Walter's Top Film of 2022 (and a few more)

Before I saw what would become my favourite movie for 2022 (though technically it was only released in Canada in 2023), I’d already decided that I wouldn’t do a “Top Ten” for 2022. For one thing, I’ve tired of trying to compare apples and oranges, rating vastly different films against each other. Plus, I’ve continued in my cantankerous direction of liking fewer and fewer movies, especially those that are “critically acclaimed.” Hardly any Oscar nominations, for example, are in my collection.

So, I had decided that I would just write about a collection of top recommendations from last year and not rate them against each other at all.

Then I saw Women Talking. I knew relatively early on that this film touched what I look for in a great film in a way that nothing else had come close to this past year. There are reasons why some of this enthusiasm may be unique to me,* but I begin with a few words about this powerful and important film. 

 

In many other films that I liked but haven’t loved, it has felt like a director’s decisions have frustrated me. With Women Talking, I am overwhelmed with respect for Sarah Polley’s choices and skill. The decisions to desaturate the film and distance the setting from its (tragically true) historical context in an ultra-conservative Mennonite colony in Bolivia allow the film to gain a universality and surreal tone – befitting the “thought experiment” that Miriam Toews and then Polley imagine – while still grounding it in the real experience of specific women.

In spite of the horrific situation, treated with all the gravity it deserves, the film (and novel) manage to
integrate lighter moments. The very human, relational struggles of the women, with their caring and their stubbornness and their pushing through differences in spite of the time pressure were all transformative. Toews and Polley alike portrayed the women’s faith to be a source of strength instead of mockery, which was a crucial decision for the quality of the film. Oh my goodness, so much could be said about the dialogue on power, on hope, on forgiveness, on relationships, and on the difference between the cruelty of individual men versus the deadening violence of systemic patriarchy.

In the back of my mind during any good film is a constant search for a teachable clip, and I stopped counting after about a dozen. This movie is potent. By focusing the enemy as cultural and systemic, it enables any viewer to be caught up in the universal dilemma: when do we stay and when do we leave? Various leavings and stayings in my own life kept swirling in my mind.

So, without question, Women Talking was my top film.

Now the rest. The first cluster I’ll mention includes some of the best films that I saw this year but were late viewings of films that are usually treated as 2021 films. This includes: The Mauritanian, Mass, CODA, Dune and Drive My Car. All of these are highly recommended and all are incredibly different films. But since they’re a bit old now, I won’t say too much about them. 

For pure movie watching entertainment in 2022, I would single out The Duke. Based on a true story of an art heist by a 60 year old taxi driver, this well crafted and well acted film is clever, funny and gives you some valuable things to think about. If you haven’t seen this yet, grab some friends and have a great evening together watching this (on Prime if you have it).

Another fun film is the The Glass Onion. If you’re like me and loved Knives Out, you were probably eagerly awaiting this next Benoit Blanc adventure. I felt this lacked some of the panache of Knives Out; in its exuberance, it overstepped in places and became silly or garish (just too much, intentional or not). But the skewering of the so-called “disruptors” (who are unveiled as those most embedded in all the evils of our present systems) deserved all the pot-shots, and the theme of smashing things felt awkward yet understandable at the same time. So, a notch down in the franchise but still a recommended watch.

Now, mixing the humour with something more serious, we have Vengeance. Like The Glass Onion, a key theme is waking up the pretentions of a contemporary influencer – this time a wannabe top podcaster. Alternately mocking and re-framing perceptions of Texas, this dark comedy-mystery is fascinating and filled with the energy of B. J. Novak. As details unfold, so is your thinking meant to get rearranged, even if you don’t like the way it is rearranging. Great film for discussion. 

 
Now, we’re into more serious territory. I didn’t see many documentaries this year, but the best of the few I saw was JFK Revisited. It would take a lot of gullibility to believe that the CIA wasn’t involved in the death of JFK, and this doc adds newly available evidence to deepen the case. (My number one rule for assessing conspiracy theories: if the conspiracy involves the CIA defending American corporations or the military-industrial complex, it’s likely to be true since there is such overwhelming evidence that Dulles and crew were involved in so many violent conspiracies.) If you’re a skeptic, you still may not be convinced, but seriously…

The final two cases are ones that were clearly proven in court. First, Argentina, 1985 tells the story of the civilian court that put the military dictators behind the “disappearances” that plagued Argentina in the 70s on trial. It’s an interesting and well made film that tells a story that few of us know well enough, and I recommend it. In a somewhat similar way, She Said tells a more familiar story – in this case that of the journalists (and the victims who felt able to go public) who broke the story of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assaults and harassments. Both of these last two films give portrayals of what true heroes actually look like in a way so-called superhero movies never can. Part of that heroism is determination and quiet courage that is not flashy on screen – but that is exactly the point. So much of what changes the world is not violent battle or even high drama, but people doing their job for the sake of justice. 

 
I will follow this up with a post in which I try to get my head (and my words) around why quality films like Tár, Banshees of Inisherin, and Triangle of Sadness do not make it in my collection. Stay tuned.

 

*I think there are some personal reasons why Women Talking, based on a novel by Miriam Toews that I read a couple of years ago, may mean more to me than some viewers. The truly tragic reality (insanely maddening because there are reports of continuing, similar assaults) took place more than ten years ago in an ultra-conservative Mennonite colony in Bolivia. This is a community with the same narrow ethnic roots as my own. In fact, Vic and I “did the math” and figured out that we may well have 3^rd cousins among the victims or perpetrators. Fortunately, my more recent ancestors did not make the increasingly isolating and fundamentalist decisions that led that particular community to flee worldliness by travelling from Manitoba to Mexico to Bolivia over 3 generations. Anyway, the point is that these are kind of my people – but I’m surely glad I was not born among them. And my point here is – I know my connections with this film may run deeper than others.

Another personal reason for me to love this film is that I’ve always been drawn to dialogue-rich films that are set (like theatre) in very constrained contexts of time and space. The right dialogue draws me in emotionally in ways that visuals (and certainly “action”) do not.

Finally, the day before watching the film was a challenging and emotional day, and that meant I entered the theatre already vulnerable so that the film had me on the verge of tears most of the way through. That teariness was also because I kept seeing the women on screen and feeling very much aware that they represented real women’s recent experiences in Bolivia and, less directly but quite intentionally, all the so, so many women who experience unthinkable assaults and deprivations.This is an important film; I advocate much watching and discussing.