TOP 22 OF ‘22
OUR PICKS FOR THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR
Welcome to our first official ranked list! It looks a little different to other 2022 Top Movie lists and there are a few reasons for this:
1. WE LIVE IN PERTH - the bleached butthole of the world that, while aesthetically pristine, is not often catered to. We’re lucky to get films in the same year as international release dates, if at all (still salty about Saint Maud and The Green Knight). For this reason, 2022 mainstays like Aftersun, Tár and Triangle of Sadness don’t make an appearance because we won’t get to see them until next year.
There are also a couple of films that came out so late in 2021, we didn’t manage to see them before the 2022 new year. Our excuse? A belly full of Christmas leftovers and the refusal to venture out into 40-degree heat.
2. THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY HOURS IN A DAY. It’s hard enough to make time for feeding the cats, watering the verge and remembering to eat vegetables; while we didn’t see as many films as we might’ve liked, we did better this year than last.
3. THE *s ON SOME PICKS SIGNIFY THAT WE FULLY UNDERSTAND “tHaT mOvIe DiDeNt cOmE oUt iN 2022”. It did for us - see reason #1.
So without further ado, enjoy our Top 22 of ‘22!
22. Skinamarink - Kyle Edward Ball
Nasty, atmospheric and difficult to make out, Kyle Edward Ball’s feature length debut Skinamarink is a crackly VHS of your worst childhood nightmares. Two very young children awaken in their house to find their father gone, along with the windows and doors to the outside world. Banding together, they set up their fortress of comfort in the living room strewn with Lego, basked in light from an old TV playing disturbing vintage cartoons. The film is set in 1993 and so resembles a family video - except that our home movies weren’t taken during the dead of night and our parents were always there to film. Ball has a knack for capturing the uncapturable and inexplicable fears that live in a child’s mind (or in our memories of being a child) and has been honing this ability on his YouTube channel Bitesized Nightmares, where he takes requests from commenters and creates evocative videos that answer them. Skinamarink is undeniably slow and might test the patience of some viewers, but for the tolerant few, it’s a film that succeeds in ways very few others have and will stay with you long after you turn out the lights.
21. Hatching - Hanna Bergholm
Another in a year of confident and magnetic feature debuts, Hatching sees first-time director Hanna Bergholm bring to term a fascinating horror tale bursting with allegory. A young gymnast named Tinja struggles under the talons of her social media influencer mother and transfers her darkest and innermost feelings to a monster living in her wardrobe. Receiving a surplus of attention from its chosen mother, the entity within hatches into a version of Tinja that for many years has been kept beneath a shell, exacting horrible ‘justice’ on those who’ve hurt its mother. Similarities to Livid (in the dichotomy of beauty and horror, as well as the cruel mother/daughter relationship) are evident but Hatching is very much its own beast - a fabulous first entry into what will surely be an interesting filmography.
20. The Souvenir: Part II - Joanna Hogg*
The second serving of Joanna Hogg’s semi-autobiographical movie about movie making sees Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) trying to process her grief over the abrupt end to her relationship by funnelling it into her final student film. The Souvenir: Part II is appropriately more self-assured than its predecessor and at the same time, more fraught with mystery as Julie attempts to understand her former lover now that is gone. Memorialising the man she thought she knew proves very difficult as Julie struggles with her role at the helm of a film and the frustrations of her cast and crew, ultimately discovering more about herself as a woman and as an artist. If The Souvenir was a coming-of-age journey for a budding creative, then Part II sees its heroine find her footing and move on from the mystery of first love and loss.
19. Speak No Evil - Christian Tafdrup
At what point does politeness become dangerous? For Danish couple Bjørn and Louise, it’s the very moment they accept an overly familiar holiday invite from an odd Dutch pair they met in Tuscany a few weeks prior. Christian Tafrdup’s darkly satirical Speak No Evil pushes his characters (and audience) to the absolute limit of what is acceptable and asks why we tolerate discomfort for the sake of fleeting peace. The protagonists are given many opportunities to leave the increasingly awkward and uncomfortable stay, speak out against blatant displays of abusive parenting and remove their own child from a very bad situation, and their failures to do so every single time will have you yelling at the screen and numb to their inevitable punishment. This isn’t a film for those with weak stomachs and low frustration tolerance but for fans of the disturbing and the depraved, your fancies will be tickled.
18. The Lost Daughter - Maggie Gyllenhaal*
The subject of unnatural mothers is not often explored in film due to our presumed discomfort with the idea but in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feature debut The Lost Daughter (based on the book by Elena Ferrante) it is unapologetically front and centre. Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley play the same woman in the present and the past as we see one struggling to cope with her daughters and one who talks of them as if they were make-believe. There’s a fantastic sense of mystery to this film and, as is the case for all who meet her, we never really know Leda. Her most telling scene involves an outburst in a Greek movie theatre towards some very dangerous people suffocating the room, a release she’s perhaps been holding in her entire life as a mother who really shouldn’t have become one.
17. The Stranger - Thomas Wright
Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris take turns roleplaying cat and mouse in Thomas Wright’s The Stranger, a somewhat true crime caper that hits close to home (for Australians, at least). Released initially in theatres before settling on Netflix, this is a film that we had the privilege of seeing in a secluded theatre with a sinister sounding aircon unit, amplifying the quiet terror unfolding in front of our eyes. Both leads deliver career-best performances and Wright structures the narrative in a way that elevates the film from other police procedurals. The scares are psychological, the dialogue is frighteningly realistic and the result is an uncanny distortion of hero and villain.
16. The House - Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, and Paloma Baeza
Four directors, three stories, one house. This collaborative stop-motion animated effort spans three generations (human and anthropomorphised mice, bugs and cats) in the same house throughout time. The first, a horror-of-sorts with the most interesting design for fuzzy human faces, follows a young girl called Mabel (voiced by Mia Goth) whose parents are dazzled by a sinister architect and convinced to move into a luxurious but mysterious mansion with dark secrets and constant renovations occurring behind the scenes. While the following two segments don’t quite match the brilliance of the first, The House is a fantastic rumination on greed and the inability to let go, featuring wonderful voice performances, impressive animation and an unbeatable sense of eeriness.
15. A Hero - Asghar Farhadi*
Prison works a little differently in Iran and for two days, inmate Rahim is allowed out to pay a debt owed to his brother-in-law. Chance has it that his girlfriend finds a handbag full of gold currency during this time, but after checking its value at a local dealer (and the handbag being discovered by his sister), Rahim decides it’s all a bit hard and he’d be better off just returning the bag to its original owner. In Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, Rahim discovers the many different narratives that can be spun from a simple act of ‘kindness’ and the result is a fascinating study of human morality and false spectacle. Whether the film’s narrative belongs to Farhadi or there’s some merit to his alleged (and ironic) theft, it doesn’t really take away from its success in delivering its message.
14. Flee - Jonas Poher Rasmussen*
Rasmussen immerses his audience entirely in his friend’s harrowing (and until recently, secret) story of seeking refuge in Denmark and the long journey faced by himself and his family in fleeing Afghanistan in the 80s. Through archival footage and animation, this documentary uncovers from Rasmussen’s subject ‘Amin’ (with whom he has been friends since adolescence) information that not even Amin’s Danish boyfriend knows. Deeply moving and stranger than fiction, Amin’s story feels like a burden being lifted as he shares each snippet with us after years of anxiety and fear of being discovered and sent back to his country of birth. We can’t pretend that the party boat anchored on the Swan River playing the worst, most obvious ‘hits’ of the last 30 years did not somewhat detract from the impact of our outdoor screening, but it certainly served as a fitting reminder of how lucky we are to be annoyed by such trivialities.
13. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy - Ryûsuke Hamaguchi*
Anthology films run the risk of unevenness in their stories and there will always be stronger entries (for instance, The French Dispatch’s ‘The Concrete Masterpiece’). While this is somewhat true for Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, all three segments manage to comment on one facet of human existence. “Magic (or Something Less Alluring)” tackles jealousy and maturity in knowing when to stop torturing someone you once loved, and “Doors Wide Open” illustrates the power that human error can have on some and the immunity others seem to have to the justice of karma. But it’s the last segment that hits hardest and in “Once Again”, two women concurrently mistake each other for someone from their respective pasts and help each other move on in tremendously affecting fashion.
12. Everything Everywhere All At Once - Daniels (Kwan & Scheinert)
It had been six years since the fabulously flatulent Swiss Army Man burst onto screens and we would wonder, from time to time, “what are the Daniels up to?”
“A lot,” it appears, as their new film Everything Everywhere All At Once takes the cake for the most bombastic multiverse movie (perhaps ever) and most entertaining mother/daughter relationship since one of its stars swapped bodies with a teenage Lindsay Lohan. This is a film that rightfully puts Michelle Yeoh front and centre (and side, and corner, and beyond) and ushers in one of the most triumphant returns to Hollywood in casting Ke Huy Quan as her skilled-with-a-fanny-pack husband. If the line "In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you," didn’t elicit an audible sob, you are broken and cannot be fixed.
11. Bones and All - Luca Guadagnino
Teenagers can be a bit dramatic when they’re in love and it’s not unheard of for declarations of wanting to consume each other to be thrown around. But in Luca Guadagnino’s cannibal romance Bones and All, these declarations are quite literal. We follow Taylor Russell and It boy Timmay Chalamet in a road movie that explores unconditional love and unquenchable hunger, all while being hunted by a particularly terrifying Mark Rylance. A horror-intolerant friend attended this film alone after reading only an excerpt of a review and was not prepared for the fleshiness and brutality depicted on screen. But she did say that it stuck with her (unwelcomely) long after the session ended, so we’ll call that another win for Guadagnino.
10. Top Gun: Maverick - Joseph Kosinski
We have tried (many times) to appreciate Tony Scott’s Top Gun but the sad truth is that it’s just not a very good film. Iconic Kenny Loggins soundtrack and homoerotic volleyball notwithstanding, the original is severely lacking in thrills for a movie about flying. Thankfully, Tom Cruise is a man with a death wish who will stop at nothing to put himself in harm’s way and capture it spectacularly on film. The result is Top Gun: Maverick, two hours of the highest octane flight simulator you could ever hope for, with necessary throwbacks for lovers of the original and some welcome fresh blood (particularly in Miles Teller and Glen Powell). Are there some cringey romantic moments that we could do without? Of course, but if an age-appropriate romantic subplot makes it into the highest grossing film of the year and doesn’t take away from the planes and the navy banter, we’re fine with it. Top Gun: Maverick spent an outrageous amount of time in theatres and if that doesn’t signify that the well-made blockbuster is not dead, nothing will.
9. You Won’t Be Alone - Goran Stolevski
Who would’ve thought that a witch pulling her victim’s entrails into her chest and assuming their form could lead to such a tender story? Macedonian Australian director Goran Stolevski succeeds the task in his debut feature You Won’t Be Alone, a coming-of-age witchy drama about a 19th century peasant girl and her various iterations of shapeshifterdom in Macedonian village life. Like the extraterrestrial femme fatale in Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin, Stolevski’s heroine learns about life, love and loss through her interactions with regular folk as she is hunted by her supernatural supervisor, a ‘Wolf-Eateress’ named Old Maid Maria. The result is a beautifully realised dark fantasy with striking visuals and a short but impactful appearance by Noomi Rapace.
8. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio - GDT & Mark Gustafson
The very long wait is worth the reward, for after 15 years we are graced with the Pinocchio that Carlo Collodi intended - one full of heart, charm and splinters. The modern master of dark fantasy spins a tale of flawed fathers and righteous disobedience, articulated through visually stunning stop motion animation and musical numbers beautifully performed by his voice cast. This Pinocchio, from the outside, is a product of his drunk and heartbroken creator’s pain - unrefined pine, nails and all. But within this little wooden boy is an unbreakable optimism and goodness that doesn’t need refining at all. It is those around him - father figures Gepetto and Sebastian J. Cricket - who will benefit from Pinocchio’s defiant spirit and questioning nature. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, for Pinocchio springs into being during Mussolini’s fascist reign in 1930s Italy, a plot point only del Toro could introduce with a straight face and also pull off.
7. The Quiet Girl - Colm Bairéad
Not a dry eye was to be found in our sparsely attended session of The Quiet Girl, the powerhouse feature debut from director Colm Bairéad. The reason for the wet season? Bairéad’s less-is-more approach to showing the mundanely universal in his tale of a 9-year-old Irish girl sent off to stay with a childless couple in the countryside while her overpopulated family welcomes another child. Cáit (the girl in question) thrives under the care of Eibhlín and Seán, whose beautiful rural abode and collaborative way of life provide the love and attention lacking in Cáit’s regular home. But summer holidays don’t last forever and with Cáit’s return to silence and solitude on the horizon comes the bittersweet realisation that she can’t stay in paradise with her chosen parents. This is a deeply affecting and gorgeously shot film that hits with a quiet sense of confidence - a whisper ringing louder than a yell.
6. Boiling Point - Philip Barantini*
If you think The Bear is a harrowing look at the very real struggles faced by hospo staff on the reg, just wait until you reach Boiling Point. The consistently brilliant Stephen Graham stars as Andy, an ill-prepared and tightly wound head chef of one of London’s most critically revered restaurants, who sees it all fall apart on the busiest night of the year. Filmed in what-isn’t-but-seems-like one take, Boiling Point spans a failed health inspection, a drop-in from a nosy ex-business partner and a note about an allergy that may not have been entered in the system correctly. As the gaps in Andy’s management strategy start to show, the anxiety in the audience starts to whistle, resulting in a tense and thrilling film that will make you wonder how the hell anything ever makes it onto the plate and into your ungrateful lap.
5. The Banshees of Inisherin - Martin McDonagh
They say it’s harder to break up with a friend than a romantic partner and it would seem that, with his latest film, Martin McDonagh very much concurs. The Banshees of Inisherin marks a reunion for McDonagh’s electric In Bruges duo Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as Pádraic (the dumpee) and Colm (the dumper), going head to head in a game of who can make the other more miserable now that they won’t be drinking pints together. Set on a fictional isle off mainland Ireland, the inhabitants of Inisherin witness the very real infighting of the 1923 Irish civil war from the safety (or perhaps, insignificance) of their humble hills. As Colm faces his (not quite impending) mortality and discovers a newfound desire to create a legacy, Pádraic remains more concerned about what is in his donkey’s droppings. Featuring astounding supporting performances from Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan, Banshees takes the charm and dark wit of In Bruges and adds dashes of folklore and sombre existentialism, resulting in a new highpoint for McDonagh’s filmography.
4. The Innocents - Eskil Vogt*
Not since It Follows have we left the cinema feeling such prickly discomfort and in Eskil Vogt’s The Innocents, children are anything but. A small group of Norwegian kids living in the same residential complex discover that they have supernatural powers and while some use them for good, one misses the memo. Vogt is a frequent collaborator of Joachim Trier’s, co-writing the screenplays for three of Trier’s films, including the mesmerising Thelma. Echoes of the eponymous heroine’s poor control of her talents exist here but in a scarier, more threatening and uninhibited way. The split between the child world and the adult world is both wondrous and terrifying and shows just how little overlap or input the parents of the protagonists have. If Stand By Me featured fewer trains and more telekinetic wrath, you’d end up with something like this.
3. The Worst Person In The World - Joachim Trier*
The trials of late 20s and early 30s womanhood are explored with depth and humour in Joachim Trier’s romantic dramedy about Julie (Renate Reinsve), a young person who doesn’t quite know what she wants out of life (or relationships). Changing degrees with a frequency akin to toothbrush heads, Julie jumps from a relationship with an older creative to one with a barista her own age whom she meets purely by chance through crashing a party. The things that used to frustrate Julie about her former boyfriend are now what she yearns for in her new relationship, but the timing never seems to work out between Julie and whoever her current partner is. This is an affecting and relatable film, not just for millennials with common ground but for anyone who has ever felt as though they just can’t get anything right.
2. Red Rocket - Sean Baker*
The sheer confidence to open his third feature with NSYNC’s bounciest banger is reason enough to love Sean Baker, but Red Rocket is so much more than its clever musical choices. Simon Rex reaches down and flops his talent out for all to see as Mikey, a retired porn actor and the most regrettably endearing life ruiner to grace our screens since Good Time’s Connie. Despite the horrendous effect Mikey has on every single person he encounters, Rex makes him oddly lovable for a masochistic audience perhaps charmed by similarly destructive men in their past. In choosing to blend a cast of professionals and non-actors, Baker strikes the perfect ratio of realism and dramatic cautionary tale, shrouded in a gorgeously vibrant Texas captured on 16mm film.
1. Drive My Car - Ryûsuke Hamaguchi*
From the year’s most accomplished director (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi) comes an engrossing study on the grieving process of an actor and stage director whose wife cheats on him (and then goes ahead and dies). Yūsuke Kafuku spends the remainder of the film trying to come to terms with his loss while attempting to produce and direct a production of ‘Uncle Vanya’, all while dealing with a glaucoma diagnosis which renders him unable to drive his prized vintage Saab 900 Turbo. He hires a young driver, Misaki, who herself is clinging to unresolved feelings from the past, and the two strike up an unlikely bond. Is the key to self-development the friends we make along the way? Maybe, but the smooth ride of an immaculately-kept 90s automobile likely has a positive effect on healing. Hamaguchi has a deep understanding of the complexities of relationships and our lasting impact on each other and it’s such a treat to have had two wonderful examples in 2022.
And because 22 places weren’t enough to entirely narrow down our favourite movies of 2022, please allow some HONOURABLE MENTIONS for films that are vastly better than anything Marvel put out this year:
Memoria - Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s ballsy art piece probably deserves a spot on the list but unfortunately, we were surrounded by jabronis at our viewing, somewhat ruining the whole experience and our ability to focus.
Barbarian - Zach Cregger’s solidly good popcorn horror movie is a bunch of fun.
Men - Alex Garland’s weakest film is still stronger than most.
After Yang - Kogonada’s beautiful (if a little too short) exploration of artificial intelligence and tea requires a rewatch.
Petite Maman - it’s hard not to compare anything Céline Sciamma makes to Portrait of a Lady on Fire but this tender story of processing grief and emotions as a child is just lovely.
As the hand edges closer to 12 on this December 31st, we will be demolishing garlic prawn pizza, swatting away mozzies and watching Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave at Perth Festival to round out 2022.
Enjoy your NYE and we’ll see you at the movies next year!
