Better late than never! Here’s our favorite international films of 2022 which range from an Indian biopic/star vehicle for Alia Bhatt to a trio of +3 hour films from 3 separate continents.
12 of our top 30 were seen at the cinema as the theatrical film experience in 2022 was almost back to normal. New international films are given a pretty decent share of screen space in West Los Angeles, mostly thanks to the efforts of the Laemmle Theaters and The Nuart. There’s also a couple of bigger theater chains such as Cinemark and CGV that screen the latest big releases from the Indian, Korean, and Chinese film industries at a few of their locations. Outside of these theaters, international films also premiered at film festivals across the city such as AFI Fest, PAFF, and LALIFF amongst others. However, whilst most international films were easier to find theatrically, they weren’t easier to find on streamers as the streaming market became more split and the big names focused on U.S. releases vs. continuing to scout new international features. Mubi, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hoopla, Kanopy, and even Hulu have been streaming a good selection of new international films – we’ll see if HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+, and Peacock join them in 2023.
30 Best International Films of 2022
30. Gangubai Kathiawadi (India)
An Alia Bhatt star vehicle. Gangubai Kathiawadi is the perfect film for her, and she is the perfect fit for Gangubai. Whilst it fails to pull off the conversion of Gangubai from prostitute gangster to feminist icon, its first half is memorable for its quest for vengeance through Mumbai’s criminal underworld. As a bonus, this film features some of the best songs of 2022’s movies.
29. Joyland
Whilst Joyland’s Queer Palm win promises a progressive or unique portrayal of Queerness, the film doesn’t really stretch any boundaries. Haider’s relationship with Biba, the only queer relationship in the film, is sacrificed for a melodramatic finale. However, Joyland is a technically faultless film – something you’d expect from a Cannes winner – and captures the dynamics of the patriarchy in Pakistan memorably.
Read the full review here.
28. EO (Poland)
Sure, the storyline in Eo is a bit clichéd, but there’s a reason why it’s in discussions amongst the best films of 2022: it’s amazing cinematography and sound. The vivid colors and striking sounds turn this Lassie Come Home replay into something that feels much more intense – like a Donkey version of Okja. I only wished the marketers conveyed this intensity in their PR, instead of this comforting image of Eo with carrots around his neck. It’s obviously more for the art-film crowd than for families.
27. Petite Maman (France)
Petite Maman is built around a beautifully mellow sci-fi premise which subtle depicts the fragile relationship between a mother and daughter. Whilst it manages to convey a lot of quaint emotion in its short runtime, it doesn’t celebrate the magic within it. This leaves the film feeling a bit flat to some, but quietly brilliant to others.
26. Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)
This is The Secret in Their Eyes if it was contained to the world of law. It examines the same historical moment in Argentina through the story of the lawyers that put the government on trial and also features Ricardo Darin. Even though the momentum from the thrilling lead up to the trial fizzles out once the film enters the courtroom, it’s always a pleasure to watch one of Argentina’s most iconic actors in their element.
25. All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)
This film is for all the fans of inspirational, patriotic war films. It shows the pointless brutality of war – crossing shocking violence alongside the bland bureaucracy that prolongs it. It also has a soundtrack that serves a similar purpose to a smoke-alarm running out of battery – its unpredictable, sudden loud drones make it un-ignorable. It prevents you from getting comfortable with all of the horrors present in this war film.
24. Murina (Croatia)
A psychological coming of age movie that features some extreme anxiety inducing scenes. The beautiful Adriatic coast masks the strained family relationships between Julija and her parents – a misogynistic dad and a fragile mother. The arrival of a foreign businessman with an ambiguous background and fortune brings the allure of an alternate future for Julija, but pits her against her family and everyone else against each other.
23. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (Mexico)
Genius at times and pretentious at others made Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths one of the most divisive movies of the year. Whichever side you fall on, there should at least be a universal appreciation of its originality. The sets and cinematography and the weird images they come together to create make this film brilliantly unique.
22. Il Buco (Italy)
Il Buco’s stunning landscape shots will push you to add Calabria to your travel wish lists. It follows a group of explorers in the 1960s as they descend into one of the World’s deepest caves in Southern Italy. It’s meditative pace, without any subtitled dialogue and natural sounds, creates a simpler world to contrast with the modern skyscrapers being built in Northern Italy. Il Buco is an ode to the eternal, calm beauty that nature and a simple life offer.
21. Happening (France)
Happening follows a similar path to Never, Really, Sometimes, Always. Like Autumn in the latter film, we join teenage Anne in the early 1960s as she finds out she’s pregnant and follow her quest to end her unwanted pregnancy. However, unlike Never, Really, Sometimes, Always abortion is illegal in the entire country, and Anne is forced to the underground for help. It’s also a little more raw, making it a harder, deliberately more uncomfortable watch.
20. Wet Sand (Georgia)
After Eliko is found hanged in a quiet village on the Georgian Black Sea, his granddaughter Moe comes to organize his funeral. Whilst Moe expects to be in and out of the village quickly, she’s confronted by a web of lies. The more time she spends in the village, the more secrets she finds. As with the best Iranian dramas (see Man of Integrity of A Hero), the tension builds and builds until something has to give.
19. Tug of War (Tanzania)
Tug of War is a beautifully shot, anti-colonial Tanzanian film inspired by Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love. It features sumptuously warm cinematography, a slow burning romance, and a fight for independence. The only criticism is that it may borrow a little too much from its obvious influences.
Read the full review here.
18. Saint Omer (France)
In Saint Omer a novelist attends the trial of a woman that killed her 15-month old daughter by abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in Northern France. The more time our protagonist (and the audience) listens to the killer, the more drawn to her we are. Like the best classic horror films, Saint Omer draws on dread and hidden fears – in this case a fear of motherhood and fear of ones own violent capabilities. It’s a brilliant addition to the legendary tales of La Llorona and Rusalkia.
17. Great Freedom (Germany)
At the end of the Second World War, Hans is moved from the Nazi concentration camps to the prisons of Post-War Germany because of his homosexuality. Over the next few decades, he’s repeatedly imprisoned for his sexuality, but he manages to find some slim semblance of freedom and love in the prisons which is always cut short outside of them. Great Freedom is one of the best prison dramas you can watch.
16. Ponniyin Selvan: Part One (India)
The downside of Ponniyin Selvan: Part One is it’s a long set-up for what should be an incredible sequel. Despite this, the upsides are still numerous: the AR Rahman soundtrack, the Game of Thrones conniving and conspiring against the King, and shots of Southern India and South East Asia are just a few examples. Make sure you watch this film now before the hype arrives with the release of part two.
15. Leonor Will Never Die (Philippines)
Leonor falls into a coma when a television lands on her head, sending her into a dimension that floats between her dreams and reality. It becomes a story within a story as Leonor enters her own unfinished B-movie action script to fulfill her own hero’s journey. Leonor will Never Die is an endearingly quirky ode to the simple fun of 80’s action films.
14. Alcarras (Spain)
What Alcarras does brilliantly is tell a very specific local story in order to highlight how capitalism is affecting not just the Sole family, but the local community and many other people around the globe. It’s set completely in one small municipality in Spain centered one family, all played by non-actors from similar backgrounds to the family on screen, living on one farm. Whilst a multi-family or multi-country film might fail to generate sympathy for it’s characters because of it’s broad scope, Alcarras, in spending time with one family in one region, gives the audience more time and closeness to sympathize with not just them, but everyone negatively affected by capitalism around the world.
Read the full review here.
13. Lingui: The Sacred Bonds (Chad)
Mahamat Saleh-Haroun is one of the most brilliantly consistent directors working today. Every one of his films focuses on Chadian’s facing dilemmas, and all are extremely grounded because of the patient pacing of each of his films. Lingui: The Sacred Bonds follows Amina, a single mother helping her daughter seek an abortion when its condemned by both religion in law. Unlike Happening or Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always their journey is shared and not carried out alone, allowing for their bond to grow in the extreme circumstances.
12. Night of Knowing Nothing (India)
Night of Knowing Nothing combines reality with fiction, fantasies, memories, and a range of experimental plots, to create one of the most interesting protest documentaries of recent years. The narrative follows, L, a fictional university student writing letters to her lover. Their unravelling relationship, partly due to their caste differences, runs alongside documentary footage of student protests and police violence, and in doing so, becomes a metaphor for the country’s decline.
11. Bantu Mama (Dominican Republic)
Bantu Mama looks like your typical Film Festival fare, but it’s propelled by a brilliant soundtrack of regional African music and Dominican trap. Both genres mesh together to represent the cultural dialogue with Africa that Emma, the French-Cameroonian fugitive, opens to the Afro-Latino children that shelter her. The Pan-African cultural dialogue they create make Bantu Mama unique. It’s a lean, music-powered cultural exchange linking the underworld of the Dominican Republic to Africa.
Read the full review here.
10. Clara Sola (Costa Rica)
Clara Sola is the year’s most subtle anti-colonialist film. It follows Clara’s awakening as she frees herself from her conservative Christian family in remote Costa Rica to embrace the indigenous roots of her miraculous powers. It uses colors and nature brilliantly to depict her gradual awakening from society and its colonial inherited culture.
Read the full review here.
9. RRR (India)
There wasn’t a more entertaining film than RRR in 2022. Whilst other Indian and American films tried to capture out-do each other with more ridiculous action scenes, RRR threw 3 or 4 of the top action sequences of the year into it’s 3 hour run time. Sure, it could be described as nationalist and the villains are cliched, and yes the CGI isn’t perfect, but it’s pure entertainment with a bromance for the ages.
Read our review of the RRR experience here.
8. Saloum (Senegal)
Saloum is a high energy genre film that creates a team of mythical African revolutionaries and pits them against a paranormal ambush. Whilst this may seem like a ridiculous plot, it never feels it. Everything we need to know is told on the go and each of the three main characters feel like they have a long backstory which gives the film credibility. The only disappointment is it ends as quickly as it starts, leaving you wanting more.
7. No Bears (Iran)
For a film that holds no punches in attacking censorship and freedom of movement, Panahi’s latest is a joy to watch. It’s filled with a dry humor that pokes fun of the establishment whilst retaining a serious message. Just as much as this, No Bears is also a testament to the filmmaking drive of Jafar Panahi. No matter how many restrictions are imposed against him, he’s continued to make films and inspire others. We hope he, and the Iranian filmmakers imprisoned with him earlier this year will be released and the filmmaking bans rescinded.
Read the full review here.
6. Decision to Leave (South Korea)
Decision to Leave is one of the best modern noirs we’ve seen, complete with a very normal romance, at least in comparison to the director’s other movies. The brilliance in the film comes from the little things, such as the humorous clues of a brewing romance (including expensive sushi), and a hilarious way to take part in a knife fight. Park Chan-wook also uniquely meshes two shots into one to more efficiently convey the detective process. These innovative scenes along with the injections of humor make Decision to Leave immensely engaging to watch.
5. Girl Picture (Finland)
If you’re a fan of Booksmart, Girlhood, or even Worst Person in the World you should try this cute but not shallow coming of age movie from Finland. Whilst there are plenty of similar films, Girl Picture feels more natural and humble because it contains more depth to the dialogue between best friends Ronkko and Mimmi, and Mimmi’s young relationship with Emma.
4. Rewind & PLay (France)
Rewind and Play is an incredibly uncomfortable example of how the Black experience has been written out of history. Alain Gomis digs up the outtakes from an interview Thelonious Monk did with French state television in 1969. It reveals that behind what perhaps appeared to be a simple profile of a Jazz musician, is a heavily edited, whitewashed version of one of the genres largest names. His talent and experience is deliberately reduced to a few stereotypical nuggets to fit a white European audience.
Read the full review here.
3. Mr Bachmann and His Class (Germany)
A couple of years ago, Frederick Wiseman released City Hall, a long documentary that showed viewers footage from all parts of Boston’s city government to give a fairly complete view of what it is like to work in local government. Similarly, Maria Speth’s Mr Bachmann and His Class, spends 3.5 hours in and around Mr Bachmann’s class to give you the experience of being a fly on the wall in a German middle school. What makes it great is that its not just any class; Mr Bachmann’s is composed of migrant children adapting to Germany and Mr Bachmann’s unconventional methods (including heavy metal rehearsals).
2. Memoria (Colombia/Thailand)
At the opposite end of the cinematic experience spectrum from RRR is Memoria. It is just as necessary to watch this film in the cinema, and it may be the only place we’ll ever be able to see it as it continues its theatrical rollout. Like other Apichatpong Weerasethakul films, Memoria‘s plot is intangible. It’s not a film you follow easy; instead it gently guides you towards a calm ecstasy. Watching Memoria in the movie theater is a spiritual experience.
1. Trenque Lauquen (Argentina)
If you’re ready to sit down for a few hours to indulge yourself in some cosy, trivial Argentine mysteries, meet the latest film from El Pampero Cine, Trenque Lauquen. Like La Flor and Extraordinary Stories, Trenque Lauquen is indulgent storytelling. It’s as if the filmmakers of El Pampero Cine have been challenging each other to come up with new quirky mysteries to keep audiences interested for longer periods of time. Each of their films is like following a maze or river cruise full of pleasant surprises. Serious things happen in these films, but because of the relaxed tone, it never feels real-world serious. They’re there to simply entertain and nothing more, and they do this better than anyone else in the industry.
HONORABLE MENTIONS FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FILMS OF 2022:
Pada (India), Inu-oh (Japan), Holy Spider (Iran), Monica, O My Darling (India), The Tsugua Diaries (Portugal), The Great Movement (Bolivia), Excess Will Save Us (France), Fire in the Mountain (India), Vikram (India)
If you think we’ve missed a film from a list that you think is one of the best international films of 2021, please get in touch on Twitter or by email.
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