Favourite Films of 2022

My list reflects the films I’ve most enjoyed, been moved by and remembered. To give my selection context and relevance, I’ve limited myself to films that received a full theatrical, online or home entertainment release in Australia in 2022. Films that only screened at festivals or other limited events (especially films with confirmed 2023 Australian release dates) are not included.

Top ten films

My favourite films released in Australia in 2022:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, 2022)
Released April
2. An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl, Colm Bairéad, 2022)
Released September
3. Ali & Ava (Clio Barnard, 2021)
Released June
4. De uskyldige (The Innocents, Eskil Vogt, 2021)
Released May
5. C’mon C’mon (Mike Mills, 2021)
Released February
6. Moonage Daydream (Brett Morgen, 2022)
Released September
7. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (Sophie Hyde, 2022)
Released August
8. Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Zbanic, 2020)
Released February
9. The Stranger (Thomas M Wright, 2022)
Released October
10. Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021)
Released April

Honourable mentions

Twenty more films I loved this year, listed alphabetically:

Ambulance (Michael Bay, 2022)
Released April
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (Richard Linklater, 2022)
Released April
Armageddon Time (James Gray, 2022)
Released November
Doraibu mai kâ (Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
Released February
Emily the Criminal (John Patton Ford, 2022)
Released November
Flugt (Flee, Jonas Poher Rasmussen, 2021)
Released February
Hytti nro 6 (Compartment No. 6, Juho Kuosmanen, 2021)
Released July
Kimi (Steven Soderbergh, 2022)
Released February
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021)
Released May
Red Rocket (Sean Baker, 2021)
Released January
RRR (SS Rajamouli, 2022)
Released March
Sissy (Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, 2022)
Released November
Stars at Noon (Claire Denis, 2022)
Released December
Sundown (Michel Franco, 2021)
Released July
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022)
Released December
The Souvenir: Part II (Joanna Hogg, 2021)
Released March
Top Gun: Maverick (Joseph Kosinski, 2022)
Released May
Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022)
Released December
Un autre monde (Another World, Stéphane Brizé, 2021)
Released September
X (Ti West, 2022)
Released March

Special mentions

I also enjoyed a number of films this year that only played at festivals, to the best of my knowledge don’t currently have a 2023 release date and in most cases don’t currently have Australian distribution. These ten final films would all be serious contenders in the above lists if they were more widely released. Listed alphabetically:

Le otto montagne (The Eight Mountains, Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, 2022)
Les Olympiades, Paris 13e (Paris, 13th District, Jacques Audiard, 2021)
Lynch/Oz (Alexandre O Philippe, 2022)
(Dietrich Brüggemann, 2021)
Okul tirasi (Brother’s Keeper, Ferit Karahan, 2021)
R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu, 2022)
Rien à foutre (Zero Fucks Given, Julie Lecoustre and Emmanuel Marre, 2021)
Tori et Lokita (Tori and Lokita, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, 2022)
Un monde (Playground, Laura Wandel, 2021)
Vortex (Gaspar Noé, 2021)

This list was compiled for the upcoming Senses of Cinema 2022 World Poll

Thomas Caldwell, 2022