Film has had a funny old time of late. Not only has it been through the wringer as never before – releases postponed, schedules shredded, productions (and in some instances, actors and directors) cancelled – it has also, in these dark, sofa-bound times, been clear quite how valuable it is as a source of stimulation, solace and, yes, joy. (Have you been able to get to the cinema at any point in the last two years? The experience is frankly euphoric!)
Movies also provided us with some surprising points of social cohesion and uplift in 2021: the cinematic release, finally, of No Time to Die gave us a sense, however fleeting, that maybe things would be OK for a bit, while the themes of Don’t Look Up convinced us that things definitely wouldn’t be, but at least gave us plenty to debate. We slavered over the wide open skies in Nomadland and the desert planets in Dune and the costumes in The French Dispatch. We tipped our hats to The Power of the Dog and raised a glass to Another Round and sang the praises of West Side Story.
But how are we looking for 2022? To quote the Jets’ Tony: something’s coming, something good. We’ve got films from celebrated directors, including Paul Thomas Anderson and Kelly Reichardt and Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Luca Guadagnino. We’ve got interesting looking indies, from Andrea Arnold’s Cow to Sean Baker's Red Rocket, and we’ve got big, enjoyable (possibly slightly silly) films like Morbius and The Lost City (which aren't on this list just yet, but might creep on...). And we’ve got Robert Pattinson as Batman! And Tom Cruise as Maverick! And Ana de Armas as Marilyn! Whatever else goes down this year, the movies have your back.
January
Nightmare Alley
Mexican director Guillermo del Toro updates Edmund Goulding’s 1947 film of the same name, while still drawing on the garish lights and sinister shadows of classic noir movies, from the likes of Otto Preminger and Darryl F. Zanuck. In this carnival world of the lost and lonely, mysterious drifter Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) learns how to hustle by reading the things people unwittingly give away about themselves, tutored by clairvoyant Zeena (a beguiling Toni Collette) and her ageing husband Pete (David Strathairn) a renowned mentalist. But as he rises through the ranks, Stan’s past is gathering pace on him, lying in wait to welcome him with a terrifying grin. The movie is shaped like a sleight of hand itself, showing us the mechanics of the con, and yet we still find ourselves duped as it slowly unfolds.
Parallel Mothers
The great Pedro Almodovar delivers another masterpiece — childbirth pun fully intended — of both style and substance, distinguished by another superb performance from Penelope Cruz, this time playing a new mother carrying a dreadful secret. Cruz is Janis, a successful magazine photographer in Madrid. When she becomes pregnant during an affair with a married man, she decides to keep the baby and raise it alone. Newcomer Marilena Smit is Ana, still in her teens, and also pregnant, in her case unhappily so. Ana is estranged from her father and lives with her actress mother, Teresa (the joke’s in the name), a selfish egocentric. As is the way with Almodovar characters, neither woman can choose her biological family, much as she might wish to — but they can, perhaps, make a new one.
Belfast
Writer-director Kenneth Branagh’s decision to tell his beautifully shot, semi-autobiographical story of life in a Protestant family during The Troubles from the point of view of its nine-year-old protagonist, Buddy, imbues his film with maximum childish wonder and warmth, while still acknowledging the pain and fear of the period: qualities not lost on the awards-giver-outers, who are nominating Belfast left right and centre. Newcomer Jude Hill, who plays Buddy, is deserving of the attention he is receiving, though a supporting cast made up of Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench as Buddy’s grandparents, and Catríona Balfe and Jamie Dornan as his impossibly lovely Ma and Pa, give him the starry backing he needs.
Licorice Pizza
Paul Thomas Anderson absolutely read the room with his sunny, Seventies-set romcom for people who think they’re above romcoms. Having wisely dropped the original title of Soggy Bottom (with its now inescapable Bake-Off connotations), it follows a loveably confident nerd, Gary (Cooper Hoffman) and the older, stern-faced object of his affections, Alana (Alana Haim), through strange and wonderful episodes of adolescence, with a strange and wonderful soundtrack, courtesy of Jonny Greenwood, to match.
Cow
You might have thought Kelly Reichardt’s perfectly poised 2019 drama First Cow was likely to be the only bovine-themed film you would be moved by of late, but step forward Fish Tank and Red Road director Andrea Arnold with a tender, visceral feature-length documentary that gives you the cow, the whole cow, and nothing but the cow: one particular cow in fact, called Luma, as she goes about her business being fed, milked and ultimately, well, you know.
Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road
After the success of Peter Jackson’s Beatles opus, it’s no surprise that other popular music masters are up for examination. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, however, is a difficult subject (although he is at least, unlike half of the Beatles, still alive) because of the mental health problems that have been a part of his life, and arguably his genius, forever. Director Brent Wilson finds a way to put Wilson at relative ease – by having him drive around, à la Carpool Karaoke, with journalist and friend Jason Fine – and whatever the limitations of the film as a character study, the tunes are heavenly.
February
The Souvenir: Part II
If you saw Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir (2019), you’ll know why her follow-up is on this list. The first loosely autobiographical film was a tender, funny, searingly honest portrayal of a young film-maker, Julie, played by Honor Swinton Byrne (yes, daughter of Tilda, who also stars) who once again takes up the role as Julie’s adult life begins in earnest. Further support comes from Richard Ayoade – with a fetching blond hairdo – and Joe Alwyn, who stepped in for Robert Pattinson after he had to withdraw due to caped crusader commitments.
Jackass Forever
If you’d have told us that the Jackass boys – and by boys we mean, at this point, middle-aged men – would be responsible for one of the most surprisingly moving paeans to friendship and ageing that we’ve seen this year, we’d have said nuh-uh, or, you know, punched you in the face with a giant inflatable hand. And yet here it is, the fourth outing from Johnny Knoxville, Steve O, Wee Man, Bam Margera et al, in which the stunts are as stupid as ever (cup of horse jizz, anyone?), and the laughs, despite our better judgement, hard to suppress. Also, in an age of unbearably weak TikTok tomfoolery, it’s nice to see the old timers showing the kids how it’s done.
The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert
Waiting for Peter Jackson’s much-delayed revisiting of the archive film recordings of The Beatles’ 1969 recording session for the album that would become Let It Be was a tense experience. Would the Disney+ series be a rehashing of the original documentary film made from the footage – Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 film, also called Let It Be – or would the extended running time (nearly eight hours if you please) unearth something new? Happily it was very much the latter – not to mention turning a nation newly weak at the knees for Paul McCartney – to the extent that many who streamed the series were happy to crawl off the sofa and into cinemas to watch the final legendary Beatles concert that took place on the roof of the Apple Corps HQ on Savile Row in 1969 in full, big-screen glory. (But don’t worry if you missed it, it’s also perfectly enjoyable on smaller screen too.)
The Batman
Despite the radical introduction of the definite article, director Matt Reeves' The Batman isn't the revolutionary reworking it might have been. However, given the rocky history of the caped crusader on screen (lo, for each Dark Knight there shall be a Batman and Robin), perhaps that's not such a bad thing. Robert Pattinson acquits himself perfectly well as both a hoodie-wearing Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting, gizmo-loving alter-ego, as does Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Paul Dano as a Riddler who is mercifully less fond of question-marked catsuits than his predecessor. It may not be the most ground-shifting take on the Batman franchise, but the gloomy, downbeat vibe suits 2022 to a tee.
Upcoming Movies and Release Dates
Red Rocket
The Florida Project director Sean Baker’s new comic drama about a adult film star returning – broke – to his hometown, has an eye-popping premise, but it was the choice of former MTV VJ, model and rapper Simon Rex for the lead role that really caught people’s attention, not least because it proved to be something of a casting triumph. It received meagre box office on its opening weekend in the US but a five-minute standing ovation in Cannes: let’s see what it can do when it gets its UK release this spring.
Release date: 11 March
The Worst Person in the World
Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s sweet comic drama was one of the unexpected gems of last year’s festival circuit, so its UK release should get it the wider audience it so richly deserves. Chronicling the turbulent love life of twentysomething Julie (Renate Reinsve), it is a funny, touching, moving portrayal of the chaotic feelings of late adolescence, buoyed by a captivating central performance.
Release date: 25 March
The Northman
Whether you thought director Robert Eggers’ 2019 film The Lighthouse was an arthouse masterpiece or a misfiring mash-up, there’s no denying that he’s got a vision and he’s not afraid to use it. This time it’s to tell a dark saga of a Viking prince seeking revenge on the villain (Claes Bang) who killed his father (Ethan Hawke), and stars Alexander Skarsgård, an actor who’s surely been waiting long enough for really meaty lead role (meaty being, it would seem from the blood-soaked trailer, the optimal word).
Release date: 22 April
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Movie stars love a chance to send themselves up (see: John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich, Jean-Claude Van Damme in JCVD, and anyone who’s ever been on Extras), and though you might argue that the conceit is getting tired, we’re still curious to see what Nicolas Cage does in this comedy about “Nicolas Cage”, a fading mega star who takes a gig attending a wealthy fan’s birthday. That the superfan is played by the supremely likeable Pedro Pascal is a definite sweetener.
Release date: 22 April
Top Gun Maverick
Say what you like about the slew of remakes and updates that seem to clog film distributors’ calendars, we feel fairly certain we’ll be able to make a little space in our schedules (and our hearts) for Tom Cruise’s return as the, er, maverick pilot, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. More good news: Val Kilmer will be reprising his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, and though Maverick’s partner Nick “Goose” Bradshaw is long since cooked, his son Lt Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller) is proving a talent worth keeping tabs on.
Release date: 27 May
Elvis
Actor Austin Butler beat some significant competition – Harry Styles and Aaron Taylor-Johnson among them – to bag the lead role in Baz Luhrmann’s eagerly anticipated biopic of Elvis Presley. However it was his co-star, Tom Hanks, playing Colonel Tom Parker, who snagged the headlines when became a celebrity canary in the Covid coal-mine in March 2020, causing production to be halted. Thankfully it got back on track, and we’re looking forward to seeing how Luhrmann, no wallflower himself, portrays rock’n’roll’s once-and-forever king.
Release date: 24 June
Blonde
![london, england september 28 ana de armas attends the no time to die world premiere at royal albert hall on september 28, 2021 in london, england photo by samir husseinwireimage](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gettyimages-1343682714.jpg?crop=1xw:0.43288888888888893xh;center,top&resize=980:* ""No Time To Die" World Premiere - Red Carpet Arrivals")
Though it’s a poor pun that we are probably not the first, nor will be the last, to make, Cuban actress Ana de Armas has swapped Bond for Blonde with this new biopic of Marilyn Monroe from Australian director Andrew Dominik, based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. Given that Dominik made The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and that Norma Jeane’s tragic life was much misunderstood, expect this to be a darker reframing.
Release date: 2022 TBC
White Noise
It would be fair to say that Noah Baumbach taking on Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel White Noise is something of a departure for the director of Marriage Story and The Squid and the Whale: it centres on the neuroses of an affluent, academic family, yes, but this time there’s a sinister chemical spill that brings a new apocalyptic tang to proceedings. Be comforted, at least, that Baumbach has recruited some familiar collaborators for this one: Adam Driver as fretful history professor Jack Gladney and actor/writer/director Greta Gerwig (Baumbach's real-life partner) as his equally nervy wife Babette.
Release date: 2022 TBC
Bones & All
Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino teams up once again with Timothée Chalamet (though, weirdly, not Armie Hammer…) for this horror-romance about teenage cannibals, based on the novel by Camille DeAngelis. Taylor Russell stars as Maren, a young woman struggling to survive in the margins of 1980s America, who joins Chalamet’s Lee for a momentous road trip across the States, though, as every seasoned road-tripper knows, your past always catches up with you eventually.
Release date: 2022 TBC
Showing Up
![hollywood november 08 director kelly reichardt and actress michelle williams speak at the 2008 afi fest premiere of wendy and lucy qa held at arclight hollywood on november 8, 2008 in hollywood, california photo by michael bucknergetty images for afi](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gettyimages-83616460-1641549199.jpg?resize=980:* "AFI FEST 2008 Premiere Of "Wendy And Lucy" - Q&A")
Showing up is exactly what we do whenever we hear Kelly Reichardt has a new film on the horizon, and even more so when, as with Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff and Certain Women, it stars her long-time collaborator Michelle Williams. Reichardt has often asked Williams to play women struggling for survival (in Meek’s Cutoff, quite literally), and although Showing Up, hopefully out this year, is about an artist’s chaotic preparation for an exhibition, problems are all relative right? We’re still 100 per cent in.
Release date: 2022 TBC
