If I could describe the cinema of 2022 in one word, it would be “colourful”. While obviously not every instance of “colourful” is related to aesthetics, I mean this literally. The red of Pearl’s trembling smile, the green of the wallpaper behind Tang Wei in ‘Decision to Leave’, the yellow of Jamie Lee Curtis in that one sweater. You know the one. Even the worst of cinema this year was a veritable rainbow, particularly compared to where we were in years past, and I think we all appreciated it.
Grey isn’t dead, but it’s not exactly thriving.
The year for me began with the worst. The dregs of Italian-American cosplay was up for all to see in ‘House of Gucci’, an oppressive prestige drama that stank up our theatres as the January slow season trudged along. A poor showing from the Scream franchise (sorry NotJ*ss) didn’t do much to shake things up, but ultimately, I cannot be too upset. This was an excellent year for films.
I liked almost everything I watched. Not quite everything (not sorry ‘Bones and All’ stans), but the vast majority of films I went to see were a minimum 3/5 stars, which is a pretty high bar. To put this in perspective, 2021 was (for me) mostly duds, and 2020 had much lower lows.
2019 had ‘Cats’ and is thus exempt. Loved that shit.
Horror seems to have dominated the year’s most interesting releases. For some, like the first two thirds of Ti West’s ‘X’ horror trilogy, it was an obvious point of interest. A24 has their own glittering allure to a certain segment of cinephiles, and a befreckled and eyeshadowed Mia Goth was created in a lab for Twitter (RIP) to run wild with in edits and memes. But for all that bloodied Dorothy figure and her raunchy doppelganger dominated, horror was more than that.
There was a certain, feminine edge to these films. While men certainly existed (including a very bad film called ‘Men’), you need to look at what people latched onto from the horror/thriller realm. ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’ asked who do you trust more: a lesbian who hates a podcast, or a lesbian who just relapsed into drug use? The answer: not Pete Davidson. ‘Barbarian’ delivered a final girl who managed to walk the line between sensitive and resilient, extremely well. ‘Orphan: First Kill’ made me fall in love with Julia Stiles as the ultimate mother. Twitter lingo!
Also ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ was released and people were too harsh on it. Focus on the real enemy: ‘Disenchanted’. A horror to good taste, that one!
None of these films were perfect, but for every bad decision, there was an interesting one. Horror has always been a genre known for female protagonists, but this year felt like an active exploration of that. We got three new final girls, including one absolutely terrible performance (points if you can name her), which is a win for me!
But horror as a genre had influence outside of itself. Look at the big franchise moments that filled the start of the year. Both ‘Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ and ‘Jurassic Park: Dominion’ leaned into horror to deliver their best moments. Sam Raimi’s campy but frightening visuals were a welcome relief from the mediocrity of Marvel’s current standard product, and in the final(?) instalment of the Jurassic World franchise, we finally returned to the scarier elements of the original film. In fact, it may be one of my favourite films of the year.
You’re probably expecting an apology for this one, but you won’t get it. Jurassic World is a bad franchise, but in a year where I didn’t actually feel suffocated by the weight of intellectual property, I was fully able to appreciate what it does right. And what is that, you ask? Stupid spectacle.
But not all spectacle is without depth.
‘Everything, Everywhere, All At Once’ is many people’s favourite of the year. It’s in my personal top 3. But while the emotional storytelling, sensitive portrayals of a complex relationship between immigrant mother and daughter, and disgusting sausage finger jokes were all spectacular, I want to call out the scope. We might had had Spiderman, Thor, Dr Strange and plenty more name-brand superheroes this year, but Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan doing what they do best for over two hours is more than enough. The fact that the “best” in question is both stunts and acting is incredibly invigorating. So many of the glowing responses were completely focused on performance that they almost missed the gorgeous cinematography.
In contrast, ‘Elvis’ is the type of eye candy you couldn’t ignore. Baz Luhrmann’s signature maximalism married to a problematic but fascinating pop culture icon. The Australian director’s gift for myth making absolutely shined in what felt like the biggest film of the year – at least the one that dominated awards talk for months on end. But the main draw, as always, was Luhrmann’s penchant for glitter on screen. A gift of scale that a film like ‘Babylon’ struggled to emulate, to the unfortunate outcome of flopping.
‘The Woman King’ was just awesome too. It hit just right and honestly I cannot recommend it enough. Viola Davis makes a surprisingly great action star. If you grew up watching films like Braveheart, this is better.
Another masterpiece from this year is the fictional retelling of Lydia Tár’s absolute worst year. It’s the story of a serial abuser as their walls of protection against the consequences of their abuse, that happened to inspire particularly tone deaf fancams. ‘TÁR’ is a (really very good) film about perpetrators being protected in entertainment circles, which feels sadly relevant in the late year line-up.
Real life abusers made there presence known, even in films directly opposing them.
‘She Said’ and ‘Women Talking’, the two big releases concerning explicit rape culture and abuse both flopped at the box office. They also sit under the cloud of domestic violence apologia, being produced by Brad Pitt, accused of abuse by ex-wife Angelina Jolie. His onscreen presence this year will also be felt in the film ‘Babylon’, a big budget love letter to early cinema. ‘Amsterdam’, the big, brand name comedy starring heavy hitters like Margot Robbie and Christian Bale, was directed by alleged incestuous assaulter, David O’Russell. Even ‘Elvis’, a movie I adored, was about a man you can only describe as…problematic.
I know none of this is a reflection of quality. None of the films mentioned are actually bad, and some are very good. Claire Foy and Diego Calva deserve nominations for their work. But it’s important to at least acknowledge and reflect on who is making these films and who is telling these stories. There’s a clear clash between the stories being told, and who is telling them. There’s abusers spread so thick across this industry that it’s essentially impossible to escape them if you’re going to try to. I wouldn’t blame you if you chose to shut your eyes and move forward with your lives.
Here’s the thing – nobody is seeing these movies anyway (except ‘Elvis’, but he’s dead). The cinema that people have been drawn to this year hasn’t been big name biopics and real-life stories. As the theatre experience dies in an effort to make streaming in any way lucrative, only franchises and films with real word of mouth survive. I’m happy Disney lost a chunk of its lead in the Blockbuster Wars, but we are now just going to be oversaturated from many directions. I want to say this represents a turning point, but is that point just a switch to older IP? The next blockbuster hit might be The Goonies 2. That being said, ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ will go down in history as the best gamble of the year.
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ be damned!
Which brings us back to the word of the year, and that’s “colourful”. What survives in these cinemas is shiny products with something more than a headline to offer. Colourful sets, colourful costumes, colourful characters. Despite some abysmal box office receipts this year, it really has felt vibrant. There’s been so much good, that it’s easy to ignore the bad.
Some of my favourite film articles of 2022
A Rom-Com Ranking From a Rom-Comnoisseur on kasstastic
Lady Bird: Five Years On on in a panoramic?
You Are Your Own Voyeur on the devil wears jadon docs
Langston Hughes was a Screenwriter on Black Film Archive by Maya S. Cade
Pomp and Bombast by Baz Luhrmann on Johnny’s Newsletter
The Lore of A24 on Mumblings Musings and Mullings
2022 Oscars: Best Actress In A (Just Okay) Motion Picture on The Bulletin
ahh love all the spotlight on the cool horror films that came out last year! "barbarian" was truly a wild ride