movie reviews december 2022

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Best Movies of 2022

Amid endless agonizing over the State of Cinema, the actual releases proved a bounty for film lovers, whether fans of the art house or the multiplex.

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By Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott

Manohla Dargis | A.O. Scott

Manohla Dargis

The Most Fearless Visions

In 1985, The New York Times’s longtime film critic Vincent Canby wrote an inspired, admirably cranky essay about the future of cinema. The spark for his ruminations was “Room 666,” a documentary from Wim Wenders that had just opened in New York. Shot during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, the movie consists of different directors alone in a hotel room where they respond to a question that Wenders had written on a piece of paper: “Is cinema a language that is about to get lost, an art that is about to die?”

The first director — and the other inspiration for Canby’s disquiet — was Jean-Luc Godard, who described Wenders’s project as an inquest on the future of films. For the next 10 minutes or so, Godard, smoking his familiar cigar, meditates on this vexing, evergreen question with his characteristic intelligence, opacity and epigrammatic wit. The news isn’t good. “The dream of Hollywood is to make one film,” Godard says, “and it’s television that makes it, but which is distributed everywhere” — which is as good a description of our NetflixDisneyMarvel world as I’ve read.

For Canby, Godard’s prediction of a one-movie world had already come to pass. Acclaimed films from the likes of Jonathan Demme were struggling at a box office dominated by wide releases like “Beverly Hills Cop.” Canby believed that there was plenty of blame to go around, pointing to risk-averse money types and a “sheeplike” public. He wrote that “our society is being increasingly homogenized, possibly through the pervasive power of television to plant the same ideas, the same fears and the same fads in more people, more quickly, than has ever before been possible in the history of the world.” Yikes!

I don’t think Canby and Godard were entirely right (feel free to discuss among yourselves), but after nearly four decades and innumerable interchangeable franchise sequels, it’s clear they weren’t entirely wrong. Yet, all these years later — and even as the industry struggles through yet another of its interminable crises — I am again heartened by all of the good and great movies that continue to be released. People often ask me if I’ve seen any good movies lately. I have, many of them, this and every year, but if I can’t tempt you with one of my favorites of 2022, I suggest you watch a film or two by Godard.

His soul left the world on Sept. 13; his movies will live forever .

1. ‘EO’ (Jerzy Skolimowski)

Soon after this indelible heartbreaker opens, a little circus donkey called EO — named for the sounds he makes — sets off on a strange, at times phantasmagoric, adventure. Along the way, he encounters other animals but, more consequently, kind and cruel people whose treatment of him reflects the denatured world that we have made. Now 84, Skolimowski has made one of the rare movies that speak to life’s most essential questions, and he’s done so with the ecstatic vision and fearlessness of a cinematic genius who seems as if he’s just getting started. (In theaters.)

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Justin Chang pairs the best movies of 2022, and picks 'No Bears' as his favorite

Justin Chang

Critic Justin Chang's picks for the best movies of 2022 include (clockwise, from top left): The Eternal Daughter, Crimes of the Future, EO, Tár, Decision to Leave and No Bears. A24, Neon, Festival de Cannes, Focus Features, MUBI, TIFF hide caption

Critic Justin Chang's picks for the best movies of 2022 include (clockwise, from top left): The Eternal Daughter, Crimes of the Future, EO, Tár, Decision to Leave and No Bears.

It was a terrific year for movies but also, in some ways, a dispiriting one. Sure, blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick and the just-released Avatar: The Way of Water brought audiences back to theaters in droves, but romantic comedies and grown-up dramas had more than the usual trouble finding audiences. Some of the movies on my year-end list passed quickly and quietly through theaters. Some are still in theaters, and a few will open more widely in 2023. Whether on the big screen or at home, I hope you'll take the time to seek them out.

Here are my 11 favorite movies of 2022, some of which I've paired thematically, though my No. 1 choice stands alone:

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi plays a version of himself in No Bears. TIFF hide caption

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi plays a version of himself in No Bears.

The brilliant Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi plays a version of himself, also named Jafar Panahi, who's spending several days in a remote village, where he becomes embroiled in a tense local drama. It's a fierce critique of small-town traditionalism and religious dogma. But while this is an angry and ultimately devastating movie, it's also a surprisingly playful and inventive one. Here I should note that Panahi, a longtime thorn in the side of the Iranian government, was recently imprisoned. No Bears itself is a powerful act of protest, and one of his very best movies.

Aftersun and The Eternal Daughter

Tilda Swinton plays two characters, a mother and a daughter, in The Eternal Daughter. A24 hide caption

Tilda Swinton plays two characters, a mother and a daughter, in The Eternal Daughter.

Two deeply moving parent-child stories, drawn from their filmmakers' real-life experiences. Aftersun , an achingly sad memory piece from the Scottish director Charlotte Wells, features pitch-perfect performances from Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio as a father and daughter trying to connect on a summer holiday — a journey that builds to an ending of startling emotional force. The Eternal Daughter , the English filmmaker Joanna Hogg's sly riff on the haunted-house movie, stars Tilda Swinton in two roles, a mother and daughter — but this spooky-sad ghost story never feels gimmicky.

Tár and Benediction

Cate Blanchett plays a world-renowned conductor in the film Tár. Courtesy of Focus Features hide caption

Cate Blanchett plays a world-renowned conductor in the film Tár.

Two portraits of queer artists — one fictional, the other real — operating in different eras, different spheres of influence and with dramatically different moral codes and perspectives. Todd Field' s mesmerizing, much-acclaimed drama Tár stars a never-better Cate Blanchett as a famous classical conductor whose life is gradually consumed by scandal. You've probably heard less about Benediction , Terence Davies ' barbed, tender and finally wretching film about the English poet and World War I veteran Siegfried Sassoon , magnificently played by Jack Lowden.

Decision to Leave and Kimi

Park Hae-il plays a homicide detective and Tang Wei is the femme fatale he's investigating in Decision to Leave . MUBI hide caption

Park Hae-il plays a homicide detective and Tang Wei is the femme fatale he's investigating in Decision to Leave .

Decision to Leave , a grandly entertaining murder mystery from the South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook , stars Park Hae-il as a homicide detective and Tang Wei as the femme fatale he's investigating. It's an elaborate romantic riff on the classic Vertigo , which makes it a nice match for the year's other first-rate Hitchcockian thriller, Kimi . Steven Soderbergh 's taut and exhilarating genre piece is basically Rear Window for the age of Alexa, starring a terrific Zoë Kravitz as a COVID-cautious shut-in turned amateur sleuth.

Crimes of the Future and One Fine Morning

Kristen Stewart (left) is a fan of the surgery Léa Seydoux performs in Crimes of the Future . Neon hide caption

Kristen Stewart (left) is a fan of the surgery Léa Seydoux performs in Crimes of the Future .

A Léa Seydoux double bill: Crimes of the Future is David Cronenberg 's grim dystopian shocker set in a time when surgery has become an artistic and sometimes recreational pursuit. Like a lot of Cronenberg movies, it's not for the faint of heart, though it does touch the heart and the mind in eerily provocative ways. There's no public surgery to speak of in Mia Hansen-Løve's One Fine Morning , just scene after beautifully observed scene in which a single mom struggles to take care of her ailing father while opening herself up to the possibility of new love.

EO and Nope

The donkey's eyes seem to take the measure of modern life in Jerzy Skolimowski's film, EO . Festival de Cannes hide caption

The donkey's eyes seem to take the measure of modern life in Jerzy Skolimowski's film, EO .

A heartrending story about a donkey making its way through a cruel and unforgiving world, EO is a tribute of sorts to the classic 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar , but the great Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski approaches his four-legged subject with a formal and emotional brilliance all his own. As it happens, the systemic exploitation of animals is also a significant thematic thread in Nope , Jordan Peele 's completely original and wonderfully subversive sci-fi horror Western, which has a lot to say about an entertainment industry that reduces all living experience to big-budget spectacle. Like every movie on my list, it's one I recommend with an unequivocal yes.

Pop Culture Happy Hour

The best movies and tv of 2022, picked for you by npr critics.

5 Biggest New Movies of December 2022 – A Jolly Good Time

From John Wick Santa to a cute cat in boots, December's got everything.

And just like that, we’re at the end of the year. It’s been a great year for film, and while I do think November trumps December when it comes to big movies, December does have an ace up its sleeve. It’s playing host to the biggest blockbuster of the year, and that more than makes up for the less exciting options available. If you get a break from your Christmas festivities and are maybe thinking of hitting up your local cinemas for some alone movie time, here are the biggest new movies of December 2022.

New Movies of December 2022

1. violent night | december 2nd, 2022.

When you think of Santa Claus, maybe you think of a nice, jovial man who spends an entire night delivering presents to everyone on his nice list. Well, this isn’t the Santa you’re getting in this movie. As the title suggests, time for some seasons beatings.

David Harbour plays Santa Claus, who’s delivering presents on Christmas Eve when he gets caught up in a home invasion. Want to watch Santa Claus take out a man with a shuriken? Then this is the movie for you. Also, John Leguizamo plays the man leading the home invasion, and he’s always fun to watch.

2. Avatar: The Way of Water | December 16th, 2022

We’ve spent years waiting for an Avatar sequel, and this year, we’re finally getting it. It is truly the season of giving.

Avatar: The Way of Water continues the story of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), who now have kids together. The trailer gives us a closer look at the Na’vi children: Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss) and Kiri (Sigourney Weaver, who is returning to the franchise in a different role). New troubles threaten their peaceful existence, and from the trailer, it appears that the Sully family will seek out other communities for help. There’s a keen focus on family, and the lengths one would go to in order to protect them and our homes.

It’s the motion picture event of the year – will you be showing up to see it?

3. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish | December 21st, 2022

Even though it’s the end of the year and you might be having animated movie fatigue, please don’t sleep on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Antonio Banderas is back to voice this iconic character, with such a talented cast in tow, including Salma Hayek Oliva Colman and Harvey Guillén

Puss (Banderas) has burned through eight of his nine lives without even realising it. Getting those lives back will send Puss in Boots on his grandest quest yet: to find the mythical Wishing Star and restore his lost lives. But with only one life left, Puss will have to humble himself and ask for help from his former partner and nemesis: the captivating Kitty Soft Paws (Hayek).

Early reviews are calling it one of the best animated movies of the year, so you don’t want to miss out.

4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody | December 23rd, 2022

Biopics have gone out of style, it would seem. Even though Bohemian Rhapsody did well at the Oscars, the critics weren’t so complimentary . Elvis also received mixed reviews , with many praising Austin Butler’s performance, yet also feeling that Baz Luhrmann’s excessive style overpowered things a little. The most recent successful biopic I can think of is Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, mainly because it steered away from the conventional trappings of a biopic.

It’s hard to perceive how I Wanna Dance With Somebody would fare. After all, Whitney Houston is a legend, so playing her would be a challenge. From the trailer, Naomi Ackie seems to have captured her speaking voice quite well, and they’re using Houston’s original vocals and music for the movie, so that will be quite a treat to experience.

It might suffer from the same issue that befell Bohemian Rhapsody, which is basically producing carbon copies of Houston’s big performances. Hopefully the movie brings something more, but it should still entertain nonetheless.

5. Babylon | December 23rd, 2022

Damien Chazelle’s back with his fifth feature film, and it’s a love letter to cinema (lots of those this year).

From the trailer, the movie looks like a mix of The Great Gatsby , The Wolf of Wall Street , and maybe a slight tinge of Once Upon A Time in Hollywood . It’s about a period in Hollywood that was debaucherous and wild, with actors like Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Diego Calva and Tobey Macguire onboard, though I have to say that Robbie steals the scene every time she appears in the trailer. Her character is absolutely mad and intense, and it’ll be great to see that unfold on screen.

Movies as chaotic and madcap as this might not always perform well with the critics, as seen from the early reviews which are fairly divided. The movie’s descriptions veer from “a tonal disaster” to “a sensational celebration of cinema”, so it’s hard to say where it would fall for you. Still, you’ve got to admire Chazelle for exploring different spaces and subject matter for every film he does, for taking risks even when it might be easier to stick to the path of least resistance.

READ NEXT: 20 Best Home Invasion Movies of All Time

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Movie Review Archives for December 2022 (3)

• September 4

Avatar: The Way of Water is a gorgeous rehash of all the first film’s triumphs and failures

Guillermo del toro’s pinocchio is a gnarly and spiritual fairy tale about what makes life beautiful, the eternal daughter is a quiet ghost story with a double dose of tilda swinton.

December Releases of 2022

1. Avatar: The Way of Water

2. Glass Onion

3. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

4. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

5. Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan

7. Violent Night

9. The Whale

10. Emancipation

11. George & Tammy

13. The Witcher: Blood Origin

14. National Treasure: Edge of History

15. I Am DB Cooper

16. Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

More to explore, recently viewed.

December 2022 Action Movies

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The Ten Best Films of 2022

What a year. The array of filmmaking on the list below should be shown to anyone willing to suggest that 2022 was somehow inferior in the history of cinema. And these excellent films don’t even include some of the most popular flicks of the year like the critically acclaimed “Top Gun: Maverick” or “Avatar: The Way of Water” (although both films will appear on individual lists from our expanded staff that will run on Friday, for the record).

This composite site top ten used the same formula as we have since 2014, taking the best-of lists from our regular review staff and compiling them into one big list. Documentaries, blockbusters, an animated film, aliens, donkeys, and even the boys from “Jackass” made the top twenty, and the big ten have been detailed by some of our talented critics. Every blurb in the top ten also includes details on where to watch the film. If you took the time to sit and view all 20 of the movies listed below, you would have an incredible picture of where the art of cinema stands as we head into the mid-’20s. It stands tall.

Runners-up: “ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed ,” “ Benediction ,” “ Bones and All ,” “ EO ,” “ The Eternal Daughter ,” “ Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio ,” “ Happening ,” “ Hit the Road ,” “ Jackass Forever ,” and “ Mad God .”

10. “Babylon”

A bombastic epic as artistically ambitious as those made during the height of the silent era, writer/director Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” takes the audience on a visceral odyssey through the highest highs and lowest lows of late-1920s Hollywood, from orgiastic parties and chaotic film sets to personal triumphs and melancholic moments of utter despair. As the movie business transitions from silents to talkies, characters like aging matinee idol Jack Conrad ( Brad Pitt ), wannabe starlet Nellie LaRoy ( Margot Robbie ), assistant Manny Torres ( Diego Calva ), sensationalist journalist Elinor St. John ( Jean Smart ), jazz musician Sidney Palmer ( Jovan Adepo ), and multi-talented entertainer Lady Fay Zhu ( Li Jun Li ) struggle to find their footing in an industry in flux. 

Although the story follows fictional players at the fictional Kinoscope Studios, Chazelle’s script is steeped in a deep knowledge of old Hollywood’s dark, complicated history and its most pervasive (and perverse) mythologies. Linus Sandgren’s fluid cinematography, coupled with Justin Hurwitz’s hot jazz score, raises this larger-than-life era back from the dead with humor and pathos. Tom Cross’ dynamic editing keeps the film vibrating at a breakneck pace, its three-hour runtime barely registering as one zany set piece after another barrels toward the film’s denouement. Ending on a note as rhapsodic as it is elegiac, Chazelle’s film is ultimately a condemnation of the Hollywood machine that crushes everyone with equitable cruelty and an ode to the innovative artistry and ineffable magic of the movies, whose siren call continues to lure audiences and filmmakers alike towards its warm glow. ( Marya E. Gates )

Now streaming on:

9. “ RRR “

It’s hard not to love a movie where a herd of snarling Big Cats leaps out of the back of a truck as one (in slo-mo) to sic themselves on a crowd of British imperialists milling about in evening dress. It’s hard not to love a movie where two men ( Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr.), strangers to one another, collaborate on the fly to save a child in peril, their plan involving a motorcycle, a horse, a long rope, a gigantic flag, and simultaneous swan-dives off a burning bridge. S.S. Rajamouli’s “RRR” calls into question all other action sequences in all other films, sequences which may have thrilling moments and impressive stunts but lack the dazzling bravura of the spectacle on display here. “RRR” makes you ask: Why CAN’T we show a bare-chested man wielding a crossbow emerging through a ring of fire? Why CAN’T we include family trauma, political commentary, ahistorical wish-fulfillment, revenge/redemption fantasies, sweet romances, rousing dance numbers, and the Platonic Ideal of a Bromance all in the same film?

Critic Siddhant Adlakha observed that Rajamouli “makes the moving image feel intimate and enormous all at once.” This is key. A golden coin dropped in the sand is given as much visual importance as those rampaging CGI-Big Cats. Rajamouli ignores nothing and prioritizes everything. What this propulsive style encourages is involvement . It’s impossible not to get  involved in the action: the emotion and the characters’ destinies. My only regret is I didn’t see “RRR” with an audience. It’s how it’s meant to be seen. ( Sheila O’Malley )

8. “ Everything Everywhere All at Once “

It’s rare to see a film where you can’t predict what will happen by the end, and rarer still to see one where you can’t predict what will happen from one scene to the next. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is an example of the rarest of all: a film where you don’t know what will happen from one  shot  to the next. 

The filmmaking team known as Daniels ( Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert ), who started in music videos, made that kind of movie in their first feature, “ Swiss Army Man ,” a comedy-drama about brotherly love, heartbreak, and the fear and awe of death, focused on the burgeoning friendship between a castaway on a desert island and a flatulent corpse that washed up on the beach. Daniels have done it again on a grander scale with “EEAAO,” which does about a dozen different things simultaneously and hops between timelines as it does it. The movie is a marriage story, a mother-daughter drama, a tale of immigrant assimilation and generational changeover, a satire on bureaucracy, an action picture full of willfully absurd and sometimes lewd kung fu battles, and a science fiction movie that accepts the ideal of parallel timelines/universes as a given and shows how personal decisions alter the course of events in each. 

The film tells the story of a troubled marriage between Chinese-American laundromat owners Evelyn and Waymond ( Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan ), and how their struggle affects Evelyn’s relationship with her adult daughter Joy ( Stephanie Hsu ), who wants her mother to welcome her girlfriend Becky ( Tallie Medel ) and get her reactionary grandfather Gong Gong ( James Hong ) to accept her, too. But the filmmakers never let the storytelling get bogged down in therapeutic or self-help cliches because all of the ideas are dramatized as well as discussed in breathlessly edited micro-bursts of images culled from different timelines—and sometimes in extended sequences that cross-cut between parallel lines of action during a marital disagreement, a spiritual test, or a martial arts brawl in the office building where Evelyn’s family is being audited by cruel IRS agent Deirdre Beaubeirdre ( Jamie Lee Curtis ). 

The cast is fully invested and attacks their scenes with fierce focus—and always with sincerity. For all its blistering and sometimes borderline-pornographic slapstick, this is an earnest and optimistic movie. Spiritual growth is central to every story in every timeline, and the characters’ struggles usually come back to the tension between obligation and selfishness in relationships. There’s a universe where everybody has hot dogs for fingers (Deirdre plays piano with her feet in that one) and a showdown that prominently involves a dildo. At one point we enter a universe where two rocks on a cliff speak to each other telepathically, and their dialogue is subtitled. If you’re not fully on board by then, you never will be. ( Matt Zoller Seitz )

7. “No Bears”

In July, the Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was sentenced to six years in prison after inquiring about fellow director Mohammad Rasoulof , also in jail. Panahi had completed his latest docudrama, “No Bears,” two months prior; it premiered at the Venice Film Festival that same month. 

In “No Bears,” Panahi plays himself, a filmmaker sequestered in a village near the Turkish border while filming his latest drama. Panahi’s assistant Reza (Reza Heydari) asks him why he didn’t just stay in Tehran. Panahi waves away the question, saying he prefers to be near his cast and crew. However, he still goes with Reza to see and even inadvertently steps over the border. Panahi hastily returns to Iran, where he becomes reluctantly involved with the local villagers’ drama. 

There’s been some confusion: the villagers think Panahi’s taken photos of young lovers Gozal and Soldooz. Those imaginary photos threaten Gozal’s arranged marriage to Yaghoob. There are some parallels between this domestic dispute and the fictional movie that Panahi directs within the film, through a combination of video chats and Reza’s assistance. Still, Panahi struggles to remain disengaged. He does not want to get involved in the villagers’ lives, but they insist. 

In “No Bears,” Panahi tries to maintain his freedom, to blur the lines that separate fiction from reality (as his mentor Abbas Kiarostami did), and between himself and the world beyond. The film’s title comes from a scene where a local villager explains that no bears are lurking nearby; that reassurance is obviously ironic. ( Simon Abrams )

6. “ Nope “

Jordan Peele masters the dense blockbuster, again, with his third and most thematically ambitious project, “Nope.” Once you get to the second act, the film’s brilliant entertainment has an irresistible pitch—”What if ‘Close Encounters’ turned into Jaws’?” and turns the classic Spielberg gaze inside-out to reveal its terror. Its core understanding starts with locking us in the point of view of a terrified child actor who watches his chimpanzee co-star, Gordy, wreak bloody havoc on a sitcom set before locking a gaze with the boy. It’s a pair of shots with no less fury than the Nahum 3:6 Bible quote that comes before: “I will cast abominable filth upon thee … make you spectacle.” And to tackle the totality of how monstrous our need for spectacle has become, parallel to our desire to harness it, Peele takes us back to the first moving image, a Black man riding a horse for the inventor of the moving picture, Eadweard Muybridge. So much of humanity has changed since those shots, including who is in the frame and why they are being filmed. “Nope” concerns nothing smaller than the abyss we have made of being seen—in the case of Peele’s latest horror metaphor, the abyss sucks its screaming prey into the sky, squishes them in its claustrophobic bowels, and turns them into blood rain. 

Peele’s flying people eater is what happens when we treat presidential campaigns as pure entertainment or exploit others on social media for followers—when our coexistence with other souls, animal or human, is devastated by the pursuit of monetary gain. But this is all just the interior for a beast of a sci-fi adventure that constantly transforms, and “Nope” thrives on Peele’s inestimable confidence when guiding audiences. His original script is pure entertainment, boasting the writer/director’s unique touch for spiky pop culture humor and heartfelt characters who outsmart the evil that hunts them: our heroes here are a horse trainer named Otis (a fascinating Daniel Kaluuya , rewriting the stoic cowboy) and his high-energy sister Em ( Keke Palmer , in one of the year’s funniest performances). In a giddy pursuit of what they call “The Oprah Shot,” they collaborate with a Werner Herzog-like filmmaker ( Michael Wincott ) and a UFO enthusiast ( Brandon Perea ) to document this killer thing while trying to understand it. 

The gangbusters third act of “Nope” revels in the work that goes into getting one perfect shot, and it’s no mistake that Peele’s latest has inspired craftsmanship across the board, creating an IMAX-ready scale with a minimal cast and a lot of open range. (For starters, production designer Ruth De Jong conjures a whole Western theme park for our traumatized former child star who still seeks an audience, now played with immense pathos by  Steven Yeun .) All of these talents are storytellers; in revisiting their efforts, bonded by Peele’s golden imagination, it becomes apparent how much is there to be mined. From start to finish, “Nope” gifts the audience with a wealth of reflections to discover, consider, and never forget. ( Nick Allen )

5. “ Aftersun “

I often think about a tinted polaroid my mother took of my father during a family trip to Wisconsin. He’s wearing sunglasses inside our hotel room, looking blankly at the camera. I knew my father for twenty-five years without ever really knowing him. I knew my father for twenty-five years without ever really talking with him, hugging him, or understanding him. We weren’t estranged. He was just raised during the 1950s. And with that upbringing came a wall.

So when he passed away in 2015, though I loved him, I knew no matter how much I tried, I could never fully understand what hurts, desires and dreams deferred occupied his mind. It’s a burden not uncommon for most people who lose a parent at a young age. But it doesn’t hurt any less, no matter how much time has passed.

It’s why at Karlovy Vary Film Festival when I saw writer/director Charlotte Wells’ feature directorial debut, “Aftersun,” a semi-autobiographical film about a woman ( Celia Rowlson-Hall ) looking back on a holiday trip she (Frankie Corio) took with her father ( Paul Mescal ) during the 1990s, I couldn’t avoid being broken open again by regret. Supported by riveting performances and told with acute period detail by Wells’ taut script, “Aftersun” is a deeply empathetic, visceral tale of the haunting heartache and vertiginous, inconsolable meaning that swims beneath one’s seemingly innocuous memories.

The film climaxes with a fitful and stabbing strobe light scene set to Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure,” a moment that physically rips open the cavern between nostalgia and nightmare to reveal self-annihilating guilt; it is the truth of a picture so open for picking at what must feel like a festering, self-inflicted wound that it plunged me back into my buried remorse. Wells’ “Aftersun” is a tender, unnerving spot of time that, like my father, I will not soon shake. ( Robert Daniels )

4. “ TÁR “

Lydia Tár is an orchestra conductor who has received every possible accolade and award. Cate Blanchett is dazzling as a woman who thought she had created an impenetrable fortress of power and prestige and then sees it collapse suddenly and irretrievably. Her physicality is always precise and dominant, as she confronts an insolent student, denies a wealthy donor a favor, threatens her daughter’s bully of a classmate, and brings down the baton sharply with one hand while using the other to communicate a world of nuance. Todd Field’s script is deeply researched, bringing a sense of authenticity so vivid we almost feel we saw the conductor on “60 Minutes,” or was it “American Masters”? That detail provides a foundation for a provocative exploration of longing, identity, obsession, and status. 

Field, Blanchett, and cellist Sophie Kauer make a restaurant scene into a fugue of shifting power dynamics when Tár tries to maintain her control while trying to seduce a young musician. The movie takes its time with the story, but it is as spare as the superb settings from production designer Marco Bittner Rosser . Not a moment is wasted. The sound design and the score by Hildur Guðnadóttir are almost characters in the film, fitting in a story where so much depends on what is heard, about tone and tempo. Tár is an enthralling character who keeps our sympathies shifting as we consider questions of seduction, privilege, predation, and cancel culture, with an audacious final scene that resonates like the last note of a symphony. ( Nell Minow )

3. “ Decision to Leave “

“Decision to Leave” finds the Korean master Park Chan-wook operating in a more muted palette and tone, but one that’s no less gripping than his bold, beloved works like “Oldboy” and “ The Handmaiden .” As he updates the film noir, he steadily builds tension using rapturous imagery, clever technology, a haunting score, and unexpected humor.

But at the heart of Park’s Hitchcockian thriller is the tantalizing push-pull of the forbidden romance between a Busan detective and his prime suspect. Park Hae-il is the world-weary but meticulous policeman investigating what looks like an accidental death; Tang Wei is the dead man’s widow, an alluring femme fatale who also may be the culprit. He doesn’t really want to solve the case, though, because he’s become fascinated by her—and who wouldn’t be? The Chinese actress is at her most seductive and mysterious. And she doesn’t really want him to learn the truth either, for a multitude of reasons—one of which is she kind of enjoys having him around.

We think we know these characters, these familiar types, but the tight and twisty script from director Park and Jeong Seo-kyeong takes them in unexpected and ultimately devastating directions. The actors’ chemistry smolders and crackles. And as their relationship evolves, so do the look and feel of the film in subtle but substantial ways. The dark wood and colorful wallpaper of the detective’s apartment give way to the soft pastels of the beach at the film’s heartbreaking finale. It’s where sea and sky blend into one, and the waves lap endlessly, with unanswerable questions lingering in the salty air. ( Christy Lemire )

2. “ The Fabelmans “

Contrary to its advertising, this is not a picture celebrating the “magic” of movies or completely espousing them as “dreams.” It’s a picture about falling under a certain spell, to be sure. The opening scenes, in which a wide-eyed little boy is overwhelmed by a fake train wreck in what most of us now dismiss as a cheesy Cecil B. DeMille movie, make the case that the theatrical experience once was, and still can be, a sensory steamroller. But once out of that theater, “The Fabelmans” goes into an affectionately recreated and vividly acted late-20th century real life and a story of a kid who joyfully learns a craft. And then, as his family and social life fall apart, he uses that craft to keep the world at arm’s length or to create worlds one likes better than one’s own. 

The emotions at play in Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical story are rawer and sometimes more unpleasant than we’ve seen from the filmmaker in such concentration for a while. We admire Sammy Fabelman’s inventiveness and stick-to-itiveness even as we see him become a kind of voyeur in his own life. His feelings about his passionate mom and his kind but buttoned-down dad yo-yo like crazy, as his moviemaking provides something he can actually control. And then he learns that something he controls himself can also be used to manipulate others. As is common in every Spielberg film, every shot here is a kind of miracle, a celebration in and of itself. But don’t mistake this for an uncritical cheer for image-making. It’s worth remembering that at the end, when Sammy visits “the greatest director who ever lived,” that director is cooling his heels without a project in an office across the hall from that of “Hogan’s Heroes.” Like Sammy’s uncle says, art will tear you apart. ( Glenn Kenny )

1. “ The Banshees of Inisherin “

Martin McDonagh’s black comedy is the rare kind of film that offers a fascinating dissection of the human condition while it entertains. It can be enjoyed thoroughly on its surface as the story of the day that a man named Colm ( Brendan Gleeson ) decided he was done talking to his friend Padraic (Colin Farrell). However, it’s also a film that’s very intentionally set against the backdrop of the Irish Civil War, a conflict wherein former neighbors became enemies. And it’s a film that provokes conversations about our impact on the world around us. Colm becomes convinced that the only impact he can make is through lasting art, but his decision to end a friendship has life-changing impacts on the people around him. “The Banshees of Inisherin” seems to diminish kindness, but it is the removal of the kind of everyday mundane niceties on this small island that shatters it. There’s so much to unpack, even in considering why McDonagh chose to make this movie now. It may be set a century ago, but the theme of a divided country and broken friendships feels very current.

Of course, it helps to have a cast as talented as this one, arguably the best of the year. The phenomenal Farrell had the best year of his career with this, “ After Yang ,” “ Thirteen Lives ,” and even “ The Batman ” serving as a remarkable display of his range. This is the peak of his career, the kind of performance that leads a highlight reel for a Lifetime Achievement Award. It is such a richly detailed acting turn, one that reveals new choices made by Farrell with each viewing. Gleeson gives a quieter performance than usual, but he balances Farrell in a manner that sells both their history and his willingness to destroy their future. Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon provide precisely what their roles need and then some.

Like only the best films, “The Banshees of Inisherin” is so hard to sum up in a blurb like this one because it’s got so much going on. It’s both comedy and tragedy at once. After all, they used to be friends. ( Brian Tallerico ) 

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Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore make magic in May December

Todd Haynes' latest film is a creepy, campy masterpiece.

Christian Holub is a writer covering comics and other geeky pop culture. He's still mad about 'Firefly' getting canceled.

As with all euphemisms, the title of Todd Haynes ’ new film sounds cute, almost quaint…while hiding a strange darkness underneath. “May-December” is the gentle sobriquet often applied to romances where one partner is much older than the other—think Sofia Vergara and Ed O’Neill in Modern Family . The bleak irony of applying it to a relationship that involved statutory rape and no small amount of psychological damage is the first stroke of brilliance in Haynes’ latest masterpiece, but far from the last. Creepy and campy in equal measure, May December will certainly leave your head spinning. 

Hollywood movies are so full of childhood fantasies (even this year, with superheroes on the downswing, the box office has been dominated by Mario and Barbie ) that it’s a welcome relief when a film comes along with something meaningful to say about contemporary adult concerns. Even better when such a film actually depicts a violent collision between adult life and the sensibilities of childhood. But that’s not all. May December ’s fictionalization of the real-life Mary Kay Letourneau story also riffs on true-crime obsessions, age-gap romances, and the blurred lines between journalism and performance in the age of social media…all things that feel very relevant to life on the internet in 2023. 

Julianne Moore stars as Gracie Atherton-Yoo, a woman who — like the real-life Letourneau — spent years in jail after having sex with an underage boy. Also like Letourneau, Gracie resumed the relationship after being released from prison and has had several children with her now-husband Joe Yoo ( Charles Melton ). The viewer arrives in their world alongside Elizabeth Berry ( Natalie Portman ), an actress who is set to play Gracie in an upcoming movie and wants to access the “truth” of what really happened, beyond the headlines. As such, Elizabeth often presents herself as a kind of journalist, seeking out interviews with other figures relevant to the story (such as Gracie’s first husband, her criminal defense lawyer, and so on) while also spending lots of time with Gracie and Joe. 

The involvement of Portman’s protagonist transforms May December from being the kind of rote true-crime story that fills streaming service queues to a meta-fiction meditation about how media can warp people’s perceptions of themselves (and, therefore, their realities). It quickly becomes apparent that, despite the hate mail sometimes left on their doorstep, Gracie and Joe live in a secure bubble without ever thinking too much about how their relationship began and what that might mean for the nature of their lives. But the more questions Elizabeth asks, the closer their bubble comes to popping. 

When age-gap relationships come under public scrutiny, it’s often one where the older partner is male and the younger female. Gracie and Joe’s relationship upends that dynamic, and it’s not the film’s only role reversal. Elizabeth, after all, isn’t a reporter seeking to interview Gracie; she’s an actress who is trying to embody her. The more time the two spend together, the more Elizabeth comes to dress and even act like Gracie, making the viewer wonder who’s really the driving force in their interactions. While Gracie speaks with a lisp, Joe talks with a stutter — both indicators of stunted childhoods, or pieces of performative victimhood? Your perception may change as the movie goes on. Initial impressions of Gracie’s relationships with her neighbors and her eldest son (Cory Michael Smith) also mutate over the course of the movie — not unlike the monarch butterflies that Joe keeps in special habitats throughout their home. 

Portman gives a hypnotic performance at the center of May December . She’s the audience surrogate, learning facts of the case alongside the viewer — but she is not an objective observer. She seeks to take the material of these people’s lives so as to absorb them into herself, and the film doesn’t shy away from the unsettling aspects of that process. 

It’s also to Portman’s credit that she didn’t direct May December herself, after screenwriter Samy Burch brought her the script with that in mind. Instead, she sought out Haynes, whose past work on movies about women struggling to survive in a patriarchal society and the mysterious dark sides of public icons made him uniquely capable of walking this story’s many tonal tightropes. Directors get a lot of credit for successful films, and rightly so — but not everyone has to seek out that role. Sometimes it’s just as valuable to use star power as a producer to secure the right creative talent for the job and then protect them from pressure. 

Moore has worked with Haynes several times before, and May December carries some knowing echoes of their past movies. When Gracie insists that her college-bound son drink milk to overcome his supposed “severe calcium deficiency,” she sounds just like Moore’s self-described “milkaholic” in Safe . The “forbidden romance” aspect of Gracie’s marriage to Joe may also remind some viewers of Far From Heaven . But be careful: Every time you think you have a grasp on what Gracie wants or why she does what she does, Moore pulls the rug out from under you. 

As he did in Safe , Haynes carefully constructs a cinematic world in May December where the environment reflects (and perhaps inspires) the characters' feelings. When Joe is explaining to Elizabeth how he fell for Gracie as a young boy working with her at a pet supply store, he says, “She saw me” — just as golden-hour sunlight peeks from behind the Georgia swamp they’re walking through. At a later point in the film, two characters’ unsettling argument is echoed by rumbling thunderclouds. Haynes’ camera often perceives these characters from around a corner, or from the other side of a mirror, or inside what they think is a safe space — always giving the viewer the simultaneously icky and exhilarating feeling of being a trespasser on private secrets. 

Like so many movies that first premiered at this year's film festivals, May December was bought by Netflix after Cannes and will have a limited theatrical release before hitting the streaming platform at the top of December. Either experience should have its benefits: In a theater, you can share the discomfort with others, while watching at home (where it will exist side-by-side with so many straight-faced true-crime programs) should make the viewing experience even more alarming, in the best possible way.  Grade: A-

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Related content:

• How Todd Haynes' May December channeled Mary Kay Letourneau and classic female melodramas
• Before  Barbie , there was Todd Haynes' infinitely weirder Barbie movie about Karen Carpenter
• Todd Haynes on 30 years of New Queer Cinema: 'We were trying to make sense of an incredibly scary time'

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In the midst of the US Civil War in 1863, a series of images of an escaped slave named Gordon – including one depicting his back, heavily scarred from whippings – published in Harper’s Weekly became famous as evidence of the brutality of slavery and inspired horror, sympathy, and a newfound vigor to end the war. Antoine Fuqua’s new film chronicles Gordon’s astonishing escape and his subsequent enlistment in the Union Army, calling on Will Smith to take on the central role. The film opens in limited release on December 2 before hitting Apple TV+ a week later.

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Hot off last year’s  The Eyes of Tammy Faye , Michael Showalter takes on another real-life story, albeit smaller in scale. The film is an adaptation of a memoir by Michael Ausiello (played here by Jim Parsons), an entertainment journalist who chronicled the final months of the life of his husband, photographer Kit Cowan (Ben Aldridge), after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Violent Night (2022)

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Women Talking (2022)

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Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

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'May December' : Release Date, Plot, Cast, and Everything We Know About Todd Haynes' New Movie

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The 82 best movies on disney+ right now (september 2024), who stars in netflix's gritty revenge thriller 'rebel ridge', quick links, when and where does 'may december' come out, is there a trailer for 'may december', what is 'may december' about, who is in the cast of 'may december', who is making 'may december'.

In 1995, Todd Haynes released his masterpiece Safe starring Julianne Moore , a grubby psychological-horror drama about a woman whose monotonous life gets abruptly thrown off the rails when she contracts a mysterious disease. The hauntingly beautiful work of counter-cinema has quietly earned its reputation as one of the most important films of the 1990s over the tears, and its themes of modern malaise and ecological extrapolations feel particularly resonant today . Moore and Haynes have collaborated on several acclaimed projects since the success of Safe , including the Academy Award-nominated romantic drama Far From Good and the experimental biopic I'm Not There , based on the life of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. The two reunite once again this year, for the romantic drama film, May December , with Natalie Portman and Charles Melton also added into the mix this time around.

Todd Haynes is known for his provocative and early transgressive work, often focusing on the outliers of society, which explores the themes of identity and sexuality in a crooked and subversive narrative structure that re-imagines the cinematic language and embodies his influence as one of the most prominent figures in New Queer Cinema. May December looks to be another essential addition to the auteur's impressive filmography, if the reaction out of Cannes is anything to go by, with both Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman receiving raves for their complex performances in this disturbing campy tale inspired by a true story. So before you watch it, check out our guide with all the details about the cast, crew, trailers, and the release date for the prestige romantic drama.

Editor's Note: This piece was updated on September 26, 2023.

Related: Todd Haynes’ Joaquin Phoenix-Led Gay Romance Movie Will Be Rated NC-17

May December had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival back on May 20 alongside films like Martin Scorsese 's Killers of the Flower Moon and opened to universal acclaim from the critics. The film will have its North American at the 61st New York Film Festival where it will open the festival.

The film is scheduled to be released in select theaters across the United States on November 17, 2023, before being available to stream on Netflix on December 1.

Netflix unveiled the first teaser for May December on September 5 . The teaser is cut with evocative images and pull-quotes from the film's gushing reviews, as it frames Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore's characters in carefully crafted cold vignettes, with Natalie Portman's character delivering a cheesy line on the paper with the hammiest and simultaneously sinister performance.

The official trailer for May December was released by Netflix on December 26, 2023. The trailer sees Portman's Elizabeth Berry, traveling to meet Gracie (Moore) and Joe, as she is conducting research to play the former in a new film.

May December is very loosely based on the story of American school teacher and sex offender, Mary Kay Letourneau, and her infamous romance with her student, Vili Fualaau, who was only twelve when the inappropriate relationship began. Despite several interventions from the law and the imprisonment of Letourneau for long periods, their romance couldn't be killed off, as Letourneau gave birth to Fualaau's kids while being in jail and the two eventually got married once she was released in 2005. But in the traditional Todd Haynes style, the story is told in the most untraditional structure, as May December focuses on an actress played by Natalie Portman, who visits a couple, whose scandalous age-gap romance had been sensationalized through tabloids, to do research for a film on their life. The intriguing premise leads to a disturbing story told in a humorous meta fashion, akin to Charlie Kaufman 's Adaptation , that cuts deeper into the heart of the romance to reveal its darkest and most intimate secrets.

The following synopsis has been officially released by Netflix:

"In May December , popular television actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) heads to Savannah, Georgia, to research a part in a new film that follows a scandalous tabloid romance. That love affair — between Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton) — was once a fixture of the gossip pages. After all, Joe is significantly younger than Gracie, who served time in prison when they were caught together. When she was released, the pair were married, and they now have two children together who are about to graduate from high school. At first glance, their untraditional marriage looks more predictable than Elizabeth expected. But soon, her observation brings long-dormant feelings to the surface, and the decades-old scandal reveals deeper and deeper layers. From first-time screenwriter Samy Burch, May December is a deliciously witty film about performance and exploitation that juggles surreal melodrama with humane perception."

May December is essentially a two-hander with Natalie Portman trying to learn how to play Julianne Moore in the context of the film. Both the Academy Award-winning actresses from Black Swan and Still Alice respectively, have had the critics sing their praises for their performance and are sure to be a highlight of the film. Charles Melton, who plays Julianne Moore's partner in the film and is best known for his roles in the teen drama Riverdale and The Sun Also A Star , has also garnered a lot of praise for his standout performance. The cast also includes names like D.W. Moffett ( Traffic ), Piper Curda ( I Didn't Do It ), Cory Michael Smith ( Gotham ), Drew Scheid ( Halloween ), Elizabeth Yu ( Avatar: The Last Airbender ), Gabriel Chung , and Lawrence Arancio ( Dopesick ) in various roles.

Related: 10 Underrated Movies Recommended by Todd Haynes

May December is the ninth feature film from Todd Haynes, and the Carol and Dark Waters director directs the film from a screenplay by Samy Burch and a story from him and Alex Mechanik . Natalie Portman also serves as producer on the film, along with Will Ferrell , Jessica Elbaum , Christine Vachon , Pam Koffler , Sophie Mas , Grant S. Johnson , and Tyler W. Konney .

Ed Lachman , who has previously shot all of Todd Haynes' films since 2002's Far From Heaven , was previously attached to the film but was later replaced by Zodiac and Speed cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt , with Haynes' frequent collaborator Afonso Goncalves editing the film. Principal photography took place over 23 days in Savannah, Georgia, and wrapped in November 2022.

• Natalie Portman