Yes, we’re not quite over with last year. But we’re getting there today, don’t worry. You’re busy; we get it. You may not have time to see everything; hell, you may not have seen our list of the Best Films of 2022 (25 films). But we assure you there are riches of cinema out there if you look.
READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2023
In the spirit of this idea, and because there are so many films released that not all of us have time to see, there’s even more to explore (and because you just might be pulling up a computer for the first time in several weeks this week, hence running this now). As is an annual Playlist tradition of early January, we like to look back at the end of the year one last time. We call it the Best Films of 2022 You Didn’t See–which we suppose could be seen as a backhanded compliment, but if you’d rather, you could see it as the criminally underrated and underlooked films of 2022 that are so deserving you should find them; whatever floats your boat.
We’ve made Best-Of-2022 lists up the wazoo, but look at this one, I guess, as the last plea to not forget these gems, many of them released in the last month or two of last year, because you’re going to be introduced to a lot of incredible films that might just have slipped off your radar during the holiday crunch. – RP
Follow along with all our Best Of 2022 coverage here.
“Broker”
One would think that a South Korean-produced Hirokazu Kore-eda film starring Song Kang-ho, post- “Parasite,” and post-” Shoplifters,” would be all over Letterboxd; an easy awards season sell. Yet, for some reason, “Broker” failed to ignite much interest with the same community posting peach and kimchi emojis during 2019’s Oscar Campaign. Song even won Best Actor at Cannes for his exceptional performance in the film – a complete 180 from his role in Bong Joon-ho’s Best Picture winner. Revolving around a cast of characters who deal in “baby boxes” – abandoned infants dropped off to be anonymously adopted into other families on the black market – the movie is as tender as you would expect, coming from an empathist of Kore-Eda’s ilk. But this effervescently sweet story of a found family has a surprising level of suspense woven into the structure as well, Bae Doona (“Cloud Atlas”) co-starring as an undercover detective investigating Song Kang Ho’s character’s business, waiting for them to slip up. It’s a lot less heavy than you might expect reading the description, the Japanese auteur’s style a far cry away from a documentary on a similar subject like “One Child Nation.” – Andrew Bundy [Our Review]
“The Eternal Daughter”
With apologies to Guillermo del Toro, we think the gothic haunted house/ ghost story genre that he’s so fond of has found itself a new master. Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter” is breathtaking, the rare ghost story that is genuinely unnerving and eerie and incredibly emotional, moving, and heartbreaking in the end. It’s hard to fully articulate without spoiling it, but suffice to say, Tilda Swinton, in dual roles, plays an elderly mother and adult daughter (a filmmaker) trying to reconnect by returning to a former family home, now a hotel haunted by its mysterious past. Long-buried secrets must be confronted, but at the end of the day, despite all the genre trappings, it is generally a very tender and empathetic story about a mother and a daughter reconciling a relationship that, even on its best terms, had its issues and enigmas. Wonderfully shot, and Swinton delivers a tour de force performance in both roles. – Rodrigo Perez [Our Review]
“God’s Country”
You rarely get a directorial debut that is the complete package like Julian Higgins’ “God’s Country.” A drama about grief, Higgins’ expertly shot film, full of tension, build, and searing emotional suspense, eventually expands into a revenge thriller that even features some of the frightening elements of home invasion. Featuring an intensely smoldering Thandiwe Newton, she stars as a college professor who confronts two hunters she catches trespassing on her property in one of her best roles. Of course, these Midwestern men don’t really love being told what to do by a woman, a black woman no less—lots of great but subtle socio-political commentary—and she’s drawn into an escalating battle of wills with catastrophic results. Beyond how incredibly moody, anxious, and stressed the plot is, Higgins also deeply understands cinema and visual storytelling, shooting vistas like he was John Ford, with an incredibly established sense of space, dimension, and blocking; so many simple but perfectly composed shots. A terrific film and a filmmaker definitely worth watching. – RP [Our Review]
“Funny Pages”
Filmmaker Owen Kline went from the kid in Noah Baumbach’s “The Squid In The Whale” to the kind of young adult in the same film that would make unusual, funny, quirky indie comedies if that were his remit. A terrific coming-of-age tale, seemingly born from the same kind of scuzzy, repugnant, sleazy air of Robert Crumb and underground comics it takes its cues from, Daniel Zolghadri stars as a disaffected high school student and aspiring cartoonist, who attempts to reject the comforts of suburban life. Dropping out of school and leaving home, he finds an unwilling teacher and unwitting friend in Wallace (Matthew Maher)— a former low-level comic artist — to maybe guide him on the right path. Shot on perfectly scuzzy and lo-fi 16MM by DP Sean Price Williams, featuring a dreamily jaunty score by High Llamas dude Sean O’Hagan, it’s a really unique little picture that no one else is attempting these days. Think early Baumbach if he was more of a cretin, taking his comedically observational lens onto the far fringes of outsider culture. – RP [Our Review]
“EO”
Veteran Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski’s “EO” is outstanding and sublime. A visually arresting and sometimes hellish remake/modern version of Robert Bresson’s “Au Hasard Balthazar,” the film follows a similar trajectory: seeing the world and random events through the eyes of a lost and runaway donkey. As this mule goes from person to person, situation to situation, “EO,” like the original, forms a heartbreaking compendium of random cruelties, indignities, and the way thoughtless, callous inhumanity can be found in any context. Featuring drone shots of nature so gorgeous, it’s presumably only minutes until Terrence Malick does the same; like Bresson’s masterwork, “EO” may be tragic and harsh, but it possesses the same luminous empathy and compassion. See it at all costs. – RP [Our Review]