22 hidden gem films of 2022

Starting off our list with something special, Aftersun is one of those movies that hits you like a tidal wave. It's the story of a father and daughter on vacation, where they go swimming, hiking, and exploring. The whole thing builds like a mini-tsunami, a little blip that grows into a giant force.

From the creator of John Wick and Bullet Train comes Nobody, another movie centered around violence. Without giving too much away, it's about a father who gets revenge on the people who stole his watch and took his money. It's not the most profound movie on our list, but then again, who wants it to be? 

In a year that saw various directors make movies about their past (Richard Linklater, James Gray, Charlotte Wells), Steven Spielberg's vision stands alone. The story of a boy who learns to process the world through cinema has Spielberg's fingerprints all over it, in front of and behind the camera. 

Who wants to watch a movie about COVID? It's not exactly the best selling point for a movie in 2022, but this indie manages to pull it off by turning the subject matter into a well of creativity, poetry, and beauty. It follows three actors stuck in lockdown while making a film, which also happens to be the film we're watching. 

Five years after his last film (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri), Martin McDonagh returns with a vengeance — a drama so fraught it should come with a pint of beer. It's not easy watching these two friends drift apart, but looking away is harder. Even if we can't put our finger on what makes this strange, beguiling film work, we're happy to see it through. 

Who knew Adam Sandler would become one of the best actors in Hollywood? He's been on a role since  Uncut Gems, and he laces up for another shot. As a scout for the NBA, he flies across the globe to check out a seven-footer and winds up discovering a 6'5" shooting guard. Sandler shows off his range as an actor — drama, comedy, romance — and even gets a chance to show off his basketball skills. 

If you're a fan of the Robert Bresson donkey movie Au Hasard Balthazar, you will be thrilled to know there's a new donkey in town. His name is EO, and he bears witness to the fall of man the same way Balthazar did 70 years ago. 

Movies about childhood are usually as colorful as the skies in Boyhood and as catchy as the songs in Almost Famous . However, in the new film from James Gray, childhood is not the vibe you may expect. All the lights are dimmed in this family drama about 1970s racism, which would be too much if it weren't for the performances by Banks Repetta, Anne Hathaway, and Anthony Hopkins. 

The latest addition to the Android genre, this movie could easily be called Robots, They're Just Like Us! The story follows a robot who has a family, has a love interest, and then runs out of battery. His death hits the family like a ton of bricks, and the somber tone makes us question how robotic he really was. 

Could a documentary ever win Best Picture? It might be a pipe dream, but this movie makes you think it should. No other movie on our list packs the punch of Nan Goldin, her fight against the ongoing opioid crisis, and her need to make the world a better place. You'll leave the theater with tears in your eyes and hope in your heart. 

And this year's What Am I Watching? Award goes to...Barbarian! Has there ever been a more bonkers movie than this one? I can't think of a film that takes more pride in upending expectations than Barbarian, a horror flick about an Airbnb reservation gone horribly wrong. 

At this point, walking into an Asghar Farhadi film is like walking into a war zone. While the movies always start nice — a man returns a purse to a woman — they always devolve into a minefield of chaos. Nothing ever ends well for a Farhadi protagonist, but the pleasure is in watching the director peel back their layers. 

David Bowie passed away in January 2016, but he was beautifully brought back to life in an exorcism of sound and vision. In the new documentary Moonage Daydream, Bowie gets a movie fitting of the music he recorded. It's a space-y, existential journey into the center of his mind. 

Most people know Honore de Balzac because of his name or because he drank 20 cups of coffee a day. But fewer people know of his work as a writer, the way he predicted the future of journalism, and the way he turned Lost Illusions into a best-seller. This adaptation has great fun drawing parallels between Balzac's characters and the people we see on television today — "hot take" artists like Stephen A. Smith — and has an even greater time charting the main character's trajectory.  

A two-hour documentary about lava might not sound like a good time at the movies, but this is anything but dull. An eruption of creativity sees two scientists explore the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet, Fire of Love is the most exhilarating nature doc of the year. It's edited like a French New Wave movie, shot like a David Lean epic, and presented like a Wes Anderson comedy. What more could you want? 

What happens if you throw Rear Window and The Conversation into a blender and then press "start"? You get Kimi . The latest from Steven Soderbergh, this movie takes elements of two classics and blends them into something new. 

The story of two cannibals on the prowl, Bones and All takes the premise of romantic road movies and adds a full-course meal of gore. It could easily be called Eat, Prey, Love, with the character's need to travel to survive. It could also be called "visceral" and "profound." 

Cate Blanchett gives a powerhouse performance as a composer at the Berlin Symphony, where things are not as orchestrated as they seem. What starts as a celebration of music slowly turns into a  #MeToo movie, then into a horror flick. Then, into something else entirely. 

Two decades after Waking Life, director Richard Linklater revisits that movie's animation for a trip down memory lane. Sure, the director didn't actually go to the moon as a child. But he did run around with friends, play basketball in the driveway, baseball in the park, and music in the car. It's all rendered like a childhood dream. 

The Bob's Burgers Movie went almost unseen in movie theaters, mainly because people no longer have an appetite for puns. Shame on them! I'll take a moveable feast of puns any day, especially when the Belchers serve them. 

What a refreshing surprise. A road movie that doesn't make you want to barf, Hit the Road is a trip with a bunch of strangers who never get on your nerves, and a bumpy ride that never makes you feel sick. That's because Panah Panahi has followed the road map of Abbas Kiarostami and his father, Jafar Panahi, and taken the scenic route through poetic landscapes and timely lessons. 

Action. Comedy. Romance. Musical numbers. Political metaphors. Fist fights with tigers. Shootouts with bears. There hasn't been a movie this epic in years, but since it's an Indian release, many people still haven't seen it. Let's change that, shall we?