ENTRIES IN PART 6:


Josh B Mabe

Librarian & Filmmaker, Chicago

A mix of new and new-to-me. Seen in some sort of live setting. Ranked roughly.  

I.

Three Minute Hells (Amy Halpern, 2012) 16mm at Filmmaker’s Co-op screening room, NYC
&
Inertia (Tony Phillips, 1974) & Last Supper/Second Coming (Tony Phillips, 1976) & Threshold of Doubt (Tony Phillips, 1976) & Head for Shelter (Tony Phillips, 1978) 16mm at Chicagoland Food Sovereignty Coalition Keystone warehouse, Chicago
&
Dr. Broadway (Anthony Mann, 1942) 35mm at Noir City Film Festival at Music Box, Chicago

II.

 Caricturana (Radu Jude, 2021) digital at This Radiant World series at Film Studies Center, Chicago
&
How a Sprig of Fir Would Replace a Feather (Anna Kipervaser, 2019) 16mm at Chicago Film Society’s Celluloid Now series at Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago

III. 

Never Rest/Unrest (Tiffany Sia, 2020) digital at Conversations at the Edge series at Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago
&
Lonesome Cowboy (Toney Merritt, 1979) & Three Masked Pieces (Toney Merritt, 1979) & EF (Toney Merritt, 1979) digital at This Radiant World series at Film Studies Center, Chicago
&
Spawn of the North (Henry Hathaway, 1938) 35mm at Chicago Film Society series at Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago

IV.

 You Be Mother (Sarah Pucill, 1990) digital at Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation at Block Museum, Evanston
&
Black Star: Autobiography of a Close Friend (Tom Joslin, 1976) digital at Pioneers of Queer Cinema Series at Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago
&
Singing In Oblivion (Eve Heller, 2021) digital at This Radiant World series at Film Studies Center, Chicago
&
Twin Peaks (Al Wong, 1977) 16mm at This Radiant World series at Film Studies Center, Chicago
&
Tartarughe d’Acqua (Rose Lowder, 2016) 16mm at Chicago Film Society’s Celluloid Now series at Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago

V.

Elvis (Baz Luhrmann, 2022) digital at AMC Galewood Crossings 14, Chicago
&
earthearthearth (Daïchi Saïto, 2021) 35mm at This Radiant World series at Film Studies Center, Chicago
&
brouillard – passage #14 (Alexandre Larose, 2013) 35mm at Chicago Film Society’s Celluloid Now series at Gene Siskel Film Center 

Jonathan Mackris

Writer, Ciné-fils

The 20 best films I saw for the first time in 2022, listed in order of release.

  • Seishun no yume ima izuko (Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?, Yasujirô Ozu, 1932)
  • So ein Mädel vergißt man nicht (A Girl You Don’t Forget, Fritz Kortner, 1933)
  • Tsuma yo bara no yô ni (Wife! Be Like a Rose!, Mikio Naruse, 1935)
  • The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938)
  • Hail the Conquering Hero (Preston Sturges, 1944)
  • The Stranger (Orson Welles, 1946)
  • The Barefoot Contessa (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1954)
  • Ukigumo (Floating Clouds, Mikio Naruse, 1955)
  • The Tarnished Angels (Douglas Sirk, 1957)
  • Muriel, ou le Temps d’un retour (Muriel, Alain Resnais, 1963)
  • Bandido da Luz Vermelha (The Red-Light Bandit, Rogério Sganzerla, 1968)
  • India Song (Marguerite Duras, 1975)
  • Bush Mama (Haile Gerima, 1979)
  • Cet obscur objet du désir (That Obscure Object of Desire, Luis Buñuel, 1977)
  • The Driller Killer (Abel Ferrara, 1979)
  • Simone Barbès ou La Vertu (Simone Barbès or Virtue, Marie-Claude Treilhou, 1980)
  • Beyrouth, Ma Ville (Beirut, My City, Jocelyne Saab, 1983)
  • Kaal Abhirati (Time Addiction, Amitabh Chakraborty, 1989)
  • On connaît la chanson (Same Old Song, Alain Resnais, 1997)
  • Je rentre à la maison (I’m Going Home, Manoel de Oliveira, 2001)

Intriguingly, but unintentionally, four of the filmmakers who left me with the most to think about this year – Luis Buñuel, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Alain Resnais, and Rogério Sganzerla – all draw in varying degrees and in their own original ways on another filmmaker who likewise dominated my year, Orson Welles. In particular, I’d like to name two more of Sganzerla’s features, Nem Tudo é Verdade (It’s Not All True, 1986) and O Signo do Caos (The Sign of Chaos, 2005), as being of special note for any exhaustive understanding of the meaning of Welles’ films. 

I saw fewer films from this year than I would have liked – just under 60 titles at the time of this writing, 31 December – but I liked a significant number of the ones I’ve seen. Of what I missed, I regret in particular not seeing Abbas Fahdel’s Tales of the Purple House (2022), Paz Encina’s EAMI (2022), and most of all Masao Adachi’s Revolution+1 (2022), completed just a week before I compiled this list. With that in mind, the following are my favorite films premiering in 2022 listed in alphabetical order.

Features

  • À Vendredi, Robinson (See You Friday, Robinson, Mitra Farahani, 2022)
  • Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg, 2022)
  • I morti rimangono con la bocca aperta (The Dead Remain With Their Mouth Open, Fabrizio Ferraro, 2022)
  • Isang salaysay ng karahasang Pilipino (A Tale of Filipino Violence, Lav Diaz, 2022)
  • Kind Hearts (Gerard-Jan Claes, Olivia Rochette, 2022)
  • Leonora addio (Paolo Taviani, 2022)
  • Natchathiram Nagargiradhu (Pa. Ranjith, 2022)
  • Nuit obscure – feuillets sauvages (Les brûlants, les obstinés) (Obscure night – Wild leaves (The burning ones, the obstinate), Sylvain George, 2022)
  • O trio em mi bemol (The Kegelstatt Trio, Rita Azevedo Gomes, 2022)
  • On a eu la journée bonsoir (We Had the Day Bonsoir, Narimane Mari, 2022)
  • Padre Pio (Abel Ferrara, 2022)
  • So-seol-ga-ui yeong-hwa (The Novelist’s Film, Hong Sang-soo, 2022)
  • Ukraine-Pologne: la frontière de la solidarité (Polish Solidarity on the Ukrainian Border, Lech Kowalski, 2022)

Shorts

  • Potemkinistii (The Potemkinists, Radu Jude, 2022)
  • Welcome (Jean-Claude Rousseau, 2022)

Putting together this list, I was reminded of an astute comment by Adrian Martin in an essay on cinephilia, where he remarks, “I sometimes think I can spot a cinephile by the intensity of their hatred for their national cinema.”1 On this point, it’s only appropriate to paraphrase Marx: the cinephile has no country! To that end, this list celebrates a number of our great contemporary internationalists – Abel Ferrara, Sylvain George, Lech Kowalski – who each in their own way show the true meaning of international solidarity, in contrast to the smothering, homogenous bourgeois cosmopolitanism of most contemporary “art” cinemas. On the other hand, Paolo Taviani, Pa. Ranjith, and most of all Lav Diaz (one of our greatest living cine-historians, in the tradition of Angelopoulos and Oliveira) remind us that the fight for the fullest possible freedom in one’s own country is a commitment to the universality of human freedom as a whole.

The most extraordinary book on film I read this year was my much-belated encounter with Jean Louis Schefer’s L’homme ordinaire du cinéma, only a few weeks before his passing in June. Finally translated into English in 2018, nearly 40 years after its initial publication, we may agree with Alain Badiou apropos his own work that belated translation is simply a testament to its formidable endurance of a work of theory, rather than if it had been translated for the sake of timely intellectual fashion. The same, of course, may be said about the long-awaited translation of the first volume of Serge Daney’s La Maison cinéma et le monde this September, clearly the event of the year in terms of film publishing. In addition, I must finally mention the lovingly assembled Afterimage Reader, finally anthologized in a thick volume; the English translation of Jean-Michel Frodon’s The World of Jia Zhangke, updated to cover all of Jia’s films to date; and D.A. Miller’s Second Time Around, a refreshing experiment in film writing. 

This year saw the passing of four of the strongest influences on me: Jean-Louis Comolli, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Marie Straub, and Yoshida Kiju. My encounter with all of their work, within a roughly two year span as I entered my twenties, changed my life in a fundamental and decisive way. To lose them all this year, along with others for whom I have great respect (Shinji Aoyama, Dore O., Peter Bogdanovich, Sidney Poiter, etc.), made this year a profoundly devastating one despite many other exciting highs.

Natchathiram Nagargiradhu

Ioannis Makris

Cinephile, editor in the Greek-based internet film blog Peri Tainion, member of the cinema group Cinediadromes

The best 2021 movies I saw in 2022

  1. Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay, 2021)
  2. Petrovy v grippe (Petrov’s Flu, Kirill Serebrennikov, 2021)
  3. Gûzen to sôzô (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
  4. Ghahreman (A Hero, Asghar Farhadi, 2021)
  5. The White Tiger (Ramin Bahrani, 2021)
  6. The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson, 2021)
  7. Huda’s Salon (Hany Abu-Assad, 2021)
  8. De uskyldige (The Innocents, Eskil Vogt, 2021)
  9. Mogadisyu (Escape from Mogadishu, Seung-wan Ryu, 2021)
  10. Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021)
  11. Verdens verste menneske (The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier, 2021)
  12. Kazn (The Execution, Lado Kvataniya, 2021)
  13. Doraibu mai kâ (Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
  14. tick, tick… BOOM! (Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2021)
  15. Große Freiheit (Great Freedom, Sebastian Meise, 2021)

Bob Manning

Cinephile and Adelaide Cinémathèque Member
  1. An Caillin Ciuin (The Quiet Girl, Colm Bairéad, 2022)
  2. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021)
  3. Quo Vadis,Aida? (Jasmila Žbanić, 2020)
  4. Limbo (Ben Sharrock, 2020)
  5. The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022)
  6. The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022)
  7. Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Pawo Choyning Dorji, 2019)
  8. La nuit du 12 (The Night of the 12th, Dominik Moll, 2022)
  9. Zgjoi (Hive, Blerta Basholli, 2021)
  10. Bones and All (Luca Guadagnino, 2022)
  11. The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022)
  12. Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2021)
  13. Hytti nro 6 (Compartment No.6, Juho Kuosmanen, 2021)
  14. Kompromat (Jérôme Salle, 2022)
  15. Juniper (Matthew J. Saville, 2021)
  16. Smyrni mou agapimeni (Smyrna, Grigoris Karantinakis, 2021)

Above is a list of movies that I have really liked, that have been released in Adelaide cinemas in 2022. The Quiet Girl is the first Irish movie that I have seen which is spoken mainly in Gaelic. Absolutely loved this lovely little gem of a movie.

Miguel Marías

Author of books on Manuel Mur Oti and Leo McCarey; teacher; former director of the Spanish Film Archive (1986-88)

Great recent movies (made since 2018) seen for the first time in 2022:

  • Les Passagers de la nuit (The Passengers of the Night, Mikhaël Hers, 2022)
  • Rachel Hendrix (Victor Nuñez, 2022)
  • Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021)
  • O Trio em Mi Bemol (The Kegelstatt Trio, Rita Azevedo Gomes, 2022)
  • Ouistreham (Between Two Worlds, Emmanuel Carrère, 2021)
  • Ride (Alex Ranarivelo, 2018)
  • Pan de limón con semillas de amapola (Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake, Benito Zambrano, 2021)
  • Twist à Bamako (Dancing the Twist in Bamako, Robert Guédiguian, 2021)
  • Mulher Oceano (Ocean Girl, Djin Sganzerla, 2020)
  • Greta (Neil Jordan, 2018)
  • Albatros (Drift Away, Xavier Beauvois, 2021)
  • À vendredi, Robinson (See You Friday, Robinson, Mitra Farahani, 2022)
  • El Rey de todo el Mundo (The King of All The World, Carlos Saura, 2021)

Yet to see Patricia Mazuy’s Bowling Saturne (Saturn Bowling, 2022) and Emmanuel Mouret’s Chronique d’une liaison passagère (Diary of a Fleeting Affair, 2022).

Great older movies (made before 2018) seen for the first time in 2022:

  • Saikai (Keigo Kimura, 1953)
  • Yuwaku (Temptation, Kôzaburô Yoshimura, 1948)
  • The Very Thought of You (Delmer Daves, 1944)
  • Dunia (Kiss Me Not on the Eyes, Jocelyn Saab, 2005)
  • Strangers in Good Company (Cynthia Scott, 1990)
  • Lawn Dogs (John Duigan, 1997)
  • What happened was… (Tom Noonan, 1993/4)
  • Tigerstreifenbaby wartet auf Tarzan (Tiger-Stripe Woman Waits for Tarzan, Rudolf Thome, 1998)
  • Rot und Blau (Red and Blue, Rudolf Thome, 2003)
  • Yawaraka na hou (A Tender Place, Shunichi Nagasaki, 2001)
  • Tin ngai hoi gok (Lost and Found, Lee Chi-Ngai, 1996)

Dancing the Twist in Bamako

  • The Journey of August King (John Duigan, 1995)
  • Off the Map (Campbell Scott, 2003)
  • Bed of Roses (Michael Goldenberg, 1996)
  • The Cake Eaters (Mary Stuart Masterson, 2007)
  • Trigger (Bruce McDonald, 2010)
  • Lian ai yu yi wu (Love and Duty, Wancang Bu, 1931)
  • Sparrows Dance (Noah Buschel, 2012)
  • Aoi sanmyaku (The Blue Mountains, Tadashi Imai, 1949) 
  • Zoku aoi sanmyaku (The Blue Mountains Part Two, Tadashi Imai, 1949)
  • Du hast gesagt, dass du mich liebst (You Told Me, You Love Me, Rudolf Thome, 2006)
  • Yuwakusha (The Enchantment, Shuichi Nagasaki, 1989)
  • Nishi no majo ga shinda (The Witch of the West is Dead, Shunichi Nagasaki, 2008)
  • Hachikô monogatari (Hachi-ko, Seijirô Kôyama, 1987)
  • Spoken Word (Victor Nuñez, 2009)
  • The Missing Person (Noah Buschel, 2009)
  • The Devil Makes Three (Andrew Marton, 1952)
  • Christmas in Connecticut (Peter Godfrey, 1945)
  • Berlin Chamissoplatz (Rudolf Thome, 1980)
  • Rauchzeichen (Smoke Signs, Rudolf Thome, 2006)
  • Among the Living (Stuart Heisler, 1941)
  • Voice in the Mirror (Harry Keller, 1958)
  • Glass Chin (Noah Buschel, 2014)
  • Border Run (Gabriela Tagliavini, 2012)
  • Big Eden (Thomas Bezucha, 2000) 
  • Endoretsu warutsu (Endless Waltz, Kôji Wakamatsu, 1995)
  • Keith Richards: Under the Influence (Morgan Neville, 2015)
  • Kōfuku no genkai (The Limit of Happiness, Keigo Kimura, 1948)
  • Friends (Elaine Proctor, 1993)
  • The Stone Boy (Christopher Cain, 1984)
  • Frau fährt, Mann schläft (Woman Driving, Man Sleeping, Rudolf Thome, 2004)
  • Pêcheur d’Islande (Island Fishermen, Pierre Schoendoerffer, 1959)
  • Awdat mowatin (Return of a Citizen, Mohamed Khan, 1986)
  • Les Portes tournantes (The Revolving Doors, Francis Mankiewicz, 1988)

Remarkable recent movies:

  • Ras vkhedavt, rodesac cas vukurebt? (What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?, Alexandre Koberidze, 2021)
  • Degas et moi (Arnaud des Pallières, 2019)
  • Ergej irekhgüi namar/ (Harvest Moon, Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam, 2022)
  • Viagem ao Sol (Journey to the Sun, Susana de Sousa Dias, Ansgar Schaefer, 2021)
  • Illusions perdues (Lost Illusions, Xavier Giannoli, 2021)
  • Petite Solange (Axelle Ropert, 2021)
  • Pacifiction, Tourment sur les îles (Pacifiction, Albert Serra, 2022)
  • Where The Crawdads Sing (Olivia Newman, 2022)
  • The Batman (Matt Reeves, 2022)
  • Jaula (The Chalk Line, Ignacio Tatay, 2018)
  • Prapti (Receipt, Anuraag Pati, 2021)
  • Limbo (Soi Cheang, 2021)
  • Avec amour et acharnement (Both Sides of the Blade, Claire Denis, 2022)
  • El sustituto (The Replacement, Óscar Aira, 2021)
  • Chavalas (Girlfriends, Carol Rodríguez Colás, 2021)

Remarkable older movies:

  • Watashi no Niisan (My Elder Brother; Yasujirô Shimazu, 1934)
  • Liu mang yi sheng (Doctor Mack, Chi-Ngai Lee, 1995)
  • Hunt the Man Down (George Archainbaud, 1950)
  • Happy Here and Now (Michael Almereyda, 2002)
  • Hold That Girl (George Marshall, 1938)
  • Transcendence (Wally Pfister, 2014)
  • Mr. Fix-It (Allan Dwan, 1918)
  • Down Home (Irvin V. Willat, 1920)
  • The Tall Stranger (Thomas Carr, 1957)
  • Pagdating Sa Dulo (At the Top, Ishmael Bernal, 1971)
  • Maowid ala ashaa (A Dinner Date, Mohamed Khan, 1981)
  • Zawgat Ragoul Mohem (The Wife of an Important Man, Mohamed Khan, 1987)
  • The Eclipse (Conor McPherson, 2009)
  • El Rebozo de Soledad (Soledad’s Shawl, Roberto Gavaldón, 1952)
  • Desert Hearts (Donna Deitch, 1985)
  • Manhandled (Lewis R. Foster, 1949)
  • Accused of Murder (Joseph Kane, 1956)
  • The Marauders (Gerald Mayer, 1955)
  • Aibu (Caress, Heinosuke Gosho, 1933)
  • Amerasia (Wolf-Eckart Bühler, 1986)
  • Careless Love (John Duigan, 2012)
  • Sieben Frauen (Seven Women, Rudolf Thome, 1989)
  • Flirting (John Duigan, 1991)
  • One Night Stand (John Duigan, 1984)
  • Mouth to Mouth (John Duigan, 1978)
  • Kissed (Lynne Stopkewich, 1996)
  • Strike! (Sarah Kernochan, 1998)
  • In Old Kentucky (George Marshall, 1935)
  • Hei jun ma (A Mongolian Tale, Fei Xie, 1995)
  • Kojima no haru (Spring on Lepers’ Island, Shirô Toyoda, 1940)
  • A Prayer for the Dying (Mike Hodges, 1987)
  • Whispering City (Fedor Ozep, 1947)
  • Maytime in Mayfair (Herbert Wilcox, 1949)
  • Derby Day (Herbert Wilcox, 1952)
  • Hell’s Half Acre (John H. Auer, 1954)
  • Without Honor (Irving Pichel, 1949)
  • Big Night (Stanley Tucci, Campbell Scott, 1996)
  • In Old Arizona (Raoul Walsh, Irving Cummings, 1928)
  • Storm Over Lisbon (George Sherman, 1944)
  • Chant d’hiver (Winter Song, Otar Iosseliani, 2015)
  • Die rote Zimmer (The Red Room, Rudolf Thome, 2010)
  • Das Geheimnis (Secret of Love, Rudolf Thome, 1995)
  • Der Philosoph (The Philosopher, Rudolf Thome, 1989)
  • Winter of our Dreams (John Duigan, 1981)
  • Just Married (Rudolfe Thome, 1998)
  • Ins Blaue (Into the Blue, Rudolfe Thome, 2012)
  • The Sky Pilot (King Vidor, 1921)
  • Wine of Youth (King Vidor, 1924)
  • The Family Stone (Thomas Bezucha, 2005)
  • Les Beaux Souvenirs (Happy Memories, Francis Mankiewicz, 1981)
  • Jes’ Call Me Jim (Clarence G. Badger, 1920)
  • Jubilo (Clarence G. Badger, 1919)
  • Marguerite Duras: Worn Out with Desire to Write (David Wiles, Alan Benson, 1985)
  • Boyevoy kinosbornik 10: Bestsennaia golova (A Priceless Head, Boris Barnet, 1942)
  • Taifuken no onna (Hideo Ôba, 1948)
  • The Hasty Heart (Vincent Sherman, 1949)
  • A Kiss in the Dark (Delmer Daves, 1949)
  • Anesthesia (Tim Blake Nelson, 2015)
  • The Half-Breed (Stuart Gilmore, Edward Ludwig, 1952)
  • The Two Fister (William Wyler, 1927)
  • Croupier (Mike Hodges, 1998)
  • Paranoid (John Duigan, 2000)
  • The Leading Man (John Duigan, 1996)
  • Invisible Agent (Edwin L. Marin, 1942)
  • Full Body Massage (Nicolas Roeg, 1995)
  • Saya no iru tousizu (Saya: Perspective in Love, Akiyoshi Kimata, 1986)
  • The Wife (Tom Noonan, 1995)
  • Molly (John Duigan, 1999)
  • The Phenom (Rage, Noah Buschel, 2016)
  • Live A Little, Love A Little (Norman Taurog, 1968)

Great movies watched again:

  • JLG/JLG – Autoportrait de décembre (JLG/JLG – Self-Portrait in December, Jean-Luc Godard, 1994)
  • Yuki fujin ezu (Portrait of Madame Yuki, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1950)
  • The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956)
  • Return of the Texan (Delmer Daves, 1952)
  • Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)
  • Desert Fury (Lewis Allen, 1947)
  • Japanese War Bride (King Vidor, 1952)
  • Storm Warning (Stuart Heisler, 1951)
  • There’s Always Tomorrow (Douglas Sirk, 1956)
  • A Romance of the Redwoods (Cecil B. DeMille, 1917)
  • Shockproof (Douglas Sirk, 1949)
  • Bad Girl (Frank Borzage, 1931)
  • Interlude (Douglas Sirk, 1957)
  • The First Legion (Douglas Sirk, 1951)
  • Captain China (Lewis R. Foster, 1950)
  • Passage West (Lewis R. Foster, 1951)
  • Novgorodtsy (Men of Novgorod, Boris Barnet, 1943)
  • Alyonka (Boris Barnet, 1961)
  • Hurry Sundown (Otto Preminger, 1967)
  • Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese, 1954)
  • The Raid (Hugo Fregonese, 1954)
  • One Way Street (Hugo Fregonese, 1950)
  • Seven Thunders (Hugo Fregonese, 1957)
  • La Femme d’à côté (The Woman Next Door, François Truffaut, 1981)
  • The Year My Voice Broke (John Duigan, 1987)
  • Illegal (Lewis Allen, 1955)
  • L’Homme qui aimait les femmes (The Man Who Loved Love, François Truffaut, 1977)

Flux Gourmet

Jack McCulloch

Location sound recordist

Top Films of 2022

  1. Doraibu Mai Kā (Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
  2. The Souvenir: Part II (Joanna Hogg, 2021)
  3. Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022)
  4. Heojil kyolshim (Decision to Leave, Park Chan-wook, 2022)
  5. Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan, 2022)
  6. So-seol-ga-ui yeong-hwa (The Novelist’s Film, Hong Sang-soo, 2022)
  7. The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022)
  8. Flux Gourmet (Peter Strickland, 2022)
  9. Enys Men (Mark Jenkin, 2022)
  10. Nope (Jordan Peele, 2022)

Top Retrospective Screenings 2022

  1. Little Women (Gillian Armstrong, 1994) – 35mm, Melbourne Cinémathèque, ACMI
  2. Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959) – 35mm, Melbourne Cinémathèque, ACMI
  3. Ta’m e guilass (Taste of Cherry, Abbas Kiarostami, 1997) – ACMI
  4. Pierrot le Fou (Jean Luc-Godard, 1965) – ACMI
  5. El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive, Víctor Erice, 1973) – MIFF, ACMI
  6. Il deserto rosso (Red Desert, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964) – Melbourne Cinémathèque, ACMI
  7. The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1982) – 4K, Astor Theatre
  8. Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995) – Palace Westgarth
  9. Ukigumo (Floating Clouds, Mikio Naruse, 1955) – 35mm, Japanese Film Festival, ACMI
  10. Arigatô-san (Mr. Thank You, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1936) – 35mm, Melbourne Cinémathèque, ACMI

Kung Fu Zohra

Jamie Mendonça

Theatrical Sales Manager, Curzon Film

This year only presented a few titles of real note in my humble view, but who can complain with the below.

Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022)
My favourite, for many reasons. I’m so glad this piece of work exists; I’ve seen it twice in the cinema and will continue to revisit it. It’s somehow comforting to know it’s always there if needed. Hyped to the max – it’s more than justified, which is rare. Paul Mescal delivers the greatest performance; I’m no hugger but I’d gladly enter the screen and embrace him if I could (if indeed he’d accept). This is a film that is so meaningful I don’t dare read anything about it.

Khers Nist (No Bears, Jafar Panahi, 2022)
The most courageous filmmaking. Everything is at stake and you feel the tension in every [illegal] frame; it’s almost unbearable (pun not intended but welcomed). There are films within films, and then there are works by Jafar Panahi who continually breaks new ground – something only a handful of feature filmmakers are doing today. Imprisoned as I type, I think of him often.

Saint Omer (Alice Diop, 2022)
Unassuming in its power, this is one that stays with you and grows inside. At some point during the film, it suddenly hit me that this was something very special; I still don’t really know why and I don’t care to find out. But it’s clear Alice is pushing boundaries in what defines ‘a film’ and we should be very grateful to her.

Hytti nro 6 (Compartment No.6, Juho Kuosmanen, 2021)
This is a gorgeous film that captures the magic of travel so perfectly; the thrill, the boredom, the discovery, the disappointment, the romance, the sweat and tears. It’s one heck of a ride and I expect the film will gain more admirers and acclaim as the years pass. Lots of people I know in the business share the love for this one; in fact as a distributor I can’t remember the last time everyone was so uniformly in agreement on a film.

Vortex (Gaspar Noé, 2021)
I had a feeling this was going to be special. His finest work? Barry Jenkins is also a fan and hasn’t been shy in spreading the word which is excellent to see from a fellow filmmaker. The split-screen technique is incredibly effective; it enhances the film greatly, rather than detract. Crucial in fact. This is significant!

Pina *3D Version* (Wim Wenders, 2011)
During a career talk we put on with Wim at Curzon Mayfair, he made a very convincing case for 3D, declaring it essentially a missed opportunity. I therefore didn’t waste time in going to see Pina in this format soon after, thanks to our Aldgate cinema and indeed as part of our KINO DREAMS retrospective touring programme. The experience was kind of… life changing. Even made me want to dance, which is an unthinkable prospect.

An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl, Colm Bairéad, 2022)
I’m in need of a rewatch. A surprise hit in cinemas, it was very encouraging to know a film of this quality is still able to find its audience out there. Hard to believe it’s a debut feature, this is an extremely mature work that has flashes of pure brilliance; at times, I even thought of Andrei. It’s a small film in appearance, but within – it’s anything but. Huge, in fact. More Irish-language films please.

Red Rocket (Sean Baker, 2021) + Rimini (Ulrich Seidl, 2022)
Seen months apart, they somehow form a double-bill in my head and I’m just going with it. Sean’s best film in my books; a rough and ready journey from start to finish with an extremely dedicated tour-de-force performance from Simon Rex who simply owns the show, for better or worse. As for the one and only Richie Bravo invented by Ulrich Seidl: what a glorious, tragic mess. Can’t help but love him.

Clerks 3 (Kevin Smith, 2022)
Many moments are far too sappy but it doesn’t matter as this film, I feel, comes from a very good place. Any fan of the original Clerks would eat this up. It’s almost as if Kevin wanted to make a fan-film of his own film, which is very peculiar to witness but fascinating. Further, it brought me back to a place when I didn’t take film quite so seriously – when I’d just watch something for the hell of it, for something to do. We (I) must never forget the simple joys of moving pictures.

Sátántangó (Satan’s Tango, Béla Tarr, 1991)
If it wasn’t for the animal cruelty this would be towards the top. These 7.5 hours must be witnessed in a cinema with other people. Two intervals. If this was viewed at home, I worry the temptation to take multiple breaks would be too great, or worse: leaving the rest for ‘tomorrow’. A great example of long-form narrative cinema that can be no other way. Tarr, like Tarkovsky, understands the importance of time.

“Films now mostly look like comics. They ignore time.” – Béla Tarr

Douglas Messerli

Publisher of World Cinema Review and author of My Queer Cinema: LGBTQ+ Film Coded and Explicit 1887-2025  (ongoing, to be published in several volumes), the first volume 1887-1929 is expected out in 2023.

=Since I spent 2022 working on my multi-volume study My Queer Cinema: LGBTQ Film Coded and Explicit 1887-2025, most of the films I’ve selected have some LGBTQ+ content, but not all.

I have also included a short list of the most outstanding films I saw in 2022 for the first time from the past, again mostly queer oriented.

My favorite 2022 films (no particular order):

  • My Policeman (Michael Grandage, 2022)
  • Benediction (Terence Davies, 2021)
  • Bros (Nicolas Stoller, 2022)
  • Chrissy Judy (Todd Flaherty, 2022)
  • El Houb (The Love, Sheriff Nasr, 2022)
  • Jimmy in Saigon (Peter McDowell, 2022)
  • The Inspection (Elegance Bratton, 2022)’
  • The Fablemans (Steven Speilberg, 2022)
  • Khers nist (No Bears, Jafar Panahi, 2022)
  • Heojil kyolshim (Decision to Leave, Park Chan-wook, 2022)

Other best films first seen in 2022

  • City Girl (F. W. Murnau, 1930)
  • Penda’s Fen (Alan Clarke, 1974)
  • Uncut (John Greyson, 1997)
  • Freak Orlando (Ulrike Ottinger, 1981)
  • Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse (Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press, Ulrike Ottinger, 1984)
  • The House with Closed Shutters (D. W. Griffith, 1910)
  • Spelen of sterven (To Play or to Die, Frank Krom, 1990)
  • Os Primeiros Soldados (The First Fallen, Rodrigo de Oliveira, 2021)
  • Agostino (Mauro Bolognini, 1962)
  • Metti, una sera a cena (Love Circle, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, 1969)
  • Helena: Der raub der Helena (Helena, Manfred Noa, 1924)
  • Helena: Der Untergang Trojas (Helena: The Fall of Troy, Manfred Noa, 1925)
  • Filibus (Mario Roncoroni, 1915)
  • Rose Hobart (Joseph Cornell, 1936)

Stefano Miraglia

Artist and curator

Twenty films made in 2022

  • Mato seco em chamas (Dry Ground Burning, Joana Pimenta, Adirley Queirós, 2022)
  • À vendredi, Robinson (See You Friday, Robinson, Mitra Farahani, 2022)
  • Quarries (Ellie Ga, 2022)
  • Zehn Minuten vor Mitternacht (Ten Minutes to Midnight, Mario Sanz, 2022)
  • Demolition of a Wall (Album 2) (Lucy Raven, 2022)
  • Χopiko (Intermede, María Kourkoúta, 2022)
  • Langue des oiseaux (Language of Birds, Érik Bullot, 2022)
  • Moi aussi j’aime la politique (I Like Politics Too, Marie Voignier, 2022)
  • Looking Backward (Rarely a Sustained Vision) (Ben Balcom, 2022)
  • Signal GPS Perdu (GPS Signal Lost, Pierre Voland, 2022)
  • Welcome (Jean-Claude Rousseau, 2022)
  • Niwa no sunaba (Garden Sandbox, Yukinori Kurokawa, 2022)
  • Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas, 2022)
  • Khwaje da gawah daddu (The Frog is the Pond’s Witness, Anuj Malhotra, 2022)
  • End Time and The Trajectories of Ancestors (Edwin Lo Yun Ting, 2022)
  • Innesti Neri e Bianchi (White and Black Grafts, Federica Foglia, 2022)
  • Les images qui vont suivre n’ont jamais existé (The following images never happened, Noé Grenier, 2022)
  • G (Ignazio Fabio Mazzola, 2022)
  • Tutto Qui (Anna Marziano, 2022)
  • Insieme/Insieme (Bernardo Zanotta, 2022)

Ten films made in 2021, seen in 2022

  • OUTHERE (for Lee Lozano) (Maïder Fortuné, Annie MacDonell, 2021)
  • Hors-titre (Wiame Haddad, 2021)
  • Le Croissant de feu (Rayane Mcirdi, 2021)
  • Inner Outer Space (Laida Lertxundi, 2021)
  • Not All Things that Shine Are Beautiful (Nour Ouayda, 2022)
  • Cortar un árbol en luna verde (To Cut a Tree on a Green Moon, Felipe Esparza Pérez, 2021)
  • We’ll Find You When the Sun Goes Black (Anouk De Clercq, 2021)
  • Notes for Les Sanglières (Elsa Brès, 2021)
  • Gūzen to Sōzō (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
  • Madness Remixed (Rhea Storr, 2021)

Ten older films, seen in 2022

  • Antonio Negri (Marine Hugonnier, 2019)
  • Her Socialist Smile (John Gianvito, 2020)
  • Double Tide (Sharon Lockhart, 2009)
  • Tianqiao bu jian le (The Skywalk is Gone, Tsai Ming-liang, 2002)
  • *Corpus Callosum (Michael Snow, 2002)
  • Coffee Colored Children (Ngozi Onwurah, 1988)
  • Without Your Interpretation (Ulysses Jenkins, 1984)
  • Color Aid (Richard Serra, 1971)
  • Fun and Games for Everyone (Serge Bard, 1968)
  • Bay Area (Michael Minnard, 1976)

Four events in Europe

  • Richard Serra retrospective, Centre Pompidou, Jan 5-9, curated by Enrico Camporesi.
  • Typofilm, Centre Pompidou, Jan 19 – Oct 5, curated by Enrico Camporesi.
  • Lucy Raven – Another Dull Day, Wiels, Brussels, Apr 27 – Aug 14, curated by Helena Kritis.
  • Bruce Conner – Light Out of Darkness, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Oct 10 – Mar 5, curated by Roland Wetzel.

Dry Ground Burning

Olaf Möller

Olaf Möller is a German critic, professor and programmer

Olaf Möller’s Eleven Friends 2022

Team Manager Team (Films of the Year)

  • Ācārya (Koraṭāla Śiva, 2022) 
  • Chŏn T’aeil (Chun Tae-il: A Flame That Lives On, Hong Junp’yo, 2021)
  • Hyakunen to kibō (One Hundred Years and Hope, Takashi Nishihara, 2022) 

First Team (Line-up in strictly alphabetical order)

  • Il Boemo (Petr Václav, 2022) 
  • Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg, 2022)  
  • Khaen-koshi (Killing a Traitor, Masud Kimiai, 2022)
  • In viaggio (Gianfranco Rosi, 2022) 
  • Kafka for Kids (Roee Rosen, 2022)
  • Kira & El Gin (Marwan Hamed, 2022)
  • Lengsel etter nåtid (Longing for Today, Knut Erik Jensen, 2023)
  • Orzeł. Ostatni patrol (Below the Surface, Jacek Bławut, 2022)
  • Revolution der Augen (Revolution of the Eyes, Friederike Pezold, 2022)
  • Su Huan-Jen (Demigod: The Legend Begins, ​​Chris Huang Wen-chang, 2022) 
  • Unrueh (Unrest, Cyril Schäublin, 2022)

+ Esterno notte [Miniseries] (Exterior, Night, Marco Bellocchio, 2022)

+ Catwoman: Hunted (Shinsuke Terasawa, 2022) 

+ the burning part of dead souls (Mox Mäkelä, 2022) 

Substitutes

EO (Jerzy Skolimowski, 2022) // The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg, 2022) // Everything Will Be OK (Rithy Panh, 2021) // Kapag Wala Nang Mga Alon (When the Waves Are Gone, Lav Diaz, 2022) // Kysset (The Kiss, Bille August, 2022) // Leonora addio (Paolo Taviani, 2022) // Liczba doskonała (The Perfect Number, Krzysztof Zanussi, 2022) // Occhiali neri (Dark Glasses, Dario Argento, 2022) // Pagten (The Pact, Bille August, 2021) // Poṉṉiyiṉ Celvaṉ 1 (Maṇiratṉam, 2022) // Skazka (Fairytale, Aleksandr Sokurov, 2022) // Tōkyō 2020 Olympic Side: A & Tōkyō 2020 Olympic Side: B (Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side A & Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side B, Kawase Naomi, 2022) // Un couple (A Couple, Frederick Wiseman, 2022)

+ Le Monde et sa propriété [Miniseries] (Gérard Mordillat, Christophe Clerc, 2022)

+ Jurassic Hunt (Hank Braxtan, 2021)

+ Shaaticup [Miniseries] (Mohammad Touqir Islam, 2022)

Extended Team

Amor y matemáticas (Love and Mathematics; Claudia Sainte-Luce, 2022) // Flux Gourmet (Peter Strickland, 2022) // Grace (Ato Bautista, 2023) // Hikayat elbeit elorjowani (Tales of the Purple House, Abbas Fahdel, 2022) // Huài niǎo (Bad Bird, Li Tan, 2023) // Jaula (The Chalk Line, Ignacio Tatay, 2022) // K.G.F: Chapter 2 (Prashanth Neel, 2022) // Klipmejkery (Clipmakers, Grigoriy Konstantinopolskiy, 2023) // Kobanê (Özlem Yaşar, 2022) // Kung Fu Zohra (Mabrouk El Mechri, 2022) // Music for Black Pigeons (Jørgen Leth, Andreas Koefoed, 2022) // Natchathiram Nagargirathu (Pa. Ranjith, 2022) // Nel nostro cielo un rombo di tuono (Riccardo Milani, 2022) // Omocha eiga de mita Nicchū Sensō (The Second Sino-Japanese War in Toy Films, Ōta Yoneo, 20222) // Poetas (The Poet, Giedrius Tamoševičius, Vytautas V. Landsbergis, 2022) // PussyCake (Pablo Parés, 2021) // Sat hahng hung gaan (Tales from the Occult: Dead Mall, The Tenement, The Chink, Fruit Chan, Fung Chih-chiang, Wesley Hoi, 2022) //  Sat hahng hung gaan 2 (Tales from the Occult 2, Frank Hui, Daniel Chan, Doris Wong, 2022) // Six Characters Māyā Phiṣ̄wng (Six Characters, M.L. Pundhevanop Dhewakul, 2022) // Sonyeondeul (The Boys, Jeong Ji-yeong, 2022) // Sri Asih (Upi Avianto, 2022) // Gli ultimi giorni dell’umanità (The Last Days of Humanity, Alessandro Gagliardo, Enrico Ghezzi, 2022) // Vermelho Bruto (Rough Red, Amanda Devulsky, 2022) // The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez (Stacy Peralta, 2021) // Yugata no o-tomodachi (You’ve Got a Friend, Ryûichi Hiroki, 2022) // Yuri no amaoto (When the Rain Falls, Shūsuke Kaneko, 2022) 

+ Beat the Devil (David Hare, 2021) // Not So Pretty [Miniseries] (Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering, 2022)

+ Kamen Raidâ Ôzu 10th: Fukkatsu no Coa Medaru (Kamen Rider OOO 10th: Core Medal of Resurrection, Tasaki Ryūta, 2022) // Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (Rick Morales, 2022)

+ Kamen Rider Black Sun [Miniseries] (Shiraishi Kazuya, 2022) // Polümer (Hans Nissen, 2022)

Golden Shadow

Eleven Friends 2022 Medical Staff

(film/video-based/related installations, film/video art projects, films seen in exhibitions, and various other film related works in radio, literature etc.)

ÆTHER (Poor Objects) (Shuang Li, 2022) // Football Kommando (Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey Nabwana, 2022) // Four Sculptures in Fifteen Pieces (Jonna Kina, 2022) // Fra Far [Video Installation] (From Father, Lene Berg, 2022) // Godide [Double Projection] (Phumulani Ntuli, 2021) // Golden Shadow [Double Projection] (Katrina Daschner, 2022) // HOT GIRL feels EXPOSED [Internet Video Art] (Uploaded by Foxxytrut, 2022) // The Lock-In [Video Installation] (Stanley Schtinter, 2022) // The Magnificent Levitation Act of Lauren O (Angela Su, 2022) // Maltanristi [Film Installation] (Maltese Cross, Mika Taanila, 2022)  // “El origen de la substancia importará la importancia del origen” [Video Installation] (The Importance of the Origin will be Imported by the Origin of the Substance, Mónica Heller, 2022) // Pila [Video Installation] (Lines, Kiri Dalena, 2022) // Soneto de alimañas (Sonnet of Vermin, Naomi Rincón Gallardo, 2022) 

Olaf Möller’s Eleven Veterans 2022

Team Manager Team (Revelation of the Year)

  • Mou ye chi sing (City Without Baseball, Lawrence Ah Mon, Scud, 2008)
  • Yong jiu ju liu (Permanent Residence, Scud, 2009)
  • An fei ta ming (Amphetamine, Scud, 2010)   
  • Ai Hen Lan (Love Actually… Sucks!, Scud, 2011)  
  • Voyage (Scud, 2013)  
  • Tung lau hap woo (Utopians, Scud, 2015)   
  • San shi er li (Thirty Years of Adonis, Scud, 2017)
  • Apostles (Scud, 2022)
  • Bodyshop (Scud, 2022)

Kafka for Kids

First Team (Line-Up in strictly alphabetical order)

  • Amok (Antonio Momplet, 1944)
  • Cavalcade (Frank Lloyd, 1933)
  • [Il cimitero degli Invitti] (Francesco Penco, 1927) 
  • Columna (The Column, Mircea Drăgan, 1968)
  • Ikiteiru ōkami (Living as a Wolf, Motomu Ida, 1964)
  • Nude a Go-Go (Barry Mahon, 1965)
  • Otto Ville ja Teuvan “Tiltu”. Sotilaspila N 4 (Matti Jurva? & Tatu Pekkarinen?, 1940)
  • Schrei lauter (Margareta Heinrich, Ullabritt Horn, E. Haferkorn, 1980) 
  • Shéhérazade (Scorching Sands, Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1963)
  • Sulkari (Melchor Casals, 1974)
  • Tri zgodbe (Three Stories, Jane Kavčič, Igor Pretnar, France Kosmač, 1955)

+ Češmeh (The Spring, Arbī Ovānesīyān, 1971)

+ Kaze to Ki no Uta (The Poem of Wind and Trees, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, 1987)

Substitutes

Beyroutou el lika (Beirut the Encounter, Borhane Alaouié, 1981) // Behind the Door (Irvin Willat, 1919) // Bud pripraven (Be Prepared!, Svatopluk Innemann, 1924) // Il Carso (Franco Giraldi,1960) // Chunganggonggyoksu (Centre Forward, Kil-in Kim, Chong-Song Pak, 1978) // Concorso CORA INCOM: Vista la svista? – Errore n° 1 (Depositato Dal Notaio); Sfilata di moda (1948) // Daurija (Viktor Tregubovič, 1972) // Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (Sergio Olhovich, 1993) // Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft Chile 1962 (Viva Brazil, Albert Staedler, 1962) // Genossinnen (Margareta Heinrich, Ullabritt Horn, 1981) // Jaani Dushman (A Deadly Enemy, Rajkumar Kohli, 1979) // I grandi condottieri (The Great Leaders, Francisco Pérez-Dolz, Marcello Baldi, 1965) // Live a Little, Love a Little (Norman Taurog, 1968) // Obedience (Stanley Milgram, 1965) // Plavi 9 (The Blue 9, Krešo Golik, 1950) // Il polentone a Pont Canavese (The Making of a Carnival Cake, Giovanni Vitrotti, 1910) // Rakkauden kaikkivalta – Amor omnia (Konrad Tallroth, 1922) // Šeki snima, pazi se (Šeki is Filming, Watch Out!, Marijan Vajda, 1962) // Serpentin fait de la peinture (Alfred Machin, 1922) // Shen jian dong shan he (Thrilling Bloody Sword, Hsin-Yi Chang, 1981) // Slash (Jun Gallardo, 1984) // Spartak (Spartacus, Vadim Derbenev, 1975) // Symphonie Wien (Albert Quendler, 1952) // Tu m’appartiens! (Maurice Gleize, 1929) // West Point of the Air (Richard Rosson, 1935) // When Knighthood Was in Flower (Robert Vignola, 1922)

+ Vita di Dante [Miniseries] (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1965) 

+ Yousei Ou (Fairy King, Katsuhisa Yamada, 1988) 

Eleven Veterans 2022 Medical Staff

(film/video-based/related installations, film/video art projects, films/videos seen in exhibitions, and other creations and happenings such as these)

akingdoncomethas (Arthur Jafa, 2018) // The Ballad of Special Ops Cody (Michael Rakowitz, 2017) // The Community (Annika Eriksson, 2010) // Continental Divide (Rosemarie Trockel, 1994) // Enigma (Lillian Schwartz, 1972) // Free, White and 21 (Howardena Pindell, 1980) // Laastari (Plaster, Mervi Kytösalmi, 1978) // One Year Performance 1981-82 – Video (Outdoor Piece) (Tehching Hsieh, 1982) // Thirst (Kresiah Mukwazhi, 2018)

Endnotes

  1. Adrian Martin, “Cinephilia as War Machine”, Sabzian, 29 November 2013

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