Michael Darvell Looks Back at the Year of 2022

The Year in Cinema
Written by Michael Darvell
 


What has surprised me most about the films released during 2022 is the number of outstanding UK titles. Sometimes they were made in co-operation with US studios, but it has been a positive joy to witness the likes of Kenneth Branagh’s childhood memories in Belfast, Martin McDonagh’s spellbinding The Banshees of Inisherin, Florence Pugh’s mesmerising performance in Sebastian Lelio’s The Wonder, Roger Michell’s The Duke with Jim Broadbent’s cunning thief, John Madden’s Operation Mincemeat, about misleading the Nazis, and Terence Davies’ subtle portrait of Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction.

Clio Barnard made a very touching drama of Ali and Ava, Bill Nighy beautifully realised an ordinary man in Oliver Hermanus’ Living, while Michael Grandage’s handling of My Policeman was particularly moving and rather better than most would have us believe. Ralph Fiennes’ chef impressed in Mark Mylod’s The Menu, and there were notable debut performances by the actress Frankie Coro and the director Charlotte Wells for Aftersun. Lastly, I seem to have enjoyed Laure de Clermont-Tonnere’s version of Lady Chatterley's Lover rather more than most.

Elsewhere in the world of film, Lasse Hallström’s Hilma lovingly portrayed the Swedish abstract painter Hilma af Klint, Edward Berger’s remake of All Quiet on the Western Front became an instant classic (again), and Claire Denis dealt impressively with the odd relationships in Both Sides of the Blade. Mia Hansen- Løve put Ingmar back on the map in Bergman Island and Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness seemed to annoy more people than it pleased, but it felt to be a piece of real cinema.

There were also outstanding performances by Austin Butler in Elvis, Baz Luhrmann’s biopic which appeared to be a case, as they said of another film this year, everything, everywhere, all at once. Ana de Armas gave an amazing performance as Marilyn in Andrew Dominik’s Blonde and Penélope Cruz was her usual immaculate self in Official Competition. Best documentaries of the year? Good Night Oppy, Last Flight Home, Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe and A Bunch of Amateurs, although Andrea Arnold really hit the bullseye with Cow.

 
Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

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