The Best Movies of 2022 So Far – Harper's BAZAAR

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Including comic classics, soon-to-be cult thrillers, and unconventional fairy tales.
If you’re trying to make sense of our ever-changing reality, cinema can help. Through a filmmaker’s lens, audiences absorb new takes on the world—which can feel particularly meaningful now, in this third year of wondering what normal even means. 2022 has already brought us a noir take on the classic superhero film, a satirical send-up of the horrors of dating, and a lush sci-fi meditation on the meaning of life, and we’re not even through summer yet. Read on for our favorite movies from 2022 so far, with many more to come.
Recognizing that a person’s coming-of-age often continues well past their high school years, Norwegian director Joachim Trier presents a candid look at an Oslo free spirit entering her 30s. The film serves both as an in-depth character portrait and an untraditional rom-com, placing its primary concern on the brazen, impulsive way Julie (an impressive ​​Renate Reinsve) chooses to navigate the world.
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Steven Soderbergh taps into a distinctly pandemic-era paranoia in this high-tech Rear Window, with Zoë Kravitz playing an agoraphobic tech worker who hears an assault while going through recordings from a virtual assistant. The premise might be clumsy in anyone else’s care, but Soderbergh’s tight cinematography and Kravitz’s quiet electricity strike exactly the right notes, demonstrating just how much privacy and security have changed in a short time.
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In an era when the movie-musical genre has embraced its extravagant, theatrical roots, director Joe Wright’s take on Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play doesn’t disappoint. Featuring a career-best performance by Peter Dinklage, Cyrano tells a tale of yearning and heartache, soundtracked by brooding indie-folk heroes The National.
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Ever since Robert Pattinson’s turn in the Batsuit was first announced, fans and critics have been wondering what new themes the superhero franchise possibly had left to explore. But director Matt Reeves’s brutal noir spin on the story, showcasing a hero who’s a hair’s breadth away from becoming a villain, turns out to be a refreshing take, as well as a mirror to our current political climate.
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Writer-director Kogonada’s vision of the future is filled with meditations on life as expansive and lush as the film’s gorgeous cinematography. As parents Jake and Kyra (Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith) set out to repair their android son, Yang (Justin H. Min), they discover that the line between human and AI doesn’t matter as much as the question of what it means to be human, to have a heritage, or to truly live.
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You could say Fresh starts with a date from hell, if director Mimi Cave and writer Lauryn Kahn didn’t up the ante 30 minutes in, revealing the real nature of the man our protagonist (Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones) has fallen for. In this gruesome send-up of the “meat market” of modern dating, Cave constructs a horrific tale bolstered by Sebastian Stan’s perfect villainous turn.
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In her first film after her Oscar-winning short, Bao, writer-director Domee Shi tells the tale of a 13-year-old fangirl going through an extreme version of puberty while also dealing with familial pressures. The movie offers the typical Pixar magic from a fresh perspective, managing to feel both universal and specific at the same time.
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Writer-director duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert cram tons of absurd details into this multiversal action-comedy, from sex toy-shaped trophies to a Ratatouille subplot starring a dexterous raccoon. At the center of everything is a heartfelt story about the strength of love and family when confronting existential dread, led by brilliant performances from Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan.
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The best Jane Austen adaptation this year is a heartfelt gay rom-com, starring Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang as two friends with very different romantic goals. A week’s vacation on the titular island tests the duo’s friendship as they get to know a charming doctor and guarded lawyer.
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This Telugu-language blockbuster by director S.S. Rajamouli is the story of two strangers (Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) who team up to rescue a kidnapped girl from British colonial officials. It’s also three straight hours of maximalist filmmaking, from the edge-of-your-seat action sequences to the sprawling Tollywood dance numbers.
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Emma Thompson stars in this introspective drama about a middle-aged, retired teacher named Nancy Stokes, who hires an escort in the wake of her husband’s passing. As Leo Grande (played by Daryl McCormack) helps Nancy work through her inhibitions, the unlikely pairing form a deep and lovely connection.
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The third Jordan Peele film is a cinematic event set in the California desert, where a mysterious extraterrestrial being threatens horse trainers OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald (Keke Palmer). In true Peele fashion, the film examines society’s spectacle-obsessed culture through a meticulously thought-out plot filled with Easter eggs (and that’s before we get to Gordy’s Home!).
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Marcel, a lovable character and 2010 YouTube sensation voiced by Jenny Slate, gets his big-screen debut in this sentimental drama about the young shell’s journey to find his long-lost family. This faux-documentary handles themes of familial grief and community through the charming shell’s life, with appearances by his grandmother (voiced by Isabella Rossellini), documentarian Dean (director Dean Fleischer-Camp), and 60 Minutes‘ Lesley Stahl.
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