Best of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival has officially come to an end. I saw 30 movies at this year’s festival, one less than last year. Overall, this year’s festival was really good. There were a number of movies that I really liked and only two or three that I truly did not like, mostly because they were boring. However, missing from this year’s festival was a movie that was a truly great film. In previous years, there had been a movie that truly blew me away, like Hereditary in 2018, Minari in 2020, and Flee in 2021. This year was missing that. Obviously, I didn’t see every movie that played during the festival, so there might have been a masterpiece that I missed, but for the ones I saw, there was a lot I liked, but not one I truly loved. So with that, these are my picks for the best movies and performances from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

 

TOP 10 MOVIES

10 – EMILY THE CRIMINAL

• Aubrey Plaza gives the best performance of her career in John Patton Ford’s tight, gripping crime thriller.

 

9 – JIHAD REHAB

• A fascinating documentary about a terrorist rehabilitation center.

 

8 – HONK FOR JESUS, SAVE YOUR SOUL

• Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown are a dynamite pair in Adamma Ebo’s church comedy.

 

7 – FRESH

• A gross, twisted, darkly funny horror movie led by a never-better Sebastian Stan.

 

6 – RESURRECTION

• The craziest movie I saw all festival features Rebecca Hall battling past demons in a film everyone will be talking about.

 

5 – DOS ESTACIONES

• Juan Pablo González’s gorgeous film about a tequila company trying to stay afloat in Mexico amid a flood and a plague.

 

4 – EMERGENCY

• A smart, funny, socially relevant college buddy movie with two spectacular lead performances from Donald Elise Watkins and RJ Cyler

 

3 – DUAL

• Riley Stearns’s sci-fi dark comedy featuring clones and duels is an inventive and unique genre-bender.

 

2 – BRIAN AND CHARLES

• The most wholesome movie of 2022 belongs to Jim Archer’s hilarious and sweet look about a man and his robot.

 

1 – CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH

• New indie wunderkind Cooper Raiff’s sophomore feature is a charming look at how messy life can be regardless of your age. Raiff also stars in the film, along with an outstanding Dakota Johnson. The film brilliantly balances comedy and drama and will slap a smile on your face that won’t leave until after the credits roll.

 

 

BEST OF THE REST

BEST DIRECTOR: JUAN PABLO GONZÁLES, DOS ESTACIONES

Runner Up: Cooper Raif, Cha Cha Real Smooth 

 

BEST ACTOR: DONALD ELISE WATKINS & RJ CYLER, EMERGENCY

Runner Up: Sebastian Stan, Fresh

 

BEST ACTRESS: DAKOTA JOHNSON, CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH

Runner Up: Anna Diop, Nanny

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS, 892

Runner Up: Aaron Paul, Dual

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: AIMEE LOU WOOD, LIVING

Runner Up: Regina Hall, Master

 

BEST SCREENPLAY: DUAL

Runner Up: Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: DOS ESTACIONES

Runner Up: Living

 

BEST MIDNIGHT MOVIE: FRESH

Runner Up: Resurrection 

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY: JIHAD REHAB

Runner Up: All That Breathes

 

BEST FOREIGN FILM: DOS ESTACIONES

Runner Up: The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future

 

BEST SHORT FILM: 

Runner Up: 

 

LEAST FAVORITE: BLOOD

Runner Up: The Mission

 

 

OVERALL RANKING OF EVERY FEATURE FILM I SAW

1. Cha Cha Real Smooth

2. Brian and Charles

3. Dual

4. Emergency

5. Dos Estaciones

6. Resurrection

7. Fresh

8. Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul

9. Jihad Rehab

10. Emily the Criminal

11. All that Breathes

12. The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future

13. Nothing Compares

14. Living

15. The Watcher

16. Nanny

17. 892

18. Am I Ok?

19. Sirens

20. Palm Trees and Power Lines

21. Riotsville, USA

22. The Princess

23. Master

24. 2nd Chance

25. Speak No Evil

26. Call Jane

27. When You Finish Saving the World

28. Meet Me in the Bathroom

29. The Mission

30. blood

 

 

 

 

 

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