As usual, the blockbusters fall short of making my upper echelon. It's ironic because the Academy Awards have been accused of not considering blockbusters for its category of Best Picture. It does on occasion but hasn't been as typical as happening every year. The 95th Oscars has changed that dynamic. Some of the biggest films of the year or most successful, considering their budget, made the list, including Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Elvis (2022) and Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022).
In terms of the films on my list, I was particularly attracted to the numerous entries this year that spotlighted African-American history, particularly Black history that has been overlooked. A lot of films on my list reflected the struggle for equity and even justice that marginalized or minority people have had for decades. It's not all struggle. In a lot of these films are thrills and excitements.
10. THE SEA BEAST by Chris Williams. Moby-Dick meets Godzilla vs. Kong. What could have been a typical seafaring adventure, animal conservation tale or even kaiju flick instead embraces topical and relevant themes and issues that elevate the material above your normal animated films. Like Turning Red, it focuses on a young girl of color, while also targeting the idea of royalty or authoritarian power, as well as misinformation. Coming off shows like The Crown, it's a great counterpoint.
9. CALL JANE by Phyllis Nagy. Given that this past year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, this film couldn't have come at a better time. Yes, there have been films that have tackled the issue of abortion. Its story doesn't fall to cliché or stereotype and the performances of Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver range from empathetic to entertaining.
8. SPOILER ALERT by Michael Showalter. This is the best romantic comedy of the year. It's one of a few LGBTQ films of the year, and one of only two that got a wide theatrical release. The other was Billy Eichner's Bros (2022), which was more about how being gay is different, whereas this film is more about how at the end of the day, it's no different, especially when facing universal challenges, such as cancer. Other notable gay films include Badhaai Do (2022) from India and Mascarpone (2022) from Italy. None of those films though have the incomparable Sally Field.
7. SEE YOU THEN by Mari Walker. This film is in the vein of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995) of which there have been many, but this one is unique in that it centers on the relationship of a transgender woman. The film deconstructs what a trans woman could experience when examining a break-up prior to transitioning. It explores the difficulties a trans person can face, as well as what an ex-girlfriend can feel. It's superbly written and performed.
6. A SHOT THROUGH THE WALL by Aimee Long. An Asian cop shoots and kills an unarmed Black man in New York City. This film follows the aftermath. It calmly and steadily details what the cop might experience in the adjudication of that incident. It exposes racial tensions between Asian people and Black people, as well as expounds on the ideas behind the Black Lives Matter movement.
5. EMERGENCY by Carey Williams. It takes racial tension and makes a comedy out of it. It's about two, Black, college students who find a White girl passed out drunk in their fraternity house. Their series of decisions that follow are horrifying and somehow also hilarious.
4. DESCENDANT by Margaret Brown. A documentary about the residents of Africatown, Alabama. They're the distant relatives of the survivors of the slave-ship, Clotilda. The film follows the search for the ship, which was burned and sunk just before the American Civil War. The real thrust is how the residents struggle with poverty and pollution from a nearby factory.
3. DEVOTION by J. D. Dillard. It tells the true story of Jesse L. Brown (Jonathan Majors), an Ensign in the U.S. Navy who was one of the first, African-American aviators in that military branch who died during the Korean War. It also details his friendship with Lieutenant Tom Hudner, a White naval pilot. Hudner is played by Glen Powell who was also featured in Top Gun: Maverick as the naval pilot "Hangman." Here, Powell isn't that brash and cocky character, but a more naive and sensitive one.
2. TILL by Chinonye Chukwu. It tells the story of Emmett Till, the teenage boy who was lynched, murdered, while visiting his cousins in Mississippi in 1955. Yet, what his mother, Mamie Till (Danielle Deadwyler), experienced in the wake of that is incredible and influenced the Civil Rights Movement from that year forward. Its issues are echoed today in things like the Black Lives Matter Movement or in cases, depicted in films like Gemmel & Tim (2022).
1. THE WOMAN KING by Gina Prince-Bythewood. The female army in the blockbuster Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) was inspired by the real-life Agojie who lived in West Africa in what was known as the Kingdom of Dahomey. This film, starring the incredible Viola Davis, tells the story of the Agojie and how one becomes a member of the warrior tribe and what's needed to stay a member, what one has to sacrifice. The film also reckons with the idea that the Dahomey were involved with the Atlantic slave trade. At least, it does so in a way that no other major motion picture has. With great supporting performances from Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim and John Boyega, this film is a triumph and lives up to the genre of historical epic.
For more recommendations, go to:
