Categories
Year in Review

2022 – Year in Review

Best films of the year as well as best first-time viewings in 2022.

This is my yearly project which is an attempt to organize the film viewings of the previous year. Because I’m a little late with the project this year, I won’t spend time reflecting too much on what the year was like. Previously I have written about the best films of the year and my viewing habits here: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2023/world-poll/world-poll-2022-part-5/#16. I hope this won’t be just a dry list next year but more heavily focused on reflection. Nevertheless, I hope you’ll be able to find something worth seeing.

2022

These films are based on the 2022 releases I saw 2022. The final list is different and can be found at the bottom of these viewings. When it is time for the best films of 2023, I hope I will be able to offer some writing as well.

Drive My Car, directed by Hamaguchi Ryûsuke

Crown Jewels of 2022

  • Drive My Car (‘Doraibu mai kâ’, Hamaguchi Ryûsuke, 2021)
  • Benediction (Terence Davies, 2021)
  • The Kegelstatt Trio (‘O trio em mi bemol’, Rita Azevedo Gomes, 2022)
  • Hold Me Tight (‘Serre moi fort’, Mathieu Amalric, 2021)
  • Happening (‘L’événement’, Audrey Diwan, 2021)

The Greats of 2022

  • The Souvenir: Part II (Joanna Hogg, 2021)
  • Fairytale (‘Skazka’, Aleksandr Sokurov, 2022)
  • Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles (‘Liturhiya protytankovykh pereshkod’, Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, 2022)
  • Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg, 2022)
  • Natchathiram Nagargiradhu (Pa. Ranjith, 2022)
  • A Date in Minsk (‘Svidanie v Minske’, Nikita Lavretski, 2022)
  • Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (Richard Linklater, 2022)
  • Fabian: Going to the Dogs (‘Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde’, Dominik Graf, 2021)
  • Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022)
  • Armageddon Time (James Gray, 2022)
  • Decision to Leave (‘Heojil kyolshim’, Park Chan-wook, 2022)
  • Fire of Love (Sara Dosa, 2022)
  • The Potemkinists (‘Potemkinistii’, Radu Jude, 2022)
  • Girl Picture (‘Tytöt tytöt tytöt’, Alli Haapasalo, 2022)
  • Stop-Zemlia (Kateryna Gornostai, 2021)
  • Nostalgia (Mario Martone, 2022)
  • Corsini Sings Blomberg & Maciel (‘Corsini interpreta a Blomberg y Maciel’, Mariano Llinás, 2021)
  • Viraata Parvam (Venu Udugula, 2022)
A Date in Minsk, directed by Nikita Lavretski.

The Runner-ups of 2022

  • The Tsugua Diaries (‘Diários de Otsoga’, Miguel Gomes, Maureen Fazendeiro, 2021)
  • As In Heaven (‘Du som er i himlen’, Tea Lindeburg, 2021)
  • The Day I Discovered that Jane Fonda was a Brunette (Anna Salzberg, 2022)
  • Three Thousand Years of Longing (George Miller, 2022)
  • I Saw (‘Ya videl’, Vadim Kostrov, 2022)
  • The Fabulous Ones (‘Le favolose’, Roberta Torre, 2022)
  • While We Were Here (‘Dok smo bili tu’, Sunčica Fradelić, 2021)
  • Nope (Jordan Peele, 2022)
  • Camilo Torres Restrepo, el amor eficaz (Marta Rodríguez, Fernando Restrepo Castañeda, 2022)
  • It Is Night in America (‘É Noite na América’, Ana Vaz, 2022)
It Is Night in America, directed by Ana Vaz

Older releases

Diamonds

  • Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg, 1931)
  • The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra, 1933)
  • The Mortal Storm (Frank Borzage, 1940)
  • Hangmen Also Die! (Fritz Lang, 1943)
  • Pursued (Raoul Walsh, 1947)
  • Miss Oyu (‘Oyû-sama’, Mizoguchi Kenji, 1951)
  • The Crimson Kimono (Samuel Fuller, 1959
  • Macario (Roberto Gavaldón, 1960)
  • My Son, the Hero (‘Los hermanos del Hierro’, Ismael Rodríguez, 1961)
  • A Difficult Life (‘Una vita difficile’, Dino Risi, 1961)
A war film more devastating than Come and See or The Ascent? Volodymyr Denysenko’s Conscience.
  • The Trial of Joan of Arc (‘Procès de Jeanne d’Arc’, Robert Bresson, 1962)
  • Triumph Over Violence (‘Obyknovennyy fashizm’, Mikhail Romm, 1965)
  • The Tied-Up Balloon (‘Privarzaniyat balon’, Binka Zhelyazkova, 1967)
  • Conscience (‘Sovist’, Volodymyr Denysenko, 1968)
  • Je T’Aime, Je T’Aime (Alain Resnais, 1968)
  • Heroic Purgatory (‘Rengoku eroica’, Yoshida Kijû, 1970)
  • The Hart of London (Jack Chambers, 1970)
  • The Murdered House (‘A Casa Assassinada’, Paulo César Saraceni, 1971)
  • The Travelling Players (‘O thiasos’, Theo Angelopoulos, 1975)
  • The Desert of the Tartars (‘Il deserto dei Tartari’, Valerio Zurlini, 1976)
  • The Wishing Tree (‘Natvris khe’, Tengiz Abuladze, 1976)
  • Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (‘Di yi lei zing wei zian’, Tsui Hark, 1980)
  • Chidambaram (Govindan Aravindan, 1985)
  • Flight North (‘Flucht in den Norden’, Ingemo Engström, 1986)
  • To Be or Not to Be (‘Boodaan yaa naboodaan’, Kianoush Ayari, 1998)
  • Pulse (‘Kairo’, Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 2001)
  • Throw Down (‘Yau doh lung fu bong’, Johnnie To, 2004)
  • The Turin Horse (‘A torinói ló’, Tarr Béla, Hranitzky Ágnes, 2011)
  • Romancing in Thin Air (‘Gao hai ba zhi lian II’, Johnnie To, 2012)
One of the most fascinating discoveries of the year: The Murdered House, directed by Paulo César Saraceni and starring the great Norma Bengell.

Gold

  • Zvenigora (Oleksandr Dovzhenko, 1928)
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931)
  • Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932)
  • Love Me Tonight (Rouben Mamoulian, 1932)
  • Fury (Fritz Lang, 1936)
  • Stormy Waters (‘Remorques’, Jean Grémillon, 1941)
  • The More the Merrier (George Stevens, 1943)
  • Iris and the Lieutenant (‘Iris och löjtnantshjärta’, Alf Sjöberg, 1946)
  • While the Door Was Locked (‘Medan porten var stängd’, Hasse Ekman, 1946)
Great yet underseen actor-turned-director Hasse Ekman was one of the great interpreters of the loneliness and alienation in post-war Sweden: here in his film When the Door Was Locked.
  • Moonrise (Frank Borzage, 1948)
  • The Gunfighter (Henry King, 1950)
  • Bend of the River (Anthony Mann, 1952)
  • Night Falls (‘La Noche Avanza’, Roberto Gavaldón, 1952)
  • The Far Country (Anthony Mann, 1954)
  • It’s Always Fair Weather (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1955)
  • The Beast Shall Die (‘Yajû shisubeshi’, Sugawa Eizô, 1959)
  • The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)
  • Before Tonight is Over (‘Kým sa skoncí táto noc’, Peter Solan, 1966)
  • July Rain (‘Iyulskiy dozhd’, Marlen Khutsiev, 1967)
  • The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971)
  • Coup d’Etat (‘Kaigenrei’, Yoshida Kijû, 1973)
  • The Child of Another (‘Muna moto’, Jean-Pierre Dikongue-Pipa, 1975)
  • The March of Fools (‘Babodeuli haengjin’, Ha Gil-jong, 1975)
  • Legend of the Mountain (‘Shan zhong zhuan qi’, King Hu, 1979)
  • Postscript (‘Posleslovie’, Marlen Khutsiev, 1984)
  • Working Girls (Lizzie Borden, 1986)
  • Strawman (‘Dao cao ren’, Wang Tung, 1987)
  • Black Rain (‘Kuroi ame’, Imamura Shôhei, 1989)
  • Sátántangó (Tarr Béla, 1994)
  • The Mangler (Tobe Hooper, 1995)
  • My Best Friend’s Wedding (P.J. Hogan, 1997)
  • Dunia (Jocelyne Saab, 2005)
  • Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (‘Buda as sharm foru rikht’, Hana Makhmalbaf, 2007)
  • Office (‘Hua li shang ban zu’, Johnnie To, 2015)
Dunia, directed by Jocelyne Saab.

Silver

  • Gunnar Hedes Saga (Mauritz Stiller, 1923)
  • 3 Bad Men (John Ford, 1926)
  • The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932)
  • Me and My Gal (Raoul Walsh, 1932)
  • The Downfall of Osen (‘Orizuru Osen’, Mizoguchi Kenji, 1934)
  • Prometey (Ivan Kavaleridze, 1936)
  • Mister Max (‘Il Signor Max’, Mario Camerini, 1937)
  • Spain (‘Ispaniya’, Esfir Shub, Roman Karmen, 1939)
  • Shors (‘Shchors’, Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Yuliya Solntseva, 1939)
  • Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946)
  • Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948)
  • Force of Evil (Abraham Polonsky, 1948)
  • The Last Bridge (‘Die letzte Brücke’, Helmut Käutner, 1954)
  • Moonfleet (Fritz Lang, 1955)
  • House of Bamboo (Samuel Fuller, 1955)
  • A Girl in Black (‘To koritsi me ta mavra’, Mihalis Kakogiannis, 1956)
Before Johnnie To’s Office, there was Sugawa Eizô’s You Can Succeed, Too.
  • Room for Let (‘Kashima ari’, Kawashima Yûzô, 1959)
  • Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (‘Romeo, Julie e tma’, Jirí Weiss, 1960)
  • Accattone (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1961)
  • The Third Lover (‘L’Œil du Malin’, Claude Chabrol, 1962)
  • Barren Lives (‘Vidas Secas’, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1963)
  • You Can Succeed, Too (‘Kimi mo shusse ga dekiru’, Sugawa Eizô, 1964)
  • Skinny and Others (‘Chudy i inni’, Henryk Kluba, 1967)
  • The Producers (Mel Brooks, 1967)
  • Nanami: The Inferno of First Love (‘Hatsukoi: Jigoku-hen’, Hani Susumu, 1968)
  • Garden of War (‘Jardim de Guerra’, Nelville d’Almeida, 1968)
  • Emitaï (Sembene Ousmane, 1971)
  • Confessions Among Actresses (‘Kokuhakuteki joyûron’, Yoshida Kijû, 1971)
  • Roma (Federico Fellini, 1972)
  • Ludwig – Requiem for a Virgin King (‘Ludwig – Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König’, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1972)
  • The Sun Rises Once a Day (‘Slonce wschodzi raz na dzien’, Henryk Kluba, 1972)
  • F For Fake (Orson Welles, 1973)
  • Vampyres (José Ramón Larraz, 1974)
  • The Amulet of Ogum (‘O Amuleto de Ogum’, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1974)
  • Phantom of the Paradise (Brian De Palma, 1974)
  • The Nouba of the Women of Mount Chenoa (‘La nouba des femmes du mont Chenoua’, Assia Djebar, 1979)
  • The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979)
  • Iran, Utopia in the Making (‘Iran, l’utopie en marche’, Jocelyne Saab, 1980)
  • Hands Up! (‘Rece do góry’, Jerzy Skolimowski, 1981)
  • Moonlighting (Jerzy Skolimowski, 1982)
  • Balamos (Stavros Tornes, 1982)
  • Mandi (Shyam Benegal, 1938)
  • What Have I Done to Deserve This? (‘¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!’, Pedro Almodóvar, 1984)
  • Danilo Treles: The Famous Andalusian Musician (‘Danilo Treles: O fimismenos andalousianos mousikos’, Stavros Tornes, 1986)
  • The Sixth Day (‘Al-yawm al-Sadis’, Youssef Chahine, 1986)
  • Testament (John Akomfrah, 1988)
  • The Cat (‘Die Katze’, Dominik Graf, 1988)
  • Les Sièges de l’Alcazar (Luc Moullet, 1989)
  • The Antiquities of Rome (‘Les antiquités de Rome’, Jean-Claude Rousseau, 1989)
  • Mother (‘Madar’, Ali Hatami, 1990)
  • Once Upon a Time in China II (‘Wong Fei Hung II: Nam yee tung chi keung’, Tsui Hark, 1992)
  • Mossane (Safi Faye, 1996)
  • Red Persimmon (‘Hong shi zi’, Wang Tung, 1996)
  • Destiny (‘Al-massir’, Youssef Chahine, Khairiya A-Mansour, 1997)
  • Eve’s Bayou (Kasi Lemmons, 1997)
  • Friday Night (‘Vendredi soir’, Claire Denis, 2002)
  • Story of My Death (‘Història de la meva mort’, Albert Serra, 2013)
Safi Faye’s Mossane, a film I wanted to see for a very long time, and finally witnessed its beauty. May she rest in peace.

Bronze

  • The Mysterious X (‘Det hemmelighedsfulde X’, Benjamin Christensen, 1914)
  • Go West (Buster Keaton, 1925)
  • So This Is Paris (Ernst Lubitsch, 1926)
  • Thunderbolt (Josef von Sternberg, 1929)
  • Applause (Rouben Mamoulian, 1929)
  • Blonde Crazy (Roy Del Ruth, 1931)
  • Steamboat Round the Bend (John Ford, 1935)
  • History is Made at Night (Frank Borzage, 1937)
  • Make Way For Tomorrow (Leo McCarey, 1937)
  • Midnight (Mitchell Leisen, 1939)
  • Fantasia (David Hand, James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ben Sharpsteen, William Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Luske, Jim Handley, Ford Beebe, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Norman Ferguson, 1940)
  • The Other (‘La otra’, Roberto Gavaldón, 1946)
  • Key Largo (John Huston, 1948)
  • Portrait of Jennie (William Dieterle, 1948)
  • The Love of a Woman (‘L’Amour d’une femme’, Jean Grémillon, 1953)
  • After the Curfew (‘Lewat Djam Malam’, Usmar Ismail, 1954)
  • Mafioso (Alberto Lattuada, 1962)
The Big City, directed by Carlos Diegues. In this picture: two great actors Joel Barcellos and Anecy Rocha who passed too early and was a sister of director Glauber Rocha.
  • The Silence (‘Tystnaden’, Ingmar Bergman, 1963)
  • My Way Home (‘Így jöttem’, Miklós Jancsó, 1965)
  • The Obsessed of Catule (‘Vereda da Salvação’, Anselmo Duarte, 1965)
  • Secrets Behind the Wall (‘Kabe no naka no himegoto’, Wakamatsu Kôji, 1966)
  • The Big City (‘A Grande Cidade’, Carlos Diegues, 1966)
  • Change of Life (‘Mudar de Vida’, Paulo Rocha, 1966)
  • Oedipus Rex (‘Edipo Re’, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1967)
  • Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (‘Joshuu sasori: Kemono-beya’, Itô Shun’ya, 1973)
  • Cops vs. Thugs (‘Kenkei tai soshiki boryoku’, Fukasaku Kinji, 1975)
  • Tall Shadows of the Wind (‘Sayehaye bolande bad’, Bahman Farmanara, 1979)
  • Raining in the Mountain (‘Kong shan ling yu’, King Hu, 1979)
  • Mur Murs (Agnès Varda, 1981)
  • Daimler-Benz Limousine (‘Limuzyna Daimler-Benz’, Filip Bajon, 1982)
  • Tampopo (Itami Jûzô, 1985)
  • Zan Boko (Gaston Kaboré, 1988)
  • To Sleep With Anger (Charles Burnett, 1990)
  • Predator 2 (Stephen Hopkins, 1990)
  • Deep Cover (Bill Duke, 1992)
  • Minbo: the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (‘Minbô no onna’, Itami Jûzô, 1992)
  • Wild Reeds (‘Les Roseaux sauvages’, André Téchiné, 1994)
  • Welcome II the Terrordome (Ngozi Onwurah, 1995)
  • Love in the Time of Twilight (‘Hua yue jia qi’, Tsui Hark, 1995)
  • The Celebration (‘Festen’, Thomas Vinterberg, 1998)
  • The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999)
  • Sia, the Myth of the Python (‘Sia, le rêve du python’, Dani Kouyaté, 2001)
  • Friends of Friends (‘Die Freunde der Freunde’, Dominik Graf, 2002)
  • Running on Karma (‘Dai zek lo’, Johnnie To, 2003)
  • Honour of the Knights (‘Honor de cavallería’, Albert Serra, 2006)
  • Vincere (Marco Bellocchio, 2009)
  • A Prophet (‘Un prophète’, Jacques Audiard, 2009)
  • A Screaming Man (‘Un homme qui crie’, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2010)
  • Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (‘Daan san nam nui’, Johnnie To, 2011)
  • Life Without Principle (‘Duet ming gam’, Johnnie To, 2011)
  • The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014)
  • 3000 Nights (‘3000 Layla’, Mai Masri, 2015)
  • Creepy (‘Kurîpî: Itsuwari no rinjin’, Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 2016)
Another strange classic by Tsui Hark: Love in the Time of Twilight.

Discovered Gold from Recent Years (2017-2021)

  • Kinshasa Makombo (Dieudo Hamadi, 2018)
  • Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa, 2019)
  • First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)
  • Downstream to Kinshasa (Dieudo Hamadi, 2020)
  • For Lucio (‘Per Lucio’, Pietro Marcello, 2021)
Vitalina Varela by Pedro Costa.

Kultaa kotimaasta – Gold from Homeland: best older Finnish films I saw

  • Kulkurin valssi (T.J. Särkkä, 1941)
  • Linnaisten vihreä kamari (Valentin Vaala, 1945)
  • Pikajuna pohjoiseen (Roland af Hällström, 1947)
  • Ratavartijan kaunis Inkeri (Hannu Leminen, 1950)
  • Tehtaan varjossa (Rauni Mollberg, 1969)
  • Marja pieni! (Eija-Elina Bergholm, 1972)
  • Palkkasoturi (Anssi Mänttäri, 1997)
Forgotten or misunderstood masterpiece Ratavartijan kaunis Inkeri, directed by Hannu Leminen, a visually gorgeous triangle drama that makes one wish that modern Finnish cinema would learn from its melodrama tradition.

Favorite short films

  • Suspense. (Lois Weber, Phillips Smaley, 1913)
  • Satan’s Rhapsody (‘Rapsodia Satanica’, Nino Oxilia, 1917)
  • Rain (‘Regen’, Joris Ivens, Mannus Franken, 1929)
  • Red Hot Riding Hood (Tex Avery, 1943)
  • Who Killed Who? (Tex Avery, 1943)
  • The Gulls (‘Trut!’, Arne Sucksdorff, 1944)
  • Bad Luck Blackie (Tex Avery, 1949)
  • Three of Many (‘Drei von vielen’, Jürgen Böttcher, 1961)
  • Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1963)
  • The Crown Jewels of Iran (‘Ganjine-haye gohar’, Ebrahim Golestan, 1965)
  • Being Women (‘Essere Donne’, Cecilia Mangini, 1965)
  • Black Liberation (Edouard de Laurot, 1967)
Cecilia Mangini’s masterpiece Being women.
  • Standard Time (Michael Snow, 1967)
  • La Reprise du travail aux usines Wonder (Jacques Willemont, 1968)
  • P for Pelican (‘P mesle pelican’, Parviz Kimiavi, 1972)
  • War Children (‘Les Enfants de la Guerre’, Jocelyne Saab, 1976)
  • Beirut, Never Again (‘Beyrouth, jamais plus’, Jocelyne Saab, 1976)
  • A Letter from Beirut (‘Lettre de Beyrouth’, Jocelyne Saab, 1979)
  • The Newcomers (‘Taze-nafas-ha’, Kianoush Ayari, 1979)
  • I & I: An African Allegory (Ben Caldwell, 1979)
  • A Luta do Povo (Renato Tapajós, 1980)
  • Beirut, My City (‘Beyrouth, ma ville’, Jocelyne Saab, 1983)
  • Sacré-Coeur (Teo Hernández, 1983)
  • The Body Beautiful (Ngozi Onwurah, 1991)
  • Samernas Land (‘Same ätnam’, Stefan Jarl, 1994)
  • Twice Around the World (‘Deux fois le tour du monde’, Jean-Claude Rousseau, 2006)
Nothing made as big an expression as Jocelyne Saab’s Beirut-trilogy. I wrote my debut for Finnish Filmihullu magazine on the subject.

Rediscovered

  • The Consequences of Feminism (‘Les résultats du féminisme’, Alice Guy-Blaché, 1906)
  • Arsenal (Oleksandr Dovzhenko, 1929)
  • Earth (‘Zemlya’, Oleksandr Dovzhenko, 1930)
  • Ugetsu monogatari (Mizoguchi Kenji, 1953)
  • Cairo Station (‘Bab el hadid’, Youssef Chahine, 1958)
  • The Cloud-Capped Star (‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’, Ritwik Ghatak, 1960)
  • Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)
  • Eros plus Massacre (‘Erosu purasu gyakusatsu’, Yoshida Kijû, 1969)
I only understood Yoshida’s masterpiece with the second viewing, after I had seen some others first. Now he is one of my biggest favorites.

Favorite new directors discovered 

Directors whose films I’ve seen for the first time this year and from whom I’ve seen at least two films. I’ve put a symbol (*) behind films that are already mentioned elsewhere on the list. I add every film I saw from them last year.

Ingemo Engström (1941–) [Germany/Finland]

  • About Narration (‘Erzählen’, with Harun Farocki, 1975)
  • Flight North (‘Flucht in Den Norden’, 1986) *

Henryk Kluba (1931–2005) [Poland]

  • Skinny and Others (‘Chudy i inni’, 1967) *
  • The Sun Rises Once a Day (‘Słońce wschodzi raz na dzień’, 1972) *

Kianoush Ayari (1951–) [Iran]

  • The Newcomers (‘Taze-nafas-ha’, 1979) *
  • To Be or Not to Be (‘Boodaan yaa naboodaan’, 1998) *

Binka Zhelyazkova (1923–2011) [Bulgaria]

  • The Tied-Up Balloon (‘Privarzaniyat balon’, 1967) *
  • The Last Word (‘Poslednata duma’, 1973)

Wang Tung / Wang Toon (1942–) [Taiwan]

  • Run Away (‘Ce ma ru lin’, 1985)
  • Strawman (‘Dao cao ren’, 1987) *
  • Red Persimmon (‘Hong shi zi’, 1996) *

Itami Jûzô (1933–1997) [Japan]

  • Tampopo (1985) *
  • Minbo: the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (‘Minbô no onna’, 1992) *

Tex Avery (1908–1980) [USA]

  • I Love to Singa (1936) 
  • A Wild Hare (1940)
  • Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) *
  • Who Killed Who? (1943) *
  • Bad Luck Blackie (1949) *

Rouben Mamoulian (1897–1987) [USA]

  • Applause (1929) *
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) *
  • Love Me Tonight (1932) *

Stavros Tornes (1932–1988) [Greece]

  • Karkalou (1984)
  • Balamos (1982) *
  • Danilo Treles: The Famous Andalusian Musician (‘Danilo Treles: O fimismenos andalousianos mousikos’, 1986) *

Dieudo Hamadi (1984–) [Democratic Republic of Congo]

  • Kinshasa Makombo (2018) *
  • Downstream to Kinshasa (2020) *
Dieudo Hamadi

Ngozi Onwurah (1964–) [UK]

  • The Body Beautiful (1991) *
  • Flight of the Swan (1992)
  • Welcome II the Terrordome (1995) *

Sugawa Eizô (1930–1998) [Japan]

  • The Beast Shall Die (‘Yajû shisubeshi’, 1959) *
  • You Can Succeed, Too (‘Kimi mo shusse ga dekiru’, 1964) *

Jean-Claude Rousseau (1950–) [France]

  • The Antiquities of Rome (‘Les antiquités de Rome’, 1989) *
  • Twice Around the World (‘Deux fois le tour du monde’, 2006) *
  • Série noire (2009)
  • Senza mostra (2011)

Kenneth Anger (1927–) [USA]

  • Fireworks (1947)
  • Puce Moment (1949)
  • Scorpio Rising (1963) *

Nelson Pereira dos Santos (1928–2018) [Brazil]

  • Barren Lives (‘Vidas Secas’, 1963) *
  • The Amulet of Ogum (‘O Amuleto de Ogum’, 1974) *

Anselmo Duarte (1920–2009) [Brazil]

  • The Given Word (‘O Pagador de Promessas’, 1962)
  • The Obsessed of Catule (‘Vereda da Salvação’, 1965) *

Top 75 Favorite Films from 2022

As mentioned earlier, next year I’ll dedicate more time to this list. It might be silly that I have films from 2022 in two different spots but this list also includes 2022 films I saw this year. Originally I was planning a more extensive post. The films on this list are picked from 202 films I saw that I consider to be 2022 releases.

75. Neon Spring (‘Neona pavasaris‘, Matīss Kaža / Latvia)

74. Yuni (Kamila Andini / Indonesia)

73. ‘Se’-back (‘Se Yoshimasu Gozo x Kukangendai‘, Shichiri Kei / Japan)

72. Barbarian (Zach Cregger / USA)

71. A Landscaped Area Too Quiet for Me (‘Una zona Ajardinada Demasiado Tranquila Para Mí’, Alejandro Vázquez San Miguel / Spain)

70. The Passengers of the Night (‘Les Passagers de la nuit‘, Mikhaël Hers / France)

69. Paris, 13th District (‘Les Olympiades‘, Jacques Audiard / France)

68. Descendant (Margaret Brown / USA)

67. R 21 aka Restoring Solidarity (‘Alfilm raqm wahid waeishrun‘, Mohanad Yacubi / Palestine / Japan)

66. Wendell & Wild (Henry Selick / USA)

65. Bubble (‘Kupla‘, Aleksi Salmenperä / Finland)

64. The Sleeping Beast (‘Tagurpidi torn‘, Jaak Kilmi / Estonia)

63. Belle (‘Ryû to sobakasu no hime‘, Hosoda Mamoru / Japan)

62. The Worst Person in the World (‘Verdens verste menneske‘, Joachim Trier / Norway)

61. The Novelist’s Film (‘So-seol-ga-ui yeong-hwa‘, Hong Sang-soo / South Korea)

60. EO (Jerzy Skolimowski)

59. Hit the Road (‘Jaddeh Khaki‘, Panah Panahi / Iran)

58. The Fabulous Ones (‘Le favolose‘, Roberta Torres / Italy)

The Novelist’s Film, directed by Hong Sang-soo.

57. One Second (‘Yi miao zhong‘, Zhang Yimou / Mainland China)

56. The Great Movement (‘El Gran Movimiento‘, Kiro Russo / Bolivia)

55. Ante… Sundaraniki! (Vivek Athreya / India [Telugu])

54. You Can Live Forever (Sarah Watts, Mark Slutsky / Canada)

53. Our Bodies Are Our Battlefields (‘Nos corps sont vos champs de bataille‘, Isabelle Solas / France but shot in Argentina on Argentinian subject)

52. Camilo Torres Restrepo, el amor eficaz (Marta Rodríguez, Fernando Restrepo Castañeda / Colombia)

51. Klondike (‘Klondaik‘, Maryna Er Gorbach / Ukraine)

50. Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul / Colombia)

49. Ashkal (Youssef Chebbi / Tunisia)

48. I Saw (‘Ya videl‘, Vadim Kostrov / Russia)

47. While We Were Here (‘Dok smo bili tu’, Sunčica Fradelić / Croatia)

46. Moonage Daydream (Brett Morgen / USA)

45. Nope (Jordan Peele / USA)

Ashkal, directed by Youssef Chebbi.

44. The Day I Discovered that Jane Fonda Was a Brunette (‘Le jour où j’ai découvert que Jane Fonda était brune‘, Anna Salzberg / France)

43. Three Thousand Years of Longing (George Miller / Australia)

42. The Newest Olds (Pablo Mazzolo)

41. The Tomb of Kafka (‘Le tombeau de Kafka‘, Jean-Claude Rousseau / France)

40. See You Friday, Robinson (‘À vendredi, Robinson‘, Mitra Farahani / France / Iran)

39. Tommy Guns (‘Nação Valente‘, Carlos Conceição / Portugal)

38. Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve / France)

37. The Tsugua Diaries (‘Diários de Otsoga‘, Miguel Gomes, Maureen Fazendeiro / Portugal)

36. It Is Night in America (‘É Noite na América‘, Ana Vaz / Brazil)

35. Nostalgia (Mario Martone / Italy)

34. The Potemkinists (‘Potemkinisti‘, Radu Jude / Romania)

Our last moments with Godard. See You Friday, Robinson, directed by Mitra Farahani.

33. Neptune Frost (Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams / Rwanda)

32. Viraata Parvam (Venu Udugula / India [Telugu])

31. Corsini Sings Blomberg & Maciel (‘Corsini interpreta a Blomberg y Maciel‘, Mariano Llinás / Argentina)

30. Welcome (Jean-Claude Rousseau / France)

29. Sermon to the Fish (‘Baliqlara xütbe‘, Hilal Baydarov / Azerbaijan)

28. As in Heaven (‘Du som er i himlen‘, Tea Lindeburg / Denmark)

27. Pacifiction (Albert Serra / France)

26. Girl Picture (‘Tytöt tytöt tytöt‘, Alli Haapasalo / Finland)

25. Fire of Love (Sara Dosa / Canada / USA)

24. Stop-Zemlia (Kateryna Gornostai / Ukraine)

23. Decision to Leave (‘Heojil kyolshim‘, Park Chan-wook / South Korea)

Kateryna Gornostai: Stop-Zemlia.

22. The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft (Werner Herzog / France / USA)

21. Fabian: Going to the Dogs (‘Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde‘, Dominik Graf / Germany)

20. Above the Clouds (‘Sobre las nubes‘, María Aparicio / Argentina)

19. Aftersun (Charlotte Wells / UK)

18. Murina (Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic / Croatia)

17. A Date in Minsk (‘Svidanie v Minske‘, Nikita Lavretski / Belarus)

María Aparacio: Above the Clouds.

16. Armageddon Time (James Gray / USA)

15. Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles (‘Liturhiya protytankovykh pereshkod‘, Dmytro Sukholytkyi-Sobchuk / Ukraine)

14. Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (Richard Linklater / USA)

13. Nobody’s Hero (‘Viens je t’emmène‘, Alain Guiraudie / France)

12. Natchathiram Nagargiradhu (Pa. Ranjith / India [Tamil])

11. Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg / Canada)

One of the greatest performances of the year: Dushara Vijayan in Pa. Ranjith’s Natchathiram Nagargiradhu.

10. The Souvenir: Part II (Joanna Hogg / UK)

9. Fairytale (‘Skazka‘, Aleksandr Sokurov / Russia)

8. Happening (‘L’événement‘, Audrey Diwan / France)

7. Hold Me Tight (‘Serre moi fort‘, Mathieu Amalric / France)

6. The Kegelstatt Trio (‘O trio em mi bemol‘, Rita Azevedo Gomes / Portugal)

5. Benediction (Terence Davies / UK)

4. Drive My Car (‘Doraibu mai kâ‘, Hamaguchi Ryûsuke / Japan)

3. Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella / Argentina)

2. Dry Ground Burning (‘Mato Seco em Chamas‘, Joana Pimenta, Adirley Queirós / Brazil)

  1. Obscure night – Wild leaves (The burning ones, the obstinate) (‘Nuit obscure – Feuillets sauvages (Les brûlants, les obstinés)‘, Sylvain George / France)
The definitive portrait of “Fortress Europe” and European hypocrisy: Obscure night – Wild leaves (The burning ones, the obstinate) by Sylvain George.

Leave a comment