Jacob Mouradian’s Top 10 Films of 2022

Jacob Mouradian’s Top 10 Films of 2022

2022 was … a lot.

It’s safe to say that this past year was the cherry on top of the past few, and just like everyone and everything else the film industry – from presentation to production – is still shaking off the late COVID aftershock.

Streamers have ebbed and flowed, taking bigger creative swings to accommodate at-home viewership while simultaneously throwing creators under the bus for opportunistic tax write-offs. Big tentpoles both clean up house and flop spectacularly as studio bigwigs still can’t sociologically nail down our tepid trepidations to the multiplex. And, of course, there’s still nothing that can undermine the power of word-of-mouth and festival buzz.

So, despite the metaphorical boat being rocked, we’ve still managed to maintain a continuous stream of media and other projects ready to be enjoyed (or derided) at our leisure. All that’s to say that the status quo has only been shaken, not stirred – the core of the cinematic medium remains steadfast despite an increasingly fluid exterior. Anyone who tries to tell you it’s dead is a fool who doesn’t know a reboot from a remake.

I had a hard time narrowing down this list as there was such an eclectic body to choose from – especially when there was so much festival fare I was privy to, thanks to FilmBook (and attending Sundance [digitally, of course] for the first time ever was quite the experience!). That being said, these 10 films are a good and mostly accurate mix of what 2022 had to offer, and they exhibit which titles had the staying power to keep me ruminating on them a week into the new year. As always, canon is garbage and taste is ephemeral, so this is not a be-all-end-all and more of a right-now, in-the-moment timestamp.

10. The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic

A small creative exercise in transposing the anxieties and hardships caused by a disability onto the viewers, director Teemu Nikki’s mouthful of a title steers clears of both moralizing and misery porn to create a powerful piece on personal autonomy, vulnerability, and determination. Petri Poikolainen’s lead performance, Sari Aaltonen’s cinematography, and both Sami Kiiski and Heikki Kossi’s sound design are the trifecta that propel the film through its cold narrative waters.

You can read my full review of the film here.

9. 2nd Chance

My first Bahrani (and his first documentary, oddly enough), 2nd Chance offers a prime example of the disjointed American psyche and the larger-than-life characters it fosters due to its capitalistic opportunism. The doc’s subject of body armor tycoon Richard Davis is funny but also terrifying. Ramin Bahrani lets him lay out his ideological contradictions in an unhindered fashion, proving that the most damning narratives about ourselves usually aren’t the ones others tell about us but the ones we allow ourselves to tell. An enjoyably infuriating watch.

You can read my full review of the film here.

8. Attachment

A slow-burn family horror about that which is lost in translation, and how what’s left unsaid can be as dangerous and hurtful as what we say out loud. Gabriel Bier Gislason’s feature debut navigates the rough terrain of cultural gaps, assumed prejudices, and unknown histories in ways that keep you much like Josephine Park’s lead character – in the dark, until it all comes breaking out.

You can read my full review of the film here.

7. Blaze

Interdisciplinary artist Del Kathryn Barton’s feature debut contains her trademark visual maximalism and extends that to the story as well, as she posits a coming-of-age drama next to a survivor’s-revenge one to create one of the prickliest bildungsroman of modern memory. The inner turmoil of Blaze’s titular heroine – portrayed with stunning tenacity by Julia Savage – is the film’s core, and Barton does not shy away from presenting it in its messy, contradictory, and overwhelming form. It’s less a story about seeking revenge against someone else than it is learning to forgive yourself and finding your own voice along the way, and Barton displays it all with an ingenious eye.

You can read my full review of the film here.

6. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

It’s hard to pass up a comedic sex romp with Emma Thompson – much less an introspective, sex-positive one at that! Sophie Hyde’s tender direction of Katy Brand’s hefty screenplay lends the film a theatrical sense of intimacy, and Thompson and Daryl McCormack’s burgeoning chemistry allows it to go down all the more smoothly. One of the year’s most pleasant surprises.

You can read my full review of the film here.