22 films to watch in 2022
A Hero
With its intentionally ambiguous title, A Hero is a work from one of today’s masters, Asghar Farhadi. Two of his most stirring films, A Separation and The Salesman, each won the Oscar for best foreign language film (before the category was renamed), and this latest is shortlisted for this year’s award. Once more his characters embody the clash of tradition, morality, politics and a changing society in today’s Iran. With Farhadi’s usual eloquence and precise, intimate observation, the story follows Rahim, a flawed but hugely sympathetic man imprisoned for debt. When he gets two days’ leave and tries to find a way out of that debt, a small act of dishonesty spirals out of control, and the glare of social media enhances his problems. (Caryn James)
Released in the US on 7 January
Belle
This cyberpunk update of Beauty and the Beast received a 14-minute standing ovation when it premiered at last May’s Cannes Film Festival – and it’s easy to see why. Mamoru Hosoda’s dazzling anime is a fairy-tale romance, a high-school soap opera, a superhero action movie and a science-fiction mystery all rolled into one. More than that, the film is a technical marvel in which every frame sparkles with a seemingly infinite array of tiny details. Its heroine is a Japanese schoolgirl who is too shy to sing in real life, but becomes a world-famous pop star in a virtual-reality community. Everyone is desperate to uncover the true identity of her pink-haired, blue-eyed alter ego – and when Belle meets the mysterious, monstrous Beast online, she is desperate to work out who he is, too. (Nicholas Barber)
Released on 14 January in the US and Turkey, 20 Jan in Italy, and 4 February in the UK and Spain
The Batman
Robert Pattinson channels his inner bat in this latest, grammatically precise reboot. It’s not Batman, it’s The Batman. And if you thought The Dark Knight was a moody guy, think again. Matt Reeves, who co-wrote and directs, told Empire he sees his version of the crime-fighter as a recluse inspired by Kurt Cobain, right down to a grungy, well-worn Batsuit. Pattinson has the right brooding game for this, portraying a hero who is only in his second year of saving Gotham, still finding his way as he takes on the ruthless Riddler (Paul Dano). Colin Farrell, under layers of prosthetics, is The Penguin. But seemingly there will be some humour amid the darkness and violence, going by the comical moment in one of the trailers, when The Batman deadpans to Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), in his husky, ultra-serious voice, “You’ve got a lot of cats.” (CJ)
Released internationally on 4 March
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The directing team known as Daniels (aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) turned eccentricity into an art form in 2016’s Swiss Army Man, their droll, blacker-than-black comedy about a flatulent corpse. Their new film, with a title suggesting controlled chaos, leaps into sci-fi. Michelle Yeoh plays a woman whose simple, relatable attempt to finish her taxes takes her across multiple universes, where she may exist as different versions of herself. The cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis as a villainous accountant who gets in her way. The trailer suggests an emotional family story, a martial arts extravaganza and a deserved showcase for Yeoh, all shaped by Daniels’ maniacally off-the-chart style. (CJ)
Released in the US and Canada on 25 March
