Without fail, every passing year is a good year for movies filled with stories worth your time. Showcasing what’s possible on the silver screen, 2022 produced an array of dazzling images, the very same ones I assume Nicole Kidman still speaks of to this day. But like always, the quiet innovations in storytelling between the lines and on the pages were a rush to see too. Talking more about what stories stole our hearts and stuck in our minds is always a highlight of my year. So without further ado…

If 2021 was the year that brought the return of cinemas, then 2022 was the return of cinemas being a social experience, at least for me. I found myself less alone in the theater, with more packed screenings and livelier audiences, to the point where I finally experienced sitting in the overflow balcony of my local theater for an exciting screening of Chunking Express. If 2022 was just a preview of the electricity that could be felt in the theater again as a social experience, then bring on 2023!

If you’re anything like me, you might have slight list fatigue; 2022 ended with Sight and Sound magazine’s once-in-a-decade poll of the best films of all time, which meant months and months of film writers getting philosophical about lists followed by fierce online debate about whether its winner was a worthy one. (New Year’s resolution: spend less time on Twitter.) Only time will tell if any of the films I’ve chosen below have what it takes to crack a future version of the Sight and Sound list, but for now it’s enough for me that I loved them all.