10. All
Quiet on the Western Front
Rating: 7.9/10 Genre: Action, Drama, War
Seen 1917? Brace yourself for 1918. Netflix’s often awe-striking
German-language reimagining of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic antiwar novel
takes place in the dying embers of the Great War. And ‘dying’ is the operative
word, because this vision of conflict is as violent a film as you’ll see this
year – a cacophony of screaming shells, rumbling tanks and the rat-a-tat of
flying bullets. In the middle of it all is a young German conscript (talented
newcomer Felix Kammerer) just trying to stay alive. It’ll leave you dazed.
Available:
Netflix
9. Hit
the Road
Rating: 7.3/10 Genre: Drama
It’s been a bittersweet 2022 for Iranian filmmaker Panah Panahi: his
dad, legendary auteur Jafar (The White Balloon), was sentenced to six years in
prison by the country’s oppressive regime; but it’s also been the year his
debut film, a beguiling but quietly tumultuous family drama set on the dusty
highways of Iran, met its public. And what a debut it is – filled with wry wit
and barbed social comment about modern life in the country, and with an
outstanding performance from six-year-old Rayan Sarlak as the rascally
youngster in the back seat of his family’s SUV. The Little Miss Sunshine
comparisons are unavoidable, but Hit the Road’s destination is altogether more
impactful.
Available: Prime
8. Brian
and Charles
Rating: 6.6/10 Genre: Comedy
Ridiculously charming, playful and touching, this bittersweet British
comedy is the year’s surprise package. An oddly-shaped package, sure, what with
its titular robot, Charles Petrescu, being built from an expressionless
mannequin’s head plonked on top of an old washing machine. But through a much-harder-than-it-looks
feat of physical comedy, off-beat dialogue and pure heart, his – ‘its’ doesn’t
feel right – bond with lonely inventor Brian Gittins (David Earl) sparks into a
magical bromance that delves deeply into what is it to be human – and half-washing
machine.
Available: Prime
7.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Rating: 8.1/10 Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Somewhere out there is a small but fanatical posse that holds Swiss Army
Man on their shoulders as an unheralded classic. For the rest of us, this
high-concept multiversal sci-fi is the first proper showcase of what directing
duo the Daniels could do. With Michelle Yeoh launching from laundromat owner
going through marital strife – basically a Mike Leigh character – to action
star and back again, and then into a multitude of other adventures, Everything
Everywhere All At Once does exactly what the titles implies and sends you
spinning through time and space in exhilarating style.
6.
Happening
Rating: 7.4/10 Genre: Drama
In a year in which the US Supreme Court put Roe v Wade in its crosshairs,
Audrey Diwan’s tumultous, hard-hitting drama arrives to show the realities of
illegal abortions. It’s not for the faint hearted – it goes further than Mike
Leigh’s Vera Drake in depicting this bleak world – but it’s a gripping story of
a pregnant student who risks prison in ’60s France, and Anamaria Vartolomei
makes a luminous heroine full of gritty determination.
Available: Prime
5. The
Worst Person in the World
Rating: 7.8/10 Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Available: Prime
4.
Parallel Mothers
Rating: 7.1/10 Genre: Drama
Pedro Almodóvar gets serious with this poignant investigation of Spain’s
buried Civil War trauma, although without ever sacrificing his light touch and
delight in giddying melodrama. Penélope Cruz lights it all up like a starburst,
with her performance as a new mum caught up in a case of mistaken identity in
the maternity ward a career high, even by her own lofty standards. In a just
world, she would have picked up her second Oscar for it.
3. The
Northman
Rating: 7.1/10 Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
‘A widescreen rallying cry for
cinema in the age of streaming’. So read Time Out’s admittedly fairly
breathless appraisal of Robert Eggers’ brilliant, blood-soaked Viking epic when
it landed in (smashed into? Ransacked?) cinemas in April. But the sentiment
stands, because in an age increasingly dominated by streaming sites, The
Northman is a useful reminder that the place to witness the grandest, boldest
cinematic visions is on the biggest screen possible – and unless you live in an
IMAX, that won’t be in your front room.
Available: Prime
2. Top
Gun: Maverick
Rating: 8.4/10 Genre: Action, Drama
Okay, hands up who saw this practically flawless blockbuster coming? A
few people probably did – this long-in-the-making Top Gun sequel was originally
due out two years ago – but that enforced delay detracts not one iota from the
purest widescreen thrill ride of the year so far. Tom Cruise’s ace pilot
provides heart, soul and some fighter jet manoeuvres that we’re pretty sure
defy every law of physics in the book. Mind you, the book gets binned early
(and literally) in this one, to reinvent the so-called ‘legacy sequel’ into
something that soars way above hollow Hollywood cash-ins.
Available: Prime
1.
Licorice Pizza
Rating: 7.2/10 Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Paul Thomas Anderson delivered his sunniest film with this ‘70s
nostalgia trip to the San Fernando Valley about a cocksure teenager trying to
win the heart of a drifting twentysomething. Somehow that teenage-gaze premise
never comes over remotely Porky’s, helped by two breakout lead performances
from Cooper ‘son of Philip Seymour’ Hoffman and Alana Haim, some A-list turns
(Bradley Cooper as Hollywood producer-stroke-total-maniac Jon Peters), and
PTA’s usual godlike touch behind the camera.
Available: Prime