Best of 2022: Here are the top 10 movies of the year

The movies in 2022 didn’t treat the well-to-do very well.

What became obvious early into this cinematic year was the utter disdain, sometimes loathing, select filmmakers had for the privileged and wealthy. It was evident in the rich getting royally skewered in Ruben Ostlund’s yacht-of-the-damned “Triangle of Sadness”; Rian Johnson’s ever-so sly “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”; debuting director Nikyatu Jusu’s supernatural-tinged “Nanny” and “The Menu”; which deliciously hurled sharpened cutlery at the the culinary elite.

What were big hits were crowd-pleasers such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Much to the chagrin of the film festival crowd, indie filmmaking confronted dwindling audiences, with but a handful that ignited box-office sparks, such as the quirky multiverse crossover “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Whale,” which is generating take-notice numbers in limited release before expanding Dec. 22. But most often, many critical darlings — including Todd Field’s tour de force “Tár” — didn’t draw folks into movie theaters.

One trend was the emergence of introspective semi-autobiographical musings from veteran directors. We got that in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” which dug up tangled roots of uncomfortable family dynamics, and James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” which was stripped of any sugarcoating in its remembrance of a youthful past. Audiences didn’t show up in bulk for either.

Regardless, the quality of filmmaking was on a high this year, particularly with new faces staking out a claim in Hollywood and beyond.

Here then are my picks of the Top 10 films of 2022, ranked from top to bottom, as well as five honorable mentions.

In January, we’ll whip up a separate Top 10 for documentaries, which are not included on this list.

1. “Everything Everywhere All at Once”: Rocks and laundry bags sporting googly eyes. Two lead characters flashing hotdog fingers. An obscene-looking IRS trophy ensconced on a desk. These wacky and indelible images are now seared forever into our own cinematic multiverse for years to come. Add in ambidextrous performances from Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu, and the spirited direction and imaginative writing from the dynamic duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and this innovative journey hit a savory spot for everyone, and even made us bawl in the end. “Everything” does cover everything, and is a meditation on life, second chances, family and rebirth. It never failed to surprise while saying something deep and meaningful about appreciating what you have. Yeoh played her role to the hilt. Where to see it: Available to stream now on multiple platforms.

2. “Women Talking”: Every miniscule detail, every exacting decision that goes into Sarah Polley’s evocative, eloquent retelling of a same-titled novel about a group of sexually abused Mennonite who gather to discuss their critical next move is quietly earthshattering. It seems impossible to make an uplifting film out of such horrific truth-based events, but Polley, her perfect cast, the film’s composer and cinematographer have done just that. “Women Talking” celebrates the power of womanhood and sharing and appreciating each other’s perspectives. It also features one of the best screenplays in years. Where to see it: Opens in Bay Area theaters in January.

3. “Close”: During an idyllic summer, two 13-year-old boys form a gentle and intimate bond, a closeness which then comes under scrutiny, consternation and ridicule once they return to school and are forced into compartmentalizing what their love for each other is, and isn’t. Belgian director Lukas Dhont has made a gorgeous testament to not defining closeness between people, and it exquisitely balances heartache with compassion. It’s a film of poetic grace, structured and photographed beautifully throughout. “Close” shatters you and then extends a hand so you can piece yourself back together again. Where to see it: Due in bay Area theaters late January and early February.

4. “Aftersun”: Not much appears to be happening early in Charlotte Wells’s tear-stained eulogy to a troubled father, played with reservoirs of veiled torment by Paul Mescal. But first impressions are often deceiving. With a Richard Linklater-like grasp of capturing moments of fragile innocence that is just about to run into adult reality, Wells creates random mementoes from a summer vacation spent with 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio, in an extraordinary performance) and her father Calum. It all coalesces to a staggering finale, one that wrecks you. Where to see it: In select theaters now; slated for On Demand release Dec. 20.

5. “Tár”: Unconventional in every move it makes — it opens with end credits and then launches into a long-winded onstage interview — Todd Field’s heady character study of an accomplished but manipulative fictional conductor (Cate Blanchett in a chew-it-all-up performance) who gets ground up in cancel culture due to her own wince-inducing actions is a cinematic triumph. This is a film with zero interest in coloring within the defined lines of filmmaking, and requires careful attention and dissection. It’s the very antithesis of the “Hollywood movie.” I say bravissimo to that! Where to see it: Available to stream now on various platforms.

6. “RRR”: Few films — with the notable exception of Damien Chazelle’s wackadoodle “Babylon” (more on that later) — come close to the gargantuan audacity, in terms of scope and scale, of S. S. Rajamouli’s genre mashup, an over-the-top firecracker that snaps, crackles and pops as a bromance, a martial arts flick, a romance and a teardown of colonialism. From its catchy songs to the incredible action set pieces, the 3-hour epic breezed by and enthralled and wowed us every frame of the way. Where to see it: Now available on Netflix.

7. “Avatar: The Way of the Water”: No matter what your opinion is of showboating filmmaker James Cameron, you have to admit he is a visual showman with few peers. And does he ever know how to wow us, even if his screenplays don’t. But in this undersea sequel — coming 13 years after the original — about the Blue People of Pandora and the Earth invaders who want to strip a special land of its resources, he unflaggingly delivers, more so than in his first trip to this magical land. Sweeping, visually stimulating and above all emotional, “Avatar: The Way of the Water” plunges us into an undersea wonderland and the result is a thrill ride that’s better than anything that Disneyland or Universal could dream up. It’s epic, astonishing, and even left me in tears. Where to see it: In theaters now.

8. “Top Gun: Maverick”: Tom Cruise and a whole new set of flyboys and flygirls jetted us off to the danger zone and beyond with this pure, bathed-in-butter popcorn movie, a top-flight affair. Sure, the plot was predictable. No matter; this was comfort food for the cinematic palate. It not only took off like a fighter pilot from the start but also gave us one of 2022’s most tender exchanges, a bittersweet, brief reunion between Maverick and Iceman (Val Kilmer). To coin a song from the 1986 film, it simply took our breathe away. Where to see it: Available now on various streaming platforms.

9. “Babylon”: Depraved? You betcha. Over the top? Oh, deliciously so. Damien Chazelle’s frenzied one-flew-over-the-cuckoo’s-nest approach to the sin-stained birth of Hollywood and how it created big dreams and later destroyed the dreamers when talkies came around did something so rare for the normal Hollywood production: It refused to toe the mainstream line, preferring instead to be larger-than-life and fearlessly decadent and original. Kudos to that. The trio of leads — Margot Robbie, Diego Calva and Brad Pitt — couldn’t be better. “Babylon” isn’t only wild, though, it’s wildly entertaining. Where to see it: In theaters Dec. 22.

10. “Barbarian”: Horror movies appealed to not only audiences but critics alike in 2022. While a bigger audience flocked to the surprise hit “Smile,” that’s no reason to dismiss actor-turned-director Zach Cregger’s diabolical hell house experience. Few films pulled the narrative rug right out from under us with such “Gone Girl”-like expertise and zeal like this one. How so? Mum’s the word on that. Justin Long’s ridiculously good performance as an un-woke actor brings even more gravitas to this destined to be a genre classic. Where to see it: Now available on Hulu.

The runners up

“Eo”: A cute donkey brays his way through a rough world in which he encounters self-absorbed humans, some decent, others cruel.  At 84, Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski hits it out of the park as we watch life reflected brilliantly through an animal’s eyes. Where to see it: It select theaters now.

“Decision to Leave”: The plot sounds terribly familiar: A detective investigates a suspicious death and then swoons all over the enigmatic wife who might have had a hand in it. But nothing’s rote about “Old Boy” Park Chan-wook’s evocative neo-noir effort, and this femme fatale attraction turned into one of the best romances of the year. Where to see it: Available on Mubi.

“The Inspection”: At first, you might assume Elegance Bratton’s feature debut will be another “Full Metal Redux.” Not so fast. Bratton’s semi-autobiographical tale immerses us in a surreal, macho world of boot camp where a gay Black man named Ellis (Jeremy Pope, who should get an Oscar nod here) finds a modern family of another sort. You won’t stop thinking and talking about this one. Where to see it: Available On Demand Dec. 22.

“You Won’t Be Alone”: An encounter with a witch in 19th-century Macedonia leads to a young woman’s transformative journey, wherein she hopscotches into the skins of other people, and animals. Director Goran Stolevski plumbs grand-scale issues of identity and gender while creating a bold, highly visualized “Orlando”-like horror mindbender. What a debut. Where to see it: Available to stream on multiple platforms.

“Living”: A filmmaker is just asking for trouble when remaking an Akira Kurosawa classic. Not so Oliver Hermanus. His reworking of Kurosawa’s sad story about a man learning to live once he gets a terminal diagnosis sets the story in 1953 London and gives Bill Nighy one of the best roles in his storied career. Where to see it: Opens Jan. 6 in San Francisco, with a wider release Jan. 13.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.