Strollo's Top Movies of 2022: Part 1

The year of our lord 2022 was a weird one. London was still recovering from the 20/21 covid lockdowns, celebrities and influencers were continuing to hype up NFTs as anything more than expensive PNG files and a lettuce outlived one of our THREE prime ministers that year. In an era packed with bizare events it was common for us to shelter from the outside world by watching a good film and 2022 happened to be a year full of them.

We were gifted with some bangers, from big box office hits to smaller foriegn films, the 22nd year of our 2nd millenium had a lot to offer. I ended up writing some scattered notes and general thoughts on the movies I enjoyed that year somehow managing to collect enough of these musings to create (almost) legiable reviews.

Please enjoy part one of Lukes favourite films of 2022.

Spoiler warnings btw

2. Rothaniel -

Rothaniel is not a movie in the classic sense, at just under an hour and set in the Blue notes Jazz Club in NY, this is a well-crafted special by comedian and writer Jerrod Carmichael, that starts like a regular stand up show (although one that is shot surprisingly well thanks to Bo Burnhams direction) but soon reveals a clear throughline where Jerrod touches on familial secrets, his own sexuality, and the experiences that created the person he is today. 

This special hits poignant and hilarious notes perfectly, with the latter half becoming a semi-therapy session in which Jerrod takes questions from his audience. Jerrod starts the special saying he wants everyone to feel as comfortable as he hopes to be, a statement that becomes more compelling when he expands on the idea of secrets. Even through the more emotional parts of the special Jerrod manages to get a laugh thanks to his unique delivery and quick wit, managing to turn a story about his Father's infidelity into jokes about his laziness with keeping it a secret, in turn pivoting that joke into a story on his confusion, anger and guilt that his Mother has been lied to all these years, a lie Jerrod perpetuates when he admits he only recently confronted his Father and even then, after his Father eventually confessed to his Mother, she forgave him, something Jerrod has a hard time understanding. Jerrods previous stand up even had jokes about cheating on his future wife and the hypocrisy of cheating 'with integrity', these jokes take on new meaning after hearing how hard it was for him to discuss his Fathers actions, showing how Carmichaels previous bits could have been his own form of projecting insecurities using comedy. 

One of my friends mentioned that Jerrod is amazing at utilising silence within his jokes and this special does a great job at highlighting how that same silence lets raw emotions breathe. During the more candid parts of his show, you see Jerrod quietly pondering his answers to audience questions, smiling to the floor for minutes at a time and letting the hush take hold of the room while he mulls on what to say next. Heightening these moments of silence is the cinematography, this special uses many close-up shots and low, intrusive camera angles and soft blue lights to focus on Jerrods face and seating position. These angles work as smart ways to convey emotion but also put us, the viewer, into the crowd, looking at Jerrod from the side or front of stage as he relays stories from his past. The culmination of these artistic choices exemplifying a lot of the pain, awkwardness and happiness that has come from his recent experiences, experiences that end with Jerrod revealing his biggest (if least consequential) secret. 

To explain anymore of Rothaniel would ruin the experience so all I will say is if you haven't seen this special take an evening to experience it, it’s currently on MAX for the Americans and Sky normally has HBO shows in the UK.

1. Everything Everywhere all at Once -

Everything Everywhere was one of the first films I watched in theatres post 2 years of lockdowns. I had heard some chatter online that it was set to be a great sleeper hit but didn't know much about the plot apart from being a mainly asian cast and having a pretty low budget. Now I am not a man who cries often at movies, but I'm happy to say that EEAAO (I hate that abreve) really struck a cord with me that left me leaving the theatre with a tear in my eye and excitment to watch more indie movies in theatres.

For anyone living under a rock, A24 produced Everything Everywhere all at Once is writer-director duo the Daniels' second feature film (the first being the wonderfully weird Swiss Army Man) winning numerous awards including (but not limited to) best orginal screenplay, best lead actress and best motion picture of the year. The movie stars Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), a chinese immigrant drowning in taxes and the mundanity of life, who is swept into a mulitverse spanning adventure that includes human controlling raccoons, an abundance of bagels and incredibly well choreographed fight scenes. Joining her on this adventure is her daughter, Joy (Stephaine Hsu), an openly gay 20 something, struggling through depression and a strained relationship with her mother, and Joys naive and infallible father Waymond (Key Huy Quan), who we learn early wants a divorce from Evelyn as he feels that seperating may be the only way they can actively fix their failing relationship.

Among the key reasons I enjoyed this film, the pinnacle is its confidence to explore the relationships between these characters while still linking the multiversal narrative threads together into a cohesive family drama, something that less skilled directors may have clumsily muddied together inbetween action scenes and CGI universe travel. Each member of the family (and most of the supporting cast) get time to shine. Both Quan, Hsu and Yeoh have poignant or heartfelt speeches amid the fast paced action, with Hsu and Yeohs splintered relationship arcing into a heartbreaking post fight duologue on how, regardless of her newfound infinite possibilties, Evelyn would still rather be there with her daughter, trying to make sense of the cosmic mess that is life. A scene that explores what it means to accept one another for who they truly are, underlining that if the world we inhabit is inherintly chaotic and nothing matters, why not love eachother anyway?

The film also has some great comedy laced throughout, a particularly memorable scene involves Stephanie Hsu's Jobu Tupaki intoduced as the antagonist, bursting guards into confetti, WWE slamming them into the ground and being beating with a very wobbily dildo. A scene that not only serves as an funny and erratic introduction to this evil version of Joy but also highlights this movies amazing choreography and editing. There are several other comedic fight scenes in the film all painstaking planned by the films stunt coordinators in collaboration with the Daniels, themselves know for high action stunts as displayed in their previous movies, short films and the music video for DJ Snakes Turn Down for What.

Everything Everywhere all at Once really is a masterpiece of filmmaking, from its great editing and VFX creations (done on a limited budget with a team of only five), to the well excecuted fight scenes that utalise trained actors and veteran stunt coordinators, everything is done perfectly. My only gripe with this movie is that while I was able to comprehend the increasingly complex narrative and visual choices throughout, I have heard and seen multiple people struggle to follow the plot, something that should be expected when balancing this many plates but could have been avoided with maybe better editing or a few slower scenes to realign the plot. Regardless, this project has elevated the Daniels past their humble flatulent corpse beginings and into multi award winners with an exciting career ahead of them that I can't wait to follow.

Bonus - Below are the few scenes that struck a cord with me, I recommend watching them with the context of the entire movie but if you just want a quick pang of emotion then enjoy.

1. As previously mentioned Evelyn and Joys emotional car park speech.

2. Waymond expounding that (even though doesn't understand whats going on) everyone should just be kind to one another in the face of confusion and adversity.

3. Laundry and taxes.