Top Ten for 2022 offers diversity, cultural critiques, and profound insights

Another year has sped by, so it’s time for my Top Ten for 2022. 

1. “Women Talking”: Writer/director Sarah Polley’s dramatizes the profound debate of a critical life decision, maintaining formidable impact from the first to the last minute. Based on real events, these 2010 Mennonite women must decide their future in reaction to grave sexual abuse by the men in their community. Will they: forgive the men, stay and fight, or leave? This moral tale has universal relevance.

2. “The Banshees of Inisherin”: On an isolated island off Ireland’s coast, writer/director Martin McDonagh engages provocatively with the conflict between best friends Colm (Brendan Gleeson) and Padraic (Colin Farrell). This film blends laugh-out-loud comments and quirky behavior with grave undertones regarding the lengths to which a scorned Padraic and the self-mutilating Colm will escalate the friction.

3. “EO”: Told from the donkey EO’s point of view, “EO” reveals the best and worst of human treatment of animals. Experimental, meditative, and captivating, “EO” is unique and touching.

4. “TÁR”: Writer/director Todd Field burrows into Lydia Tar’s egotistical personal and prestigious professional life as the first woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic. Cate Blanchett triumphs in a charismatic performance as Lydia, a character of strength and fragility accelerating and empowering her own demise.

5. “Decision to Leave”: A South Korean detective’s obsession to discover the circumstances of a murder reveals the subjective filters that blind one to truth. Director Park Chan-wook weaves together an exquisitely complex investigation with stunning cinematography that renders the architecture a palpable presence.  

6. “Neptune Frost”: A haunting visual experience with a biting social critique, “Neptune Frost” is as imaginative as it is intriguing. Described as a “visionary Afrofuturist punk musical,” it infuses a psychedelic protest with defiance against exploitation driven by pervasive global greed.

7. “Holy Spider”: Based on actual events in Mashhad, Iran, religious zealot Saeed kills prostitutes as investigative journalist Rahimi risks her own life to capture him. Through disturbing and frightening events, director Ali Abasi indicts ubiquitous cultural misogyny.

8. “The Woman King”: A spectacular Viola Davis leads this rousing tale of women warriors while mounting a devastating historical and cultural denunciation. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood doesn’t flinch from tackling the African slave trade, sexual victimization, colonial oppression, and long-term trauma, all packaged in spellbinding action inspired by true events.

9. “Fire of Love”:  Drawing on hundreds of hours of footage shot over two decades by volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, director Sara Dosa has crafted an unusual documentary on the majesty, power, and danger of volcanoes. The Kraffts come to vivid life as they recorded fascinating lava flows, volcanic ash, explosions, and gases: a compendium of volcanoes’ grandeur and fearful splendor.

10. “Close”: This poignant film presents a searing study of two inseparable thirteen-year-old boys, Léo and Rémi, whose friendship is beautiful and tragic. Director Lukas Dhont probes the grief, guilt, confusion, and anger intermixed as the boys navigate society’s destructive notion of masculine identity, what Dhont labels the fragility and brutality of “constructs that shape us.”  

Add alphabetically, another dozen films I recommend: "Avatar: The Way of Water," "Both Sides of the Blade," "Broker," "Corsage," "Empire of Light," "The Eternal Daughter," "Hold Me Tight," "Moonage Daydream," "One Fine Morning," "Petite Maman," "She Said," and "The Wonder." Note: Each of these films have been or will be reviewed as they open. Let’s celebrate and root for more stirring films in 2023.