“Survivor”
Barry Levinson’s got a tricky career. He’s got many classics under his belt which are nothing to sneeze at, “Diner,” “The Natural,” “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Bugsy,” and “Wag the Dog,” among many others, but in the last twenty years, you can argue there have been a lot more misses than hits. But that apparently changes with “Survivor,” Levinson’s black and white drama about a boxer in WWII who fights his fellow prisoners in the concentration camps to survive, for the amusement of the Nazis, who is riddled with guilt years later. Starring the often-underrated but perennially great Ben Foster, our review from TIFF last year wrote, “Foster, per usual, is excellent. The physical transformation, de rigueur for both survival stories and boxing movies, is astonishing.” Co-starring Peter Sarsgaard, John Leguizamo, Vicky Krieps, Billy Magnussen, Danny Devito, and more, this definitely feels like one to watch for. Review by Jason Bailey
“The Tsugua Diaries”
“[Chronicling] a fictional 2020 film shoot abandoned due to a COVID protocol breach, in a backward-running narrative,” “The Tsugua Diaries” can be described as an arthouse Christopher Nolan movie about the arduous process of moviemaking itself, particular under medical protocol constraints “with each half of the movie, each layer of reality, and each direction of time doubling back on and rhyming with itself.” Literally counting down the shooting days in reverse, little more than three actors remaining after 22 days of shooting. Filmed on 16mm by sly cinematic wizards, Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes (“Arabian Nights”), the unique vision adds up to create a “multilayered fiction, metaphors of entropy and renewal constantly [intertwining].” – Review by Mark Asch
“Unclenching the Fists”
The second feature from notable directorial talent, Kira Kovalenko, “Unclenching the Fists” follows a possessive father (Alik Karaev) who forbids his young daughter, Ava (Milana Aguarova) to wear perfume, locking her up when returning home from work, while her envious brother insists she lay in bed with him. “While it never occurs physically… [the film] operates on suspicion of incest… rife with characters demonstrating an unhealthy obsession with each other.” Somewhat surprisingly — considering how stacked, the lineup was with festival royalty — the picture won Cannes, Un Certain Regard prize, and has received comparisons to the likes of other punishing, acclaimed Russian family dramas, a la “Beanpole.” – Review by Robert Daniels
“Vortex”
Gaspar Noe veered dangerously close to mainstream acceptance (the rise of “elevated horror” as a trend certainly helped) with the cinematic contortionism that is “Climax,” so it came as a (welcome?) surprise to many that the filmmaker’s latest movie, “Vortex,” marked the emergence of a more mature, newly sober artist, one less inclined to lean on gratuitous transgressions to command the attention of his audience. Starring the legendary Italian giallo director Dario Argento and Francoise Lebrun as an elderly French couple battling dementia, “Vortex” “seems a major departure from the garish provocations of Noé’s previous career – right until the moment that it’s not. An extended heart attack scene plays out with unbearable, unflinching dispassion: the stricken character shuffles interminably from one room to the next. – Review by Jessica Kiang
“The Worst Person In The World”
Yes, yes, we are aware that it has likely been frustrating for people who have not yet had the privilege of seeing Joachim Trier’s (deservedly) much-hyped “The Worst Person In The World,” –starring Renate Reinsve in a career-making performance–pop up on so many Year-End lists (look for our interview with the director closer to release). Is it a 2021 or 2022 title? The International Oscar submission game only muddies these waters further. Either way, the movie is most definitely worth the wait. “Detailing the thrills and fears of turning 30 down to its mundane but absorbing minutiae… Trier’s fifth feature is a pure delight. Laugh-out-loud funny and heartbreaking in equal measure, it’s perhaps his best film since “Oslo, August 31st.” – Review by Iana Murray
Release Date: February 4 via Neon.
Honorable Mention
As always, we, unfortunately, can’t cover all our favorites; however, some of the honorable mentions for the Best films of this new calendar year, 2022 (though COVID makes it next to impossible to believe that), that we’ve seen already include: the picturesque, “Bitterbrush,” performance vehicle, “The Good House” with Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver, socio-political drama “Huda’s Salon,” Scott Derrickson’s “The Black Phone” with Ethan Hawke, the mournful and meditative, “Il Buco,” “Montana Story” starring the always amazing Haley Lu Richardson, kinetic revenge flick “Saloum,” and offbeat martial arts romance, “Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash.” If you love movies as much as we do, be sure some of these flicks, and all the others we’ve written about below, are on your radar.
