By Ashton Samson
It’s 2023 and with the commencement of the new year, I am ecstatic to see what lies ahead for another fantastic year of cinema. I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on 2022, a revelatory year for the film industry that managed a near-perfect amalgamation of both great blockbuster movies and stunning, eclectic, original films. Here are my top five dramatic 2022 films. Let’s see if the Academy agrees with me when the Oscars air on March 12, 2023.
- Tár (Director: Todd Field)
There’s no escaping the fact that Cate Blanchet is Tár’s ultimate x-factor. In preparation for Todd Field’s new film, Blanchet learned fluent German, mastered conducting an orchestra and learned to play piano, this being all in addition to her typical virtuosity as an actor which is on full display in this masterful character study about a woman’s gradual fall from grace. The layers of depth to her character, Lydia Tár, and to her extensive preparation becomes emblematic of the film as a whole, a movie quite concerned with details and subtlety. Tár may not seem kind to the audience at first as scenes last for what feels like an interminable amount of time, everything is very conversation-driven and the film is very cyclical in structure and plot. However, for someone like myself, who revels in the accumulation of details and intricacies of an extensive conversation, Tár is the movie for me. I believe if you give it enough patience, Tár can be a film for you too.
- Decision to Leave (Director: Park Chan-wook)
Park Chan-wook’s new film juggles a multitude of genres all to masterful effect, making for a satisfying, feverishly delightful movie. The film shifts seamlessly from a romantically complex story, to a fascinating whodunnit and even in part an action movie. It accomplishes all of this without sacrificing the heart of the story, which stems from its two main characters. Watching the film, it’s a marvel to witness how South-Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook so effortlessly balanced all of these genres. In lesser hands, the film could feel disjointed and monotonous, but it’s due to the director’s deftness that each of the subgenres and subplots bounce off of each other and reach their own satisfying conclusion, contributing to the main story as opposed to interrupting it. It’s a film that, like Tár, some may find to be slow and derivative. Again, if you are looking to step out of your cinematic comfort zone and pay close attention to the accumulation of details, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised by how much fun you will have with Decision to Leave.
- The Whale (Director: Darren Aronofksy)
This poignant, tear-jerker of a film gains its true potency through two main factors. The first factor is the fantastic performances by everyone in the film but particularly Brendan Fraser, whose earth-shattering and pitch-perfect performance ranks among the very finest in cinema history. The second factor is a simple observation I have made as someone who not only read the play upon which the film is based, but who studied the playwright, Samuel D. Hunter: The Whale earns the right to be incisive in its thoughtful, introspective analysis of immensely melancholic themes because it is all too real for Hunter. The man has seen the world at its best and worst and although The Whale isn’t one-hundred percent biography, enough of it really happened to Hunter to make it personal, which brings me to my point. Only someone with Hunter’s level of expertise, someone who really has lived life, can make this movie. Well, someone like him and someone like director Darren Aronofsky, whose other brilliant films such as Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan and The Wrestler touched on similar corporeal addictions, as well as the salvation of the soul and the compassion needed from others to gain it. The combination of Hunter and Aronofsky, as well as Fraser and with brilliant supporting turns by Sadie Sink and Hong Chau, makes for an altogether monumental experience that has to be seen to be believed.
- The Banshees of Inisherin (Director: Martin McDonagh)
Martin McDonagh’s newest tragicomedy toys with many fascinating ideas, including male Irish identity, loneliness, boredom and gossip in 1920’s Ireland, delivering a poignant and genuinely honest exploration of such concepts. Perhaps more so than these themes, the most impressive aspect to this film is in its ability to take its central narrative, that of two best friends suddenly engaging in a feud, and to make it symbolic of the Irish Civil War. There are such impressive layers to this metaphor. Parallels between the war and the feud abound, from the needlessness and futility of both, to the unintended and monotonous consequences of both and the despair and loneliness that stems from it all. It is not easy to take such a hefty amount of thematic content and connect it all back to this very simple exploration of the consequences of fighting. The message of McDonagh’s film, wrapped under a layer of beautiful storytelling, magnificent cinematography that showcases Ireland in all its splendor and sharp, witty dialogue is one that more should take note of, both on a global and a personal level: No more fighting!
1.The Fabelmans (Director: Steven Spielberg)
Steven Spielberg has always been my favorite filmmaker, so I might be slightly biased in awarding his new film, an essentially autobiographical one, as my favorite of 2022. However, I am genuinely ecstatic that this movie exists. It serves as a heartfelt, loving ode to cinema in all its majesty and endless possibilities. It’s a highly entertaining, and disarmingly hysterical superhero origin story for Spielberg as a filmmaker and as a human in general. Most of all, it is a personal account of how Spielberg learned to utilize the camera as a shield, a weapon against the struggles in his life, from revelatory familial ones as he and his sisters grapple with the disintegration of their parents’ marriage, and from being very much an underdog in school. As an aspiring filmmaker with unique interests, I have always felt connected to Spielberg’s passion for filmmaking and how he first honed his skills. By the time The Fabelmans concluded, I was euphoric, blissful and had a large smile plastered on my face. These are feelings that occur after I see only the most select number of films, ones that beneath their artistry (fantastic scripts and structural choices, mesmerizing performances, great music, editing and cinematography), make me feel seen on the big screen. The Fabelmans made me feel that Spielberg, who has never met me, made his film just for me. The exact experiences on display in the film are not personal to me, but the messages behind it, the idea that the camera can be a shield against life’s struggles. I love this movie to no end and I hope that others watch it and feel as personally attached to it as I am. Spielberg, you’ve done it again!