David E. McDonald’s Top 10 Films for 2022

7. Living

Living was inspired by Kurosawa’s 1952 film, Ikiru (“To Live”). As an added tribute, director Oliver Hermanus and writer Kazuo Ishiguro keep the setting in the early Fifties, along with the plot from the 1952 original film virtually intact. This exercise in bureaucratic runaround involves three women determined to convert a neighborhood lot used as a dump into a playground for the local children. A very simple matter of a few forms ends up as a day wasted for Williams, a civil servant supervisor, and his staff. Eventually, however, the playground becomes the catalyst and central spine of the story. Williams has been imprisoned by futility at work and responsibilities at home. But in the wake of Williams’ adventures, including a May-and-September romance, kindly intentioned misfires, plainspoken wisdom from those he meets, all serve to rouse Williams from his indolence. He has an epiphany: to make a difference, or determined to go down swinging at the very least. And in the end, he does both. Inspired further by the dogged determination of the playground ladies, he joins with them–and inspires his staff to do likewise. Bring a hankie.

8. God’s Country

This movie is about an attempt to outrun grief and disillusionment and how it failed, as so often it does. Sandra Guidry (Thandiwe Newton) trades careers as an instructor at rural Montana college to escape the bitter experiences as a police officer in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. Whether labeled a ‘fresh start,’ ‘geographical cure,’ or plain culture shock, the move left Sandra unequipped to handle the informalities of community life in the Rockies. Despite a serene beginning with breathtaking panorama, Sandra’s tragedy unfolds with a battle on two fronts. At home, she makes an effort to repair relations with her neighbors, brothers Nathan and Samuel (Joris Jarksy and Jefferson White, respectively) but as a cop, demanding concessions. At work, offering her brand of feminism in the form of advice to a young woman, though well intentioned, backfires. Deputy Wolf (Jeremy Bobb) and her boss, Arthur (Kai Lennox) tried to explain the different code of conduct in the Great Outdoors, but she stands now too firmly on higher social principle to concede anything herself. After a series of escalating stalemates, one foray involving a house fire, Sandra feels forced to take the law into her own hands. Superb performances all around. Based on “Winter’s Light” by James Lee Burke.

9. Leonor Will Never Die

If I was really backed up against the wall, this film would likely be my favorite. It has the remarkable distinction of seamless overlapping narratives that neither muddles nor fragments any of them. Sheila Francisco, under the guidance of writer/director Martika Ramirez Escobar, portrays Leonor in what can only be adequately described as an awesome performance as a workaday matron in a flowered smock that belies her former success as a screenwriter of action potboilers in the style of Jackie Chan. While trying to reignite that career by entering a screenwriting contest, she suffers a head injury that launches her into parallel worlds, all centered around her new screenplay. Despite all its wackiness, Leonor Will Never Die is much more than an excellent hybrid farce. This remarkable work explores existential themes that are both personal and professional, and how tightly the two intertwine. In retrospect one can appreciate how the creative drive can flourish even in poverty and revive one’s craft and artistry. It is not so much that Leonor herself will never die, but that the essence of her creativity and imagination remains alive and kicking, irrespective of her state of mind.

10. Benediction

Benediction is not a typical survey-style biopic that highlights milestones and eccentricities. Director Terence Davies doesn’t delve much into the dictates and decorum expected in English society in the decades during and after the war. This film concentrates on two particular aspects of the life of WW I poet Siegfried Sassoon. The first deals with his reactions to the war, both as a poet and a rebellious soldier. The second peers into his relationships in the post-war period, as a gay man and, later, as a husband and father. He wore many hats under the oppression of British decorum at that time. But he was protected to some degree from public scrutiny by his upper middle class standing. Benediction is not a film for those looking for the expansive drama of gay oppression of bygone days. It certainly addresses timely issues that we still have today, but the story is introspective, a personal point of view from inside out. On its own terms, this film is insightful, revealing in a determined and purposeful way common ground Davies sees between Siegfried Sassoon and himself. As a result, Sassoon’s attitude toward intimacy resonates candidly, visually framed in a lean, direct way that’s hard to forget. For his own part, Davies shows a very soldierly courage.

Honorable mentions include: Deadstream; Sharp Stick; Linoleum; X.

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