance, in particular, makes a subplot about a chimpanzee’s rampage on a sitcom’s soundstage one of the movie’s most scarring facets and makes way for the best two shots to open a horror movie in a long while. Peele shows with “Nope” that his storytelling can be less gamey but continue to be rife with intention, the kind that keeps us coming back for multiple viewings. – NA (Our review of “Nope”)
3. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Schinert)
It’s not often that a filmmaker creates what seems like their life’s work in just two films, but then again, Daniels (AKA Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) are not regular directors. They clearly never will be. They’re as emotionally driven as they are goofy and inventive, and they apply their hunger for new absurd visuals and a greater meaning about life into “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” a turbo race through multiverses fueled by the question of whether we are living our best lives. For all of its flights of fancy—bombastic fight scenes that recall their music videos with slow motion and cartoonish action—the movie is grounded by its soulful depiction of a family wrestling with generational trauma. Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn, who runs a laundromat with her husband (Ke Huy Quan), a business that feels to be a dead-end for her life choices. Meanwhile, their daughter (Stephanie Hsu) distances herself more and more from them with angst (they aren’t accepting of her lesbian relationship with Tallie Medel‘s Becky), and in every other universe, she is a vengeful, colorful world-destroyer named Jobu Topaki. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” properly received a lot of love from audiences when it came out, and it became the first A24-produced movie to cross $100 million worldwide. We can’t wait to see what Daniels do next, especially as their second bold film shows everything they can only give us more of. – NA (Our review of “Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
2. “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Martin McDonagh)
Two men, a shattered friendship, and a soulful donkey named Jenny are the soil in which writer/director Martin McDonagh plants his meditation on whether ‘tis nobler to live your life for the sake of creating immortal works of art or to live your life simply through caring and kindness for those who matter to you in the present. “The Banshees of Inisherin,” the reunion of stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson with McDonagh fourteen years after the three made cinematic magic with the black comedy “In Bruges,” rightfully landed at the top of many most anticipated films of 2022 lists. This Irish tragicomedy not only builds upon their creative chemistry but surpasses it to give each what may arguably be their greatest films to date. “The Banshees of Inisherin” is a testament not only to their synchronistic artistry but the refinement of craft all three have achieved in the last decade and a half. You’ll feckin’ love it. – Marya E. Gates (Our review of “The Banshees of Inisherin”)
1. “TÁR” (Todd Field)
Even if you are not a classical music obsessive and aficionado, like most of the public, Leonard Bernstein, everyone knows the legendary Lydia Tár, who has been in our lives as a dominant, polarizing, unapologetic cultural figure for years. In Todd Field’s deeply brilliant, immense, epic, Kubrick-ian portrait of the maestro, Tár is haunted by the world around her. She is haunted by the prying eyes of social media, haunted by the music she cannot get out of her brain, haunted by her past, her dubious moral choices, and the power structures she’s maintained for years to cover her tracks that have become more fragile than the ultra-confident, ambitious, arrogant woman ever believed was possible. With chilling precision and observation, Field observes Tár in her element of power, hubris, and dubious choices. And this movie, nearly three hours, doesn’t reveal itself until hour one, about the fussy, hermetic world of philharmonic politics and hierarchy should absolutely not work, but it most certainly does. Featuring a towering, immeasurable performance by Tár herself (who has an uncanny resemblance to the marvelous Cate Blanchett) and Field performing at the height of his cinematic powers, nuanced, subtle, and magnificently orchestrated long takes that you may not notice until screening number two, he examines power, power structures, order, control, and the calamitous terror (and indignation and fury!) that ensues when those seemingly unbreakable, old and fusty constructions, suddenly are no longer afforded the privilege of escaping consequences. You could call it a film about cancel culture, but that’s really just so pedestrian and not giving this brilliant film about ghosts, power, control, unraveling, and self-destruction its due. With its abnormal architecture that defies conventional three-act structure, “TÁR” is an audacious, bold, and rebellious masterwork that we cannot wait to luxuriate in over and over again. – RP (Our review of “TÁR”)
That’s a wrap; thanks for reading, sharing, and being a continued patron of our site!
Voting body and contributors: Carlos Aguilar, Nick Allen, Jason Bailey, Charles Barfield, Charles Bramesco, Farah Cheded, Robert Daniels, Mike DeAngelo, Greg Ellwood, Valerie Ettenhofer, Emma Fraser, Christian Gallichio, Marya E. Gates, Rodrigo Perez, Leslie Byron Pitt, Rafa Sales Ross, Marshall Shaffer, and Brian Tallerico.
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