Our list of the best iconic films that we think best define the essential essence and vibe of the year in movies 2022.
The top 10 iconic films that define the year 2022
Another year comes to an end, and you know what means – it’s time to reflect on the past twelve months of movies. 2022 brought an energetic, imaginative, and diverse group of films to the screen, whether that screen was inside a theater or inside the metal frame of a laptop. Looking back over the year, we find that we are feeling grateful for the movies that in some way reinvented the experience of cinema; for the ones that reminded us that there are always new things to feel, and that art can help us feel them.
Though it’s difficult to choose favorites – especially when there are more 2022 films that we have yet to see, including Avatar: The Way of Water – we managed to select ten that captured our attention. Please note, that we are going by films’ theatrical release dates, which means we are including some films that first premiered at festivals in 2021, and excluding others that have not yet opened nationally.
These are our ten favorite films of 2022.
The top 10 iconic films that define the year 2022
10. Everything Everywhere All At Once
No matter what wins big at the Academy Awards, or what comes away with the highest box office numbers, people are going to remember 2022 as the year of Everything Everywhere All at Once. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, this is the movie that somehow has it all: award-winning performances (in particular from Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan), the honor of being the highest-rated film on Letterboxd (tied with only The Godfather and Parasite), and the adoration of critics and moviegoers alike. It even has the multiverse. It’s also zany, chaotic, and weird, yet somehow still emotionally resonant. And no matter what you may personally think of this rollercoaster of a film, it seems important to acknowledge its success – to acknowledge that maybe what audiences are looking for is something they haven’t seen before. Let that be the lesson of 2022.
9. Huda’s Salon
Our favorite thriller of the year comes from Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad. This is one of those times where we recommend going in with as little knowledge as possible – the less you know about what happen, the better, because the movie’s more mundane moments play against its most terrifying for maximum effect. Released in theaters for a short time last spring, this excellent film is now available to rent – and you should make sure it’s on your end-of-year to-do list.
8. The Banshees of Inisherin
If there were an award for the movie whose premise is most fun to explain to other people… well, we would have to give it to The Banshees of Inisherin. In Martin McDonagh’s latest film, all hell breaks loose when Colm (played by Brendan Gleeson) inexplicably decides he no longer likes his best friend Pádraic (played by Colin Farrell). Their conflict continues to escalate until it includes everything from severed limbs to actual tragedy. The rare film that feels at once small and large, silly and serious; and best of all, it never stops being fun to watch.
7. Strawberry Mansion
Do you remember the way you felt when you read a fantasy novel for the first time? Maybe you were a kid, and it was the first time your imagination had ever stretched its wings in such a way. It can be difficult to recapture the same feeling in adulthood – but when you watch Strawberry Mansion, you may find it again. In the gorgeous film from Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley, the government has begun taxing people for their dreams. When an elderly woman (played by Penny Fuller) resists, an employee named James (played by Audley) is sent to her house – the Strawberry Mansion – to audit her dreams. The actual events of the film seem to matter less than its dreamy (no pun intended) visual landscape, and the pleasure of the whimsical vignettes through which it weaves. This is a film you will never forget.
6. The Fabelmans
If you’re a cinephile, a Steven Spielberg fan, or a child of divorce, then it seems fated that you will love The Fabelmans. The semi-autobiographical film transforms a coming-of-age story (albeit, the coming-of-age story of one of cinema’s most legendary auteurs) into something that feels important – something that feels worth making a movie about. And it even tries to answer the question of why anyone makes a movie about anything, anyway. The story of the director’s filmmaking origins unfurls alongside the one of his family’s dysfunction, creating a portrait that feels complete. Co-written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner, and starring Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, and Seth Rogen.
5. The Woman King
These days, audiences have shorter attention spans than ever, and they’re looking for movies with enough energy and action to help glue their eyes to the screen. Well, with her new picture about the all-female Agojie warriors of 19th Century West Africa, director Gina Prince-Bythewood provides that necessary verve – and also raises the bar. The film is intensely watchable, but also grounded with emotion and meaning thanks to stunning performances from Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, and Lashana Lynch. The movie has all the bravado we crave from the genre, and then also so much more.
4. RRR
If this was the year for movies that changed the way we thought about movies, then RRR deserves to be at the top of every list. The film from S.S. Rajamouli imagines a fictitious friendship between two real historical figures – Alluri Sitarama Raju (played by Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (played by N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) – in the 1920’s period before they fought for independence against the British raj. There is music, dancing, and magnetic, infectious energy – so much so that the film feels like a breath of fresh air after so many stuffy cinema slogs. Don’t let the three-hour runtime intimidate you; this is one of the year’s best.
3. Petite Maman
We wish we could somehow bottle the feeling of Céline Sciamma’s movie, and carry it everywhere we go. While helping to clean out her mother’s childhood home, Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) experiences something magical – something that may forever change the relationship between mother and daughter. We won’t spoil the film’s central conceit – it’s too special for that – but we will say that this is one of the most poignant films about grief, motherhood, and growing up that we have ever seen.
2. Nope
This year reminded us how lucky the world is to have Jordan Peele – a filmmaker who always delivers work that is as watchable as it is interesting. And this holds true for his latest, Nope, which is as much a spectacle – and thanks to the film’s character, Jupe (played by Steven Yeun) for supplying this perfect word – as it is inspiration for think-pieces. With electric energy from star Keke Palmer, and an equally arresting performance from Daniel Kaluuya, this is a film that holds the audience’s attention from its very first second. It’s never boring, not even for one second, and yet it still gives us questions to ponder when the lights come back on. What more could we ask for?
1. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
This movie may be too cute for some, too feel-good for others, but to us – it’s perfect. If movie lists are about more than just movies – if they’re a reflection of the past year, and a declaration of the things we want to take with us into the future – then this is the film we’re bringing into 2023. Marcel (played by Jenny Slate) is a shell (with shoes on), living in an AirBnB with his grandmother. The rest of us his shell family has disappeared, and over the course of the film, Marcel will try to find them – with a little help from human Dean (played by Dean Fleischer-Camp), and from delightful inventions that recall those old I Spy books. Based on Slate’s and Camp’s YouTube shorts from a decade earlier, the movie is eighty-nine minutes of wonder, joy, and heart. You’ll want to see it a thousand times.
The top 10 iconic films that define the year 2022
That’s our highly subjective list of the top 10 iconic films that best define the essential essence, mood and vibe of the year in movies in 2022. What’s on your list, dear reader?
