The year 2022 came in hot and heavy, slapping us in the face even harder than Will Smith’s hand: inflation has risen to a point where I sometimes must decide between splurging on a coffee or a meal and the climate crisis has worsened, with droughts and extreme, record-breaking temperatures reminding us that the catastrophic effects aren’t as futuristic as we may think. Albeit being a year characterized by catastrophe, war, sickness, and divisiveness, film and art continue to (and successfully did) bring people together in momentary glimpses of peace and mutual appreciation. As such, here is a short list of relevant films from 2022 that I continue to think of well into the start of the new year.
This black comedy, directed by Mark Mylod and written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, explores upper-class foodie trends and pretension, using an elitist restaurant situated on a literal private coastal island as its setting. Most of the cast in this piece play washed up actors, soulless food critics, Bourgeoisie foodies, charlatans and/or cheaters. The protagonist, played by the ethereal Anya-Taylor Joy, and those who prepared food, represent the working class who remain starved during this meal, but not necessarily of food. This film satirizes the rich—those who take everything for granted and happily consume the labour of the working class, without appreciating the meticulous care and precision of their culinary art. This film is art to the average service worker who’s simply had enough.
This film, co-written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, tells the story of a highly stressed, working class Chinese American woman who succumbs to time traveling and verse jumping to manipulate matters amid a chaotic cosmic (and at the same time domestic) battle. This film is emotional and brilliantly curated, portraying realistic family dynamics (or rather dysfunctions), the stresses of belonging to the working class, as well as generational trauma. It does all this while genre-bending and tackling existentialism amid the sudden presence of parallel realities, powers, and a universe-jumping villain. This film makes me wonder about the lives I could have led that I might never know or see.
This film, directed and written by Zach Cregger, can be properly defined using a single word: unpredictable. The protagonist of the story, a young woman seeking a new job, books an Airbnb near her interview location, only to come to the realization that she is not alone in this home. The setting itself hints at issues of gentrification, where the characters come together to paint the picture of the devastations of the patriarchy, which is manifested in this piece as toxic masculinity and domestic violence, female entrapment, and isolating or imposed motherhood. This film is terrifying without needing pop-ups for filler.
Ti West’s X, a slasher and/or grindhouse film that also integrates the genre of X-rated cinema, features Mia Goth as Maxine, an up-and-coming porn star obsessed with fame. She gathers with her boyfriend and other fellow actors at a farm they intend on using as the setting of their X-rated film, which belongs partly to an elderly woman named Pearl, also played by Goth, who is contrastingly obsessed with youthfulness. This film does a great job of highlighting specific patriarchal issues that plague women, such as the fears of aging and of losing one’s beauty (and therefore relevance and power).
Jordan Peele has done it again. From Get Out to Us, Peele’s take on horror is one which is satirical, sometimes comedic (while remaining disturbing), and socially relevant in terms of issues of race and class. Nope, did just this, its intriguing premise focusing on otherworldly forces which both disturb and entice a pair of siblings who attempt, despite all odds, to capture this alien-like presence. This film seems to reflect society’s undying hunger for fame, recognition, technological advancement, and our overall obsession with surveillance and capturing profitable content. I look forward to feasting on whatever else his mind conjures up in the future!
As we settle into the new year, I continue to mull over the intricate stories portrayed in each of these films, potentially more than is necessary. From black comedies satirizing rich people’s impeccable food taste and terrible table manners; to grindhouse films about sex, power, and death; to neo-Western sci-fi films about surveillance and otherworldly forces, cinematography in 2022 surprised me greatly by being arty, tasteful, and highly socially relevant. Here’s hoping 2023 follows strongly. Cheers!