Sometimes, when reading a list like this, people might get upset and say, "I haven't heard of any of these!" They say this like it's a bad thing when it's actually not. If someone wishes to see their favorite movie of 2022 here but they haven't heard anything about some of these following films, then how are they to know that their beloved film is actually better? Not having heard of titles in a best-of list is a blessing — it means that adventure still awaits you, rather than the mere confirmation bias of nodding along as someone agrees with you.
Update May 27, 2023: Even though 2022 is over and done and the 2023 summer movie season has begun, there were still plenty of great movies from the previous year worth spotlighting, so this list has been updated with even more great films from 2022.
Granted, there were so many great films in 2022 that readers are bound to recognize multiple titles. It was a great year for all kinds of films, from blockbusters to shoestring indies. Many great films didn't quite make the cut (Apples, Something in the Dirt, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Masking Threshold, X, Pearl, Moonage Daydream, Prey, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Descendant, Murina, Close, Eternal Spring, Hit the Road, Ahed's Knee, No Bears, and so many more), especially since this is already an epic list. Scroll down or click on a title to explore the very best films of 2022 in descending order.
27 The Northman
Robert Eggers follows up 2015’s The Witch and 2019’s The Lighthouse with the 2022 historical epic, The Northman. Inspired by the medieval Scandinavian legend, Amleth, The Northman tells the tale of Prince Amleth, a Viking, who goes on a journey driven by vengeance after his father is brutally murdered by his uncle. In typical Eggers fashion, this is another almost hallucinatory, graphically violent, and haunting illustration of a bygone era.
26 Elvis
Narrowly missing out on the prestigious accolade of Best Actor to The Whale’s Brendan Fraser, Austin Butler had every right to feel aggrieved, having spent the best part of two years in character after production was halted due to the pandemic. The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor’s rendition of the hip-thrusting, quiff-sporting King of Rock ‘n Roll, Elvis Presley, in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic was nothing short of mesmerizing and was an ode to black music history. Luhrmann’s distinctive style with its fast-paced cuts, collage-like editing, and exuberant colors, coupled with Butler’s on-screen charisma, and the story about Elvis’ tumultuous superstar rise is truly brought to life.
25 Women Talking
Women’s rights have slowly but surely begun to mirror that of their male counterparts. It’s staggering that spates of sexual violence against women have shown no signs of slowing down, a fact that would have undoubtedly further disheartened the women of Sarah Polley’s period feature, Women Talking.
The historical drama is based on Miriam Toews's novel of the same name and follows the true story of a group of women from an isolated religious group who are frequently drugged and raped by the men of the community who decide to take action. A poignant portrait of a god-fearing assortment of women who fight back against the perpetual cycle of the patriarchy's tyrannical power and subsequent abuse of said power.
24 Living
Bill Nighy is like that cool granddad everyone wishes they had. One that probably still smokes weed, plays guitar, and is somehow friends with Paul Weller. Those preconceptions soon dissipate during his rendition of reserved, stern-faced civil servant Rodney Williams in Living, an English language remake of Akira Kurosawa's iconic Ikiru.
Living a soulless, depressing existence, Mr. Williams is confronted with the news he has a terminal illness and only has a few months to live. As he deals with the sobering news and the dawning realization that his life has amounted to very little, his struggle with existentialism leads him to live out his last days in search of self-fulfillment and giving back to the world.
23 All Quiet on the Western Front
There are certainly large swathes of cinephiles that are trying to ascertain what is more remarkable: Edward Berger’s filmmaking or the fact All Quiet on the Western Front only won four Academy Awards, and once again, an international feature was partially overlooked by the Academy. The German language adaptation of the classic novel and remake of the defining movie of the 1930s is equally, if not more disturbingly palpable than the original and is a grim portrait of war.
The Netflix Original flick centers around a group of four schoolboys conscripted into the German war effort during WWI. Guided by delusions of honor, pride, and nationalism, as well as underage naivety, their unrealistic expectations of the heroism of war are soon unceremoniously decimated by the barbaric reality of blood, death, and unsentimental loss.
22 Avatar: The Way of Water
It doesn't feel quite right to even include Avatar: The Way of Water on lists. Unlike the first film, it doesn't feel like a standalone project and is obviously part of a bigger picture. One day, the entire 15+ hours of the Avatar saga might stand as the greatest 'film' ever made, but until that day comes, this Avatar sequel has to sit near the bottom of the best-of list.
However, it is nonetheless on the list — mind-blowing special effects create the purest spectacle of the year, Cameron's environmental and anti-colonialist themes continue to inspire, and the acting all-around is phenomenal. On its own, this is hardly the best picture of the year, but it's still pretty special.
21 Down with the King
From Kanye West (or Ye) to Trippie Redd, there's been a slight trend of rappers moving to ranches and deeply rural settings in the middle of nowhere. Massive fame, million-dollar hip-hop, and Black men from urban environments seem incongruous with skinning pigs, driving tractors, and waking at dawn to feed the chickens, but it happens. Down with the King is perhaps the only, and certainly the most artistic, depiction of this interesting incongruity.
A slice-of-life character study starring the excellent rapper Freddie Gibbs, Down with the King is a peaceful, beautiful, and culturally unique meditation on stereotypes, farm life, and the expectations we have about Black men. "How many Black farmers do you know?" Gibbs' character asks his mother. "How many Black people are producing, cultivating their own food?" Down with the King studies these ideas and more in quiet, subtle, and altogether beautiful ways.
20 Bones and All
When the legions of Timothée Chalamet fans excitedly bought tickets to see the new film, which would reunite him with his Call Me By Your Name director, Luca Guadagnino, it's likely that most of them expected something very different. Bones and All is a morbidly bleak film, and not just in that melodramatic, unrequited love way.
The film follows Maren (a great Taylor Russell) as she is abandoned by her family for having cannibalistic urges. Having to fend for herself, she takes all the help she can get from the people she meets along the way in this twisted road trip movie, including Sully (the brilliant Mark Rylance) and the young kindred spirit Lee (Chalamet). An incredibly haunting, poetic, and violent film, Bones and All is the kind of movie that lingers for a long time.
19 Wendell and Wild
Wendell and Wild is easily one of the best-animated films of the year, which is no surprise given it's from Henry Selick, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline. The stop-motion animation is beautifully imaginative, fancifully illustrating this stuffed tale of an orphan making a deal with demons to resurrect her parents. Somehow managing to also be a poignant commentary on prison reform and the school-to-prison pipeline, Wendell and Wild is both fun and meaningful, with a truly killer soundtrack.
18 Smile
Smile was one of the rare horror films that are actually scary and deeply meaningful, provoking thoughts and jump scares in near equal measure. Parker Finn's feature film debut is a riveting story about trauma and guilt as depicted through Rose, a troubled therapist (a pitch-perfect Sosie Bacon) who becomes increasingly disturbed after witnessing a patient take her own life, smiling while she slit her throat. Tunneling deep down the rabbit hole of what appears to be insanity to the untrained eye, Sosie's story becomes one of the most upsetting and profound horror films in recent years.
17 Pacifiction
Gratitude Films
Pacifiction is a truly hypnotic film which practically casts a mesmeric spell on the audience for its long, slow runtime. Albert Serra's new movie follows a French diplomat overseeing local affairs in Tahiti just as some men from the military begin causing trouble in town. An almost experimental and psychedelic film, Pacifiction feels like a conspiracy theory thriller where the conspiracy has been surgically removed, leaving only paranoia and an enigma.
16 Mad God
Phil Tippett's boldly titled Mad God depicts a hellish world aptly created by a God gone mad. Working on and off for two decades to complete this mixed-medium (but mostly go-motion) film, Tippett's work paid off with undoubtedly one of the most disturbing films ever made. Mad God follows an assassin in a diving bell who descends into a subterranean abyss filled with unforgettably nightmarish imagery, beginning a trek through the underworld he seemingly plans to blow up.
With artistically designed characters and stomach-churning monsters, Mad God is a bad trip but one worth taking for the sheer provocation and inventiveness on display. It's a dark, pessimistic vision of the world, but it aches with Tippett's special passion and truth.
15 Armageddon Time
James Gray's politically profound, semi-autobiographical film Armageddon Time uses a stacked ensemble cast (Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Jessica Chastain) to tell the story of his childhood journey toward maturity.
With incredible performances from the two young protagonists (Banks Repeta and Jaylin Webb), Armageddon Time mirrors growing up during the first election of Ronald Reagan with what it's like to live in America today, post-Trump, without ever being annoyingly didactic. Great music, urgent commentary, and ingenious casting elevate Gray's film beyond being just a very good coming-of-age drama.
14 Hinterland
Square One
Incredibly bold and absolutely gripping, the post-war film Hinterland is Oscar-winning director Stefan Ruzowitzky's masterpiece. Combining a great police procedural with war cinema, film noir, and Agatha Christie-style mystery, Hinterland uses a great deal of blue screen to create a dizzying expressionistic post-war Austria.
The film follows a soldier from the defeated Austrian army after World War I; he used to be a respected detective, but the world has moved on, and he's now looked down upon. When someone begins to murder veterans of the war whom he served with, the man joins the police to try and solve the case. Combining lots of classical narrative tradition with technological experimentation works perfectly in this grim, intense thriller.
13 Triangle of Sadness
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One of the more divisive movies of the year, Triangle of Sadness won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and yet has been booed and demeaned by people who consider it a gross-out spoof lacking any subtlety. The thing is, everyone is kind of right — its satire is mostly obvious, and it can also be physically and ethically disgusting, but the reckless maximalism on display is almost refreshing.
Plus, director Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure, The Square) is at the very height of his game as a filmmaker, and nearly every decision feels perfect here. Triangle of Sadness follows a cruise ship gone very, very wrong, and the combination of completely, fearlessly dedicated performances, beautiful imagery, and a complete lack of pretension make this twisted comedy even more brilliant.
12 Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio
For some reason, there were three film versions of Pinocchio in 2022; the Italian fairytale is certainly ripe for topical allegory, but it seems old hat by now. Fortunately, Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio is not just better than the others but better than any version in 80 years (and, as sacrilegious as it sounds, it is probably better than the Disney original).
Subverting the historical messages ascribed to the tale, Del Toro and Mark Gustafson's incredible film uses the wooden boy to comment on fascism, authority, and filial expectations. It's a grand, sweeping statement made even stronger by the incredible stop-motion animation and explosive performances from the best voice-acting cast of the year (Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Finn Wolfhard Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz, and Tilda Swinton, all excellent).
11 On the Count of Three
Jerrod Carmichael, the great stand-up comedian, stars in and directs On the Count of Three (written by Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch), a film that balances the utmost bleakness with some of the best humor of the year. Following a day in the life of two suicidal men after one breaks the other out of a mental hospital, On the Count of Three pulls no punches, never devolving into sentiment as the narrative is rapidly propelled forward with the same giddy abandon as the protagonists. It's a dark film, brimming with tragedy and violence, and yet it feels so very alive.
10 Strawberry Mansion
Indie king Kentucky Audley co-directs (with Albert Birney), and stars in the extremely unique and utterly bonkers delight Strawberry Mansion. There's more imagination in this brisk hour and a half than viewers will find in entire years worth of sci-fi and fantasy cinema. Filmed in the hazy, soft focus of lo-fi '70s movies but taking place in some weird future or alternate universe, Strawberry Mansion follows a mild-mannered IRS worker in a world where dreams are taxed.
Conducting a dream audit on an old woman, the man discovers that corporations have begun targeted advertising in people's dreams, knowledge which may put him in grave danger. With an incredible score from the great Dan Deacon and unbelievably strange but gorgeous imagery, Strawberry Mansion is a masterpiece of the bizarre.
9 The Fabelmans
In The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg manages to take something extremely self-indulgent (essentially making a movie about how he grew up making movies that everyone loved) and turn it into a universal story of family, art, and growing up. The autobiographical (and practically masturbatory) coming-of-age film follows Sammy Fabelman and his family through the '50s and '60s. It's a small story told in an epic way and almost certainly the best thing Spielberg's done in 20 years.
Combining charming little details, like the mother's long fingernails tapping against piano keys, with beautifully choreographed sequences, The Fabelmans simply operates at a higher level of technical mastery than most movies. Yes, it may have the same emotional manipulation, sentimentality, and lack of subtlety of every other Spielberg film, but it's just so perfectly directed (and has such a perfect Michelle Williams) that it's impossible not to recognize it as a great film.
8 Miracle
The second in director George Bogdan Apetri's hometown trilogy, Miracle, is even better than the first installment, the intense Unidentified. Marking the middle point of his three films, Miracle is fittingly divided in half, with each side mirroring the other in audiovisual ways. The first half follows a young nun as she sneaks out of her convent to go into town, while the second half follows an increasingly manic police detective. With arguably the best ending of any film this year, Miracle lives up to its title as a deeply stirring, tense, and spiritually invigorating miracle of filmmaking.
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