While the lock for this year’s Best International Feature Film appears to be the fantastically made All Quiet on the Western Front (it’s the only international film nominated in the Best Picture category), 2022 has a slew of movies that may have had a chance to win the category in recent years. Most notable on the list include Argentina’s Argentina, 1985, Ireland’s The Quiet Girl, and Belgium’s Close, director Lukas Dhont’s (Girl) on the loss of innocence.
Category Archives: 2022
The Son (2022)
Entering awards season two years removed from the success of his directorial debut The Father, a film that was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two, Florian Zeller’s follow-up, The Son, had some lofty, albeit slightly unrealistic expectations, if for no other reason that some deemed it a continuation of the story. In contrast, others viewed its Christmas Day limited release to mean that the production company believed the movie would hopefully receive the same critical acclaim (98% critics, 94% audience) as The Father and wanted to keep the film fresh in voters’ minds as possible. Sadly, the film failed to resonate with either group (a paltry 26% critics and a lukewarm 67% audience). As a result, the film will fail to reach $1,000,000 at the box office despite a star-studded cast that flanked (and outmatched) the relatively unknown Zen McGrath (Dig), who played the title character.
A Man Called Otto (2022)
In a day and age when far too many movie trailers give away the entire movie, it is refreshing when a well-marketed one gives us just a hint to grab our interest. For me, I’ll start a preview. The second I deem a movie worth seeing, I stop watching the trailer. It’s a little more complicated when I’m in the movie theater. I don’t want to be ‘that guy’ who closes his eyes and plugs his years. However, with the runtime of movies getting longer and longer and the ability to choose seats ahead, I often don’t arrive at my seat until right before the movie starts. I got the basic jest of Marc Forster’s (World War Z, The Kite Runner) A Man Called Otto. It looked like a light-hearted comedy about a disgruntled older man named Otto (Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips, Bridge of Spies) who, throughout the movie, is slowly won over by the young family that has moved into his neighborhood. And while that is mostly true, this movie is far more profound and poignant than I was prepared to experience.
Women Talking (2022)
Women Talking. That’s entirely what this movie was. Women talking. A more intelligent person than me would have known ahead of time. However, my decision was based on the months of anticipation surrounding this movie’s Oscar-time release and the outstanding critic (90%) and audience (86%) scores it has received. Women Talking was an all-too-familiar example of a movie receiving a Christmas-time release to be as fresh as possible at the start of the awards season, failing to meet its hype. While a good film, Women Talking offers little originality. Sadly, it isn’t very memorable.
Watcher (2022)
Watcher is a movie that falls into one of two categories. It is either a movie you’ve never heard of, or it’s one you’ve not only heard of but have probably seen. Chloe Okuno’s (V/H/S/94, screenwriter of Bodies Bodies Bodies) revered, suspenseful stalker film already has a cult following among the “this could happen to you” film buffs. It is undoubtedly a film that needs to be watched in the right environment (dark, quiet, isolated) to hit on one of humanity’s most innate fears, the unnerving feeling of being followed. It also needs time to develop. That’s not so much to say that it is a slow burn as much as it is an “it won’t hit on all cylinders” if you aren’t willing to go all-in with it from the opening credits.