best film: Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave stands tall – a cut or two above the rest – as far as the best in cinema goes for 2022. There is not much separating the second best film of the year and the tenth best film of the year but there was no hesitation here for this top slot. Park Chan-wook is a meticulous artist – and so is his protagonist here – Jang Hae-joon (played ably by Park Hae-il). Jang Hae-joon is a detective caught in a cat and mouse romance mystery (Park Chan-wook actually provides two mysteries for the price of one here inside the film) with Song Seo-rae (Tang Wei) cloaked in sumptuous seas of greens and blues. Park Chan-wood utilizes a few camera zooms – this is story partially relying on surveillance. This is a complex, interwoven narrative that is not without humor. Ryu Seong-hie’s (production design – Memories of Murder, Old Boy, The Handmaiden) leaves no stone unturned with the décor. There is a green toothbrush, the teal bucket that Song Seo-rae uses to bury the bird (key scene), the teal empty pool. It is even mentioned in the text – “her green dress was pretty… wasn’t it blue?” Park Chan-wook paints both the color of the sky and the color of the sea in the finale. There are too many highlights to mention in one short paragraph – but Park Chan-wook’s frame is strikingly set as the two central characters arrive at her place in Buscan – stunning wallpaper – almost halfway through the film. And the Songgwangsa Temple scene blows any other individual scene from 2022 out of the water.
among the finest cinematic paintings of 2022
most underrated: There are a few candidates here. Out of the twelve (12) best films of 2022 – a whopping seven (7) did not land on the TSPDT top fifty (50) of 2022. This is, assuredly, more than a little disheartening to see. The Northman is the best of those seven (even if the margin is not much) so that is a fine choice to take this category. This miss is a bit baffling for the critics. But at least The Northman had solid reviews. Films like Bardo, Men, Babylon, Blonde, Copenhagen Cowboy, and White Noise were all below a seventy (70) score on metacritic and all among the best films of the year artistically.
Robert Eggers describes The Northman as Andrei Rublev meets Conan the Barbarian. Eggers, clearly an auteur of note and talent, cares about archeology and mythology both – he is a curator, a researcher.
a dazzler from Eggers’ third feature- without a doubt, he is one of the most promising voices in cinema in 2022
from Blonde – for any cinephile, the graphic match edit at the 42 minute mark of the bed sheets to the Niagara waterfall is one of the most memorable moments in cinema for 2022
Andrew Dominik’s Blonde could be described as a nightmare – Requiem for a Dream, Mulholland Drive, and the work of Lars von Trier come to mind. “I’d like to see Hell close up” is in the text (from Marilyn’s mother). The roses in soft focus here (semi-reminiscent of Michelangelo Antonioni’s use of flowers in Red Desert) creating a frame within the frame of Marilyn (Ana de Armas). There are astonishing sequences aplenty in Blonde, but often the shot choice or stylistic tool employed is a one-off never to be repeated to help give the film a greater cohesive form.
a breathtaking frame from Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Bardo. Guillermo del Toro (admittedly a friend of Iñárritu’) was one of the defenders of Bardo and his description of form vs. content should be read https://www.indiewire.com/2022/11/guillermo-del-toro-defends-bardo-1234784634/ . “…it’s extremely hard to explain how one of the aspects that has been the least [talked-about] of this movie is the cinema of it, and I find it absolutely flabbergasting. Seeing a Van Gogh and asking for an opinion, and the opinion is, ‘Well, it’s about some flowers in a pot.’ The flowers are OK, the pot is nice, but nobody talks about the brushstrokes, the colors, the thickness of the paint, the color palette. It’s astounding to me.”
from Nicolas Winding Refn’s 5 hour and 12 minute Copenhagen Cowboy. The ending sort of fizzles out (a trend this year – even among some of the best films of the year). But Refn’s film is paced, draped in neon, and about revenge (clearly auteur cinema). There are Barry Lyndon-like slow zooms and a strong Cliff Martinez new wave score. There is a magnificent blue indigo day for night shot to open the second chapter.
most overrated: There are a few nominees here as well. EO from Jerzy Skolimowski is a thought-provoking update on Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar but it is not an original idea and there is not enough visually (aside from one stunning frame on the bridge) to support its ranking in the top ten of the year. David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future is just outside the top ten on TSPDT’s list and though it is undoubtedly auteur cinema – there are a number of films from 2022 that surpass it. Also, through three films in his career, Jordan Peele is unquestionably an auteur. But top five for Nope seems hard to support with evidence from the film – at least in comparison to someone like Alex Garland and something like Men.
trends and notables: This is the third full year of the 2020s and the third underwhelming year in a row in cinema. This all starts with 2020 and the global pandemic (the correlation is hard to track – but it seems necessary to mention). And, notably, this is all in the wake of 2019 – one of cinema’s finest single years. The depth of sheer archiveable films is there – probably due to the continued sheer volume of films that continue to get made and released (even if the options seem more limited in the theater). Undoubtedly, the ongoing discussion between theatrical release windows and streaming services seems to dominate much of the discourse in the 2020s (at least when not talking about COVID – which seems to be farther in the rearview as part of of the discussion here in 2022). Netflix gave some artists a plenty of freedom in 2022 and the results account for four (4) of the top twelve (12) films of the year. Netflix’s biggest competitor, as far as companies helping support the auteurs, is A24. A24 had an indie box office revelation with Everything Everywhere All at Once earlier in the year and then of course it won an impressive seven (7) Oscars early in 2023. A24 had a hand in White Noise (so did Netflix), Pearl, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, Men, X, and many others. 2022 is also a good reminder of the strength of the South Korean New Wave. Park Chan-wook is certainly either 1 or 1A with Bong Joon-ho as this movement’s Godard and Truffaut. Top Gun: Maverick also should be mentioned as a great film that brought many people back to the theater for the first time in years. Lastly, one could dedicate almost this entire page to the list of ambitious films that polarized critics: this is your Blonde, Babylon, Bardo (and frankly Men and White Noise belong here, too). They all have their problems, but they all hit artistic heights that the other films of 2022 (aside from the almost flawless Decision to Leave ) clearly do not.
from The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) and A24. Everything Everywhere All at Once is the best edited film of 2022. There is some Sergio Leone influence, some Wachiowski influence – and Charlie Kaufman, too. But this is wholly their own – and like all good auteur cinema – it actually makes Swiss Army Man (their previous film together – from 2016) a better film – it is now a piece in a larger, connected collection.
Alex Garland’s Men. The flashback sequences are all shot in this magic hour golden hue. The tunnel sequence here is a highlight – and Garland cares about color (green and red in particular). Sadly, the third act does not fully land – but it is at least a companion with Garland’s Annihilation (2018) and that bizarre ending as well.
the 1930 Best Picture winner All Quiet on the Western Front gets a worthy update in 2022 from Edward Berger
gem I want to spotlight: It may be worth pointing out the strong year horror had with Barbarian, Smile, and X. But this space here goes to Noah Baumbach’s White Noise. There are stories about the troubled, overbudget production, the idea of the Don DeLillo’s complex novel being “unadaptable” but time and time again in cinema, the follow-up to a director’s strongest work is far too easily brushed aside upon initial release. If 2019’s Marriage Story does go down as his career peak, then set your watches for 2032 or 2037 when a reappraisal is had for White Noise. The film is highly literate, witty – “she has important hair” and “you’re using the real event to rehearse the simulation?”, Altman-like overlapping dialogue, 360-shots (one of the family in the car, one in the garage with Adam Driver as he sifts through the garbage). Baumbach brings back his strong dissolve edit work here he used in Marriage Story, brilliantly uses color (heavy greens and reds) and there is even a jaw-dropper of a split diopter shot towards the end in the hotel room with Driver and Lars Eidinger.
Baumbach’s White Noise is an ambitious film – continuing the visual splendor he put on display in 2019’s Marriage Story. The shot here from the 55 minute mark- silhouette of two with main actors.
Wall art magnificence here from White Noise
best performance male: Jeffrey Wright is a veteran actor with now double digit archiveable films dating back to 1990, but he is undeniably riding a career high in 2021 and 2022 with The French Dispatch and The Batman in back to back years. Wright may not make the mentions here for either of the two years alone, but when stepping back and combining the two – there is no choice at all to include Wright here in this category. In Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Wright plays the Lieutenant James Gordon character. Since Reeves is heavily influenced by David Fincher, particularly Se7en, Wright is the veteran Detective Somerset Morgan Freeman role. It is worth pausing on Alexander Skarsgård for his work in The Northman and Hae il Park in Decision to Leave applaud them for their work – but there is still a little doubt as to whether another actor, given those prime roles, makes for the easy choice as performance of the year.
best performance female: It is is a dead heat here with Cate Blanchett’s bigger than life work as titular Lydia Tár in Todd Fields’ esoteric, yet sensational character study. Blanchett dazzles in the long take lecture shot at Julliard. Her character is almost haunted by per skills as a musician (there is no doubt she wields it like a power weapon) – attuned to very sound – keeping her awake at night as she walks that fine line between madness and genius. Like Taxi Driver (1976)and The Piano Teacher (2001) there is an inevitable downward spiral (highlighted with Blanchett bellowing out her “apartment for sale” accordion song). Blanchett’s rival in this category Tang Wei as Song Seo-rae in the year’s strongest film. Wei is a sort of modified femme fatale and even if the viewer is aware of Park Chan-wook’s penchant for narrative twists – Wei is up the challenge – playing both sides of the coin.
Tang Wei gives the best performance in the best film of the year
top 10
- Decision to Leave
- The Northman
- The Batman
- Copenhagen Cowboy
- Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- White Noise
- Babylon
- Men
- Tár
Matt Reeves is influenced by David Fincher for The Batman – and clearly by Edward Hopper’s famous Nighthawks painting here as well. There is also a genius James Gray We Own the Night-like (2007) car chase in rain and darkness.
it never reaches Fury Road – but George Miller’s follow-up Three Thousand Years of Longing has some exceptional moments : overhead shots, establishing shots, and that final crane shot as they walk off into the sunset. Terry Gilliam (particularly The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) seems is an important text of influence here.
from Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile – the film (particularly the first half hour) is impeccably crafted. This symmetrical composition here at the 17-minute mark is just one of many. Branagh shoots in 65mm and it pays off here – an undeniably handsome film.
Jerzy Skolimowski doing Bresson here in EO. The shot of the bridge in front of the dam at the 79-minute mark is simply sublime.
Martin McDonagh’s ongoing body of work on feuds and vendettas – here in 2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin. This was a tough film to leave off the top ten of the year.
Archives, Directors, and Grades
| A Love Song – Walker – Silverman | R |
| All Quiet on the Western Front – Berger | R/HR |
| Amsterdam – O. Russell | R |
| Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood – Linklater | R |
| Argentina, 1985 – Mitre | R |
| Armageddon Time – Gray | R |
| Babylon – Chazelle | HR |
| Barbarian – Cregger | R |
| Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths – Iñárritu | HR/MS |
| Blonde – Dominik | HR |
| Bodies Bodies Bodies – Reijn | R |
| Cha Cha Real Smooth – Raiff | R |
| Copenhagen Cowboy – Refn | HR/MS |
| Crimes of the Future- Cronenberg | R |
| Death on the Nile – Branagh | R |
| Decision to Leave – Chan-wook Park | MS/MP |
| Elvis – Luhrmann | R/HR |
| Empire of Light – Mendes | R |
| EO – Skolimowski | R |
| Everything Everywhere All at Once – Scheinert, Kwan | HR/MS |
| Fresh – Cave | R |
| Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Johnson | R |
| God’s Country – Higgins | R |
| Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – del Toro, Gustafson | R |
| Kimi – Soderbergh | R |
| Men – Garland | HR |
| Nope – Peele | R |
| Prey – Trachtenberg | R |
| RRR – Rajamouli | R |
| She Said – M. Schrader | R |
| Smile – Finn | R |
| Tár – Field | HR |
| The Banshees of Inisherin – M. McDonagh | HR |
| The Batman – Reeves | HR/MS |
| The Good Nurse – Lindholm | R |
| The Menu – Mylod | R |
| The Northman – Eggers | HR/MS |
| The Pale Blue Eye – S. Cooper | R |
| The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent – Gormican | R |
| The Woman King – Prince-Bythewood | R |
| The Wonder – Lelio | R |
| Thirteen Lives – Howard | R |
| Three Thousand Years of Longing – G. Miller | R |
| Top Gun : Maverick – Kosinski | R/HR |
| Triangle of Sadness – Östlund | R/HR |
| Vengeance – Novak | R |
| Watcher – Okuno | R |
| White Noise – Baumbach | HR |
| Windfall – McDowell | R |
| Women Talking – Polley | R |
| X – T. West | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-See- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
*** one final note here. Unfortunately, at the time of putting this page together, I was unable to get to as high a percentage of the best reviewed films of the year as I normally do. My apologies. So before you ask, I was not able (at least at the date of writing here) to get to films like Aftersun, The Fabelmans, Avatar: The Way of Water, Bones and All, The Whale, Saint Omer, and The Eternal Daughter.
@Drake: Did you catch the TV series Severance? It’s rated very highly by a lot of people.
Till RRR is at #9 for 2022 in the TSPDT list.
@Drake- Can you see Joel Kinnaman(Easy Money, The Suicide Squad) pulling off the Alexander Skarsgård role here in The Northman? Another strongly built Swedish star.
Toby Jones has 3 archivable films in 2022 (The Wonder, The Pale Blue Eye, Empire of Light).
@Drake- Didn’t Godland & Tori and Lokita made the archives?
Conclave was timely. Let the games begin.
@Malith – People were saying Conclave could have swept if this happened during Oscars season
Yep, that’s probably true. I’m so glad it didn’t.
@Drake-What are the Sebastian Stan films do you have in the archives?
@Lione- unvetted:
2008- Rachel Gettting Married
2010- Black Swan
2015- The Martian
2017- I, Tonya
2017- Lucky Logan
2018- Black Panther
2020- The Devil All the Time
2022- Fresh
2023- Sharper
2023- Dumb Money
@Drake-No CA: Winter Soldier or CA: Civil War?
Best films of 2022 according to TSPDT:
1.Everything Everywhere All at Once
2.Aftersun
3.Saint Omer
4.Tar
5.Nope
6.Showing Up
7.The Banshees of Inisherin
8.Decision to Leave
9.RRR
10.The Fablemans
11.Trenque Lauquen
12.EO
13.The Woman King
14.Pacifiction
15.All the Beauty and the Bloodshed(Documentary)
16.The Novelist’s Film
17.Elvis
18.The Quiet Girl
19.Women Talking
20.Triangle of Sadness
Best films of 2022 according to TSPDT:
1.Everything Everywhere All at Once
2.Aftersun
3.Saint Omer
4.Tar
5.Nope
6.Showing Up
7.The Banshees of Inisherin
8.Decision to Leave
9.RRR
10.The Fablemans
11.Trenque Lauquen
12.EO
13.The Woman King
14.Pacifiction
15.All the Beauty and the Bloodshed(Documentary)
16.The Novelist’s Film
No The Batman, The Northman, Copenhagen Cowboy and Bardo. 4 of the top 6 films are missing.
@Drake-Have you seen or archived any Albert Serra films?
@Anderson- Pacification – not sure about the others- I think that might be the only one so far
@Drake-Did Smile 2 made the archives?
@Lionel- I have seen Smile 2- but it did not land in the archives
@Drake-Is it much worse than the first film? More studio influence perhaps. Would you be interested in a 3rd film?
@Lionel – not much worse at all- it is a fine little film- fringe
@Drake-Did you see Thandie Newton’s other 2022 film All the Old Knives? It was far more popular than God’s Country which is included here.
@Lionel- I did, yes
@Drake-Do you think it is worth watching?
@Lionel – it is fine- not one I’m dying to revisit again right away
Has anyone seen Outfit? It is a 2022 film directed by Graham Moore. It appears to be the only film he has directed. Someone picked it for a movie club I am in.
@James Trapp- I caught it back in 2022. It is not a waste of time by any means- but I did not put it in the archives after one viewing.
@Drake – yeah it was not my pick but it sounds interesting
@Drake-I see Copenhagen Cowboy included here(and very highly ranked). Do you watch TV Series regularly? What are the TV Series you have archived? I know Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return is acclaimed. Have you watched that one?
@Lionel- Again- the television vs. movie discussion is a longer one I’ve had many, many times over the years. If an auteur is making something cinematically ambitious- whether it be shorter in length or longer- I try to be there for it. I’ve seen all of seasons 1 and 2 of Twin Peaks– I have not seen the full season of The Return. I’ve started it and didn’t finish. I’d love to check this one off the list – and have been meaning to- I just need to do it.
Caught Tár again and had some thoughts. I’ll put them here.
I still don’t understand why so many people think so highly of this. Perhaps they’re confusing execution with ambition. I’ll any day pick execution over ambition. This movie is ambitious for sure but I find the execution very dull.
First off, this feels like an educational movie at times. That Juilliard scene can work as a standalone lecture or a lesson as much as it maybe establishes the character of Lydia. I also find interviews and conducting scenes less cinematic and more inclined towards almost being an educational movie made for music students. Highly methodical and lecture-based. (I don’t mean it as a compliment- it’s the antithesis of cinema itself- throws “show don’t tell” theory off the window and almost tells everything in a pragmatic fashion- the character is mainly established through the lecture in Julliard now compre it with how PTA establishes Barry in Punch Drunk Love).
I find the camera movement in almost all the scenes simple and pretty much not fantastic. It’s nearly static (not as compliment like for films such as Jackie and Spencer – where the mise-en-scene and static camera is the art in itsef) aligned more with interview videos.
Conducting, interviews, lectures constitute a portion of the film and nothing kinetic in terms of filmmaking style. Again ambitious iedea but pretty non-ambitious execution. Those scenes drag. Like in Juilliard scene – it drags a Little bit still watchable only because of Cate Blanchett’s performance and and highly educated writing (and when is that a good sign for a movie).
It’s not a beautiful movie to look at. Compare it some of the movies from this very same year or Oppenheimer and Poor Things. I dare anyone look into my eyes and mention Tár’s visuals in same breath as these films. Even similarly dense ones like I’m Thinking of Ending Things from this very same decade. Are visuals as simple and direct even an achievement in 2022. I don’t think so. Amadeus was made in 1984 and has many conducting scenes but Is visually stunning and so brilliantly directed. Pure bliss.
I don’t think it’s a major achievement for anyone involved. Todd Field is NOT an auteur. His three films are vastly different. I find In the Bedroom to be his strongest work to date. It’s much tighter than this. Never drags. Better screenplay and a fantastic performance by Sissy Spacek. Little Children is not a major accomplishment. Cate Blanchett is really good here but it’s NOT one of the all time best. A lot of actors have a lot of equally strong performances in a lot of movies of this level. Isn’t even her strongest.
I overall find this film lacking in execution. When I watched it before I thought it’s ambitious enough to be R/HR. But this time when I watched it , it dragged even more. It’s not The Master which gets better everytime you watch it because you find more visual cues. It belongs more in the lineage to Kramer vs Kramer, where the more number of times you watch it the more you realise how much the movie is actually rooted in script and performances. I’ll say it’s a R for now.
@M*A*S*H- Thank you for sharing this
I disagree with equating great visual language = beautiful frames. If that were the case, so many legendary movies would not be called great movies. Tar’s visual achievement lies in how precise and meaningful each frame is – the mis en scene does a splendid job of unveiling visual motifs, symbols and character detail – insights into Tar’s past, her superstitions and weird beliefs, and supernatural allusions to her downfall – it is almost like the forces of nature coming together to tell her that “Time’s up”.
I feel that Scorsese sums it up well – “What you’ve done, Todd — it’s a real high wire act, all of this is conveyed through a Masterful Mise-en-scène, as controlled, precise, dangerous, precipitous angles and edges geometrically kind of chiseled into a wonderful 2:3:5 aspect ratio of frame compositions. The limits of the frame itself, and the provocation of measured long takes all reflecting the brutal architecture of her soul — Tár’s soul.” And I also came across a really great article talking about the approach to its cinematography – https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/tar-cinematography-florian-hoffmeister-1234807120/.
Honestly, I was one of those who felt that it was quite overrated, but I have watched it twice since and had a renewed appreciation for all that Field is doing – whether it is calibrating the editing of the movie to rhythmic beats that resemble that of a symphony, using angles and lines in production design to allude to power dynamics, the brutalist frames, the almost otherworldly final few minutes that feel straight out of a dream, and some killer shots like the transition of her playing the piano to the super low angle shot of her conducting, the sequence in the fishbowl, the one point shot of her rushing to the stage, the dream sequence where she catches on fire with a tree branch almost verging on piercing her – I could go on and on.
I agree that Field is not an auteur but I feel that’s beyond the point. He has achieved something wholly unique – by exercising a lot of control, creating a fascinating world and not falling to the trappings of a conventional dazzling ‘orchestra/conducting’ movie. I think that directors like Cuaron, PTA, Scorsese praising it acknowledges his achievement. But again, each to his own!
@Drake did Bullet Train make the archives? I saw it and I thought it was definitely inferior to Atomic Blonde, but I didn’t think it deserved the metacritic score that it got.
@George- I enjoyed my time with Bullet Train. I’ll see it again- but I saw it without adding it to the archives
@Drake-Have you seen Devotion (2022) starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell?
@Lionel- I have seen this one, yes
@Drake-You didn’t thought much of it?
@Lionel – I do not have many notes – but it did not land in the archives
My Hercule Poirot ranking:
1.A Haunting in Venice (2023)-HR
2.Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
3.Death on the Nile (1978)
4.Death on the Nile (2022)
5.Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Performances:
1.Michelle Pfeiffer-Murder on the Orient Express
2.Mia Farrow-Death on the Nile
3.Kenneth Branagh-Murder on the Orient Express
4.Angela Lansbury-Death on the Nile
5.Michelle Yeoh-A Haunting in Venice
6.Peter Ustinov-Death on the Nile
7.Kenneth Branagh-A Haunting in Venice
8.Kenneth Branagh-Death on the Nile
9.Tom Bateman-Death on the Nile
10.Albert Finney-Murder on the Orient Express
Also Evil Under the Sun (1982) seems to have solid reviews. Has anyone seen it? Is it good?
Did you get to Pearl? Find it to be stronger than X?
@Matthew- I did get to Pearl. I look forward to MaXXXine too- and may try them all again- but I found Pearl and X to be near the same level
@Drake-Out of these 3 what do you think is the strongest Mia Goth performance (Infinity Pool, X, Pearl)?
@Drake-Didn’t The Eternal Daughter made the archives?
@Drake-Didn’t Pearl make the archives
@Lionel- Pearl is in the archives- caught in in 2023 after this page was published
@Drake-Have you seen Gangubai Kathiawadi? It is better than RRR
My top 10 of the year:
1. TÁR
2. Aftersun
3. Alcarràs
4. Everything everywhere all at once
5. Manticore
6. Decision to leave
7. As bestas
8. Pacifiction
9. Bardo
10. Trenque Lauquen
2022 didn’t give us the best crop of Hollywood releases, but it was an extraordinary year for Spanish-speaking cinema (well, Pacifiction is from a Spanish director but it’s actually in French).
@rxaxp. Saw Alcarras yesterday – very good film. Would place As bestas and Decision to Leave above it, but there is a lot to admire in Alcarras which I though was an improvement on her previous film (Summer 1993). Agreed on the number of great Spanish-language films over the last few years. Next on my list to watch are the Delinquents (Argentina) and the Settlers (Chile) – both from 2023. I’m still undecided on my view of Pacifiction.
Well, I’ve seen both and they’re quite good (I would say The delinquents is a more interesting work than The settlers). Neither of them would make my top 10 of 2023, but that’s not to say they’re not worth watching.
Have you seen Mia-Hansen Love’s(Things to Come-Huppert) One Fine Morning starring Lea Seydoux?
@Drake-What do you think is the weakest of the best Picture Oscar nominees this year?
And in general an acclaimed film which is inferior/not great than its reputation released this year?
Not him but as I was curious of his grading of Anatomy of a Fall a few days ago, I’m fairly certain in my prediction that it’s a Palme d’Or that won’t go past the HR grade tops here. Probably Recommended. It’s quite basic from a formal standpoint, personally I could count maybe 4-5 noteworthy shots, and shines almost exclusively through the very good writing and acting (and certainly gets points for the modern social consciousness aspect). I’ve seen it compared to a television film even. Maybe Drake will see something of formal value in the narrative structure, I didn’t much. Liked it though.
OTOH he’s very high on Oppenheimer which shines on the very opposite of the spectrum. Questionable writing aside, Nolan is just a much better director than Triet…
So yeah, I’m calling Anatomy of a Fall as the most overrated for the 2023 page here, or close anyway.
@Vaanilla-Interesting. I haven’t seen Anatomy of a Fall yet. Is this another Toni Erdmann type situation do you think?
@Anderson
I haven’t seen it so I’m just going off Toni Erdmann’s page on here, but yes, I suppose it could be a similar reaction. The script is still excellent for the most part, so it’s easy to see why it was highly regarded. There’s clearly a lot of work that went into it, and it’s Cassavetes-like, very human and nuanced. I recommend seeing it all the same.
It’s just that man, a better director could have given a lot more pep to those scenes. It’s not a short movie, it’s two and a half hours long so it definitely gets noticed by anyone who has the eye for it. It’s not distractingly bad but it’s plain, the actors have to do the heavy lifting.
If we compare it to Anatomy of a Murder, another trial film with an impeccable script which I highly suspect inspired it even beyond the title, here you don’t get Preminger’s photography and smooth tracking shots. And that’s “only” a MS on here. I guess we’ll see.
Anatomy of a Fall is a great film in my view and a worthy Palme d’Or winner (and Oscar nominee). I don’t think one can reduce the evaluation of a film to counting the number of noteworthy shots. Camerawork / shot compositions / mise-en-scene are of course important, but the script, editing, acting etc all need to come together to present the director’s (or a collaborative) vision. You cannot remove screenwriting and acting as key cinematic elements when evaluating a film as a whole. The opening scene with the use of the blaring PIMP cover is incredibly well constructed and I could not find much to criticize in the film as a whole. Best cinematography does not equal best film.
Except that’s literally this site’s owner’s criteria, hence the prediction. Writing takes a big backseat to the formal elements. Editing included. Go take a a look at Drake’s top 1000 films. I could never put something like Aliens or A.I over All About Eve and Some Like it Hot myself, yet that’s how it is.
The above movies are among the gold standard of scriptwriting (as well acting for Eve), but they get docked a lot of points. Those are HR movies on this site. Triet’s script is good, but not Eve good. Plot-wise I think the ending development is a bit of a hit, as it’s pretty cliche among trial movies.
I agree writing is also of importance (although less so), which is why I would have Killers of The Flower Moon over Oppenheimer personally, but I expect it won’t swing Drake anyhow and Oppenheimer will end up on top between the two. And that’s fair.
@Anderson- Appreciate the conversation as always, I’m getting close to putting up the page and will have an underrated and overrated catetory- should be before the Oscars.