The top 50 movies of 2022 - part I, with trailers
Our critic, Mark Walsh, delivers his verdict on the finest films to grace our screens in 2022.
In this first part, he runs through number 50-26, and you can read part two, from 25 to number one, here.
When you’re done with this lot, look out for Mark’s previous guides to the top movies of 2021 (part I and part II), 2020 (part I and part II), 2019 (part I and part II) and 2018 (part I and part II), plus a guide of the best movies of the first 20 years of this century (part I and part II).
There are two reasons to celebrate my annual half-century of cinematic delights: firstly, cinema has been getting back to its regular self and so, for the first time since 2019, we have enough great films to warrant a top 50, but also the quality of the list is one of the best I can remember.
In other years, films such as Licorice Pizza, Nope, The Menu, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent and Good Luck To You, Leo Grande would have made the final countdown, but they just miss out this year.
As always, if you believe in star ratings then everything here is four stars or better and comes highly recommended. I hope that this might inspire some friendly debate over the Christmas dinner table, and also for you to check out a few you might have missed; most of these are now on streaming or available to rent or buy.
50. Belle
We start with animation, and thrill at not only the glorious spectacle of the online virtual worlds imagined by writer and director Mamoro Hosoda, but also his deft storytelling touch. He weaves elements of Beauty And The Beast into this contemporary tale which also reflects the difficulties of teenage life and the escapist possibilities of a virtual double life.
49. The Northman
Robert Eggars’ latest isn’t quite the equal of his previous works The Witch and The Lighthouse, but there’s still much to relish in his violent Viking epic. Alexander Skarsgård’s legendary Prince Amleth is an anagram away from Shakespeare, while a strong supporting cast includes Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy and Willem Dafoe.
48. Prey
Those struggling to remember the continuity of the Predator series since Arnie’s seismic Eighties classic need not worry, Dan Trachtenberg’s prequel being set in 1719 and featuring a Comanche tribe facing off against the alien hunter. Amber Midhunter is the fearless fighter hoping to prove herself to the tribe, with some of the best action in the series to date.
47. Nightmare Alley
Guillermo Del Toro’s stop-motion Pinocchio has just arrived on Netflix to great acclaim, but I preferred his throwback live action adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s noir novel with Bradley Cooper’s carnival psychic attempting to prove his skills to Cate Blanchett’s sceptical psychologist.
46. Fire Of Love
Composed using footage shot of their experiences, with a voiceover from filmmaker Miranda July, Sara Dosa’s documentary charts the relationship between volcanologists Katia and Maurice Kraft, and their mutual love affair with some of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes. Jaw-dropping, otherworldly footage brings you right to the heart of their obsession.
45. Everything Went Fine
French director Francois Ozon takes his friend Emmanuelle Bernheim’s novel as his inspiration for his latest, which detailed her experiences of caring for and supporting her father as he made the decision to seek assisted suicide. Sophie Marceau and André Dusollier explore a delicate issue with passion that thankfully avoids descending into melodrama.
44. A Bunch Of Amateurs
Kim Hopkins’ documentary affectionately charts the efforts of the Bradford Movie Makers to produce their own works while also showcasing their love of both film and cinema. The pandemic offers up surprising twists, and their version of the opening of Oklahoma showcases both their skills and their sense of humour.
43. Paris, 13th District
Jacques Audiard worked on the screenplay with another great of modern French cinema, Céline Sciamma (Portrait Of A Lady On Fire), to adapt short stories from American cartoonist Adrian Tomine. The Rust And Bone director uses a gritty monochrome to portray the interwoven lives of the inhabitants of the left bank suburb’s high rise dwellings.
42. Bergman Island
Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth are the couple visiting the Swedish island used by Ingmar Bergman in many of his films, while attempting to work through difficulties in their own marriage. Mia Hansen-Løve’s most focused work to date still has plenty of room to allow her narrative to drift and for its leads to explore the subtleties of human relationships.
41. A Hero
Asghar Farhadi once again succeeds in exploring the finer points of universal morality against a backdrop of Iranian life and social structure, this time with Amir Jadidi as a man on temporary release from prison whose attempt at a good deed to secure his release begins to unravel under public scrutiny.
40. Road Dahl’s Matilda The Musical
Yes, there’s already been a decent film adaptation of Dahl’s story about a schoolgirl with unexpected talents, but that didn’t have the top-tapping Tim Minchin songs from the stage musical, or Emma Thompson on menacing form as school tormentor Miss Trunchbull. In the best way, Matilda’s parents Steven Graham and Andrea Riseborough would fit well into panto season.
39. Corsage
Another tour de force performance from Vicky Krieps, this time as the Austrian empress frustrated by her role and seeking small acts of anarchy and rebellion in her increasingly restricted situation. The Luxembourgish actress commands the screen, while director Marie Kreutzer emphasises the monarch’s displacement with subtle modern anachronisms.
38. Confess, Fletch
Chevy Chase starred in two Eighties films inspired by the central character from Gregory McDonald’s Fletch novels, and Greg Mottola returned to the source material for this reboot with John Hamm as the reporter who finds himself to be a murder suspect. Hamm has an effortless charm and almost every word of the gently absurd script features some of the year’s most quotable dialogue.
37. The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain
Actor and Cambridge alumnus Will Sharpe brings to life the colourful, complicated world of artist Louis Wain (Benedict Cumberbatch), who achieved fame for his paintings of anthropomorphised cats before struggles with mental illness later in life. Claire Foy offers the charming, grounded counterpoint to Cumberbatch’s eccentricity.
36. Vortex
Gaspar Noé has rightly earned a reputation as a director willing to provoke and even shock, from Enter The Void to Irréversible, but while Vortex loses none of his sense of experimentation (shot in an almost constant split screen), it’s his most arresting and successful work to date, treading similar ground to Michael Haneké’s Amour but offering fresh perspectives on the irresistible march of dementia.
35. Cow
A documentary shot entirely from the animal’s point of view, Andrea Arnold’s study of the life of Luna the dairy cow and her calf is refreshingly (and occasionally brutally) honest. It’s also somewhat surprising, ranging from moments of genuine humour to shock and sadness, and if you were in any doubt where baby cows come from, Arnold has a glorious answer for you.
34. Hit The Road
Continuing the family tradition, Jafar Panahi’s son Panah arrived with his debut feature about a family on road trip, but while it’s another fine example of Iranian cinema’s gift to offer insights into the complexities of life in their country, this time Panah doses it with a liberal sprinkling of surreal humour to counterbalance the pathos.
33. The Wonder
Alongside Pablo Larrain, Sebastián Lelio has made a name for himself in recent years as a major force in Chilean cinema. His latest foray into English language films might be his best so far, with Florence Pugh as the English nurse summoned to an Irish village to observe a girl’s miraculous survival during a lengthy fast.
32. Benediction
Terence Davies remains one of the finest living British film makers, despite often slipping below the radar since his breakthrough, Distant Voices, Still Lives. His latest features both Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi as First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon, from life after the trenches to his Catholic conversion in later life, superbly and frankly reflecting on both the writer’s life and works.
31. The Worst Person In The World
It picked up a Best Original Screenplay nomination at this year’s Oscars and Renate Reinsve was shortlisted for Best Actress at the BAFTAs, but it’s Joachim Trier’s direction which binds everything together, with a number of brilliantly conceived set pieces across the chapter-based meditation on modern life and relationships.
30. RRR
Boasting more bombast and spectacle than all of the superhero films this year put together, RRR stands for Rise, Roar, Revolt, but this imagined friendship between real-life revolutionaries Komaram Bheem (N T Rama Rao) and Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) is a rip-roaring revelation, from its dance-offs to its incredibly choreographed action sequences with leaping tigers and flying motorcycles.
29. Turning Red
It’s a shame that Pixar’s latest didn’t get a good run in cinemas, instead launching on Disney+. It’s the combination of well-observed storytelling and delightful animation that we’ve come to expect from the studio, and their first solo female director Domee Shi brings a vibrant energy to the mother-daughter relationship complicated by a family curse.
28. Playground
Another film shot from the eye level of its protagonists, but this one features a brother and sister navigating the dangers of playground bullies. Belgian director Laura Wandel coaxes mature performances from her young stars, especially Maya Vanderbeque as the girl dragged into trouble when she attempts to defend her brother.
27. Flee
Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s documentary mixes animation with archive footage, depicting the director interviewing former refugee Amin Nawabi as he recounts the ordeal of his journey from Afghanistan to Denmark. Rasmussen carefully reveals the layers of Amin’s story and his attempts to accept truths about his past and himself in his new world.
26. Benedetta
What’s that? Showgirls and Basic Instinct director Paul Verhoeven is making a film about lesbian nuns? Of course, fans of the director (including myself) will know he’s about more than just shock value, and Virginie Efira shines as the young novice plagued by visions in the Dutch director’s adaptation of Judith C Brown’s novel.
Look out for part II, counting down to the best film of 2022, very soon.
