“No…no, you’re not. You’re not going to hang these men.”

No film released in ’22 contained scenes as strong as these two….scenes that rivet and resonate and settle into your bones….family discord that drills right down.

Nothing comparable was delivered by Top Gun: Maverick or The Fabelmans or Everything Everywhere All At Once. Nothing in Elvis, The Banshees of Inisherin, The Whale, The Woman King, Wakanda Forever or Nope comes even close. Nothing in White Noise, Decision to Leave, Women Talking, Bros, Blonde, Till, The Good Nurse, Babylon, Glass Onion…not on Red River‘s level.

She Said and The Menu are first-rate efforts. Happening was/is pretty great as an abortion period piece. All Quiet on the Western Front was intensely powerful in its own way. Ditto Bardo, which operates in its own meditative dream realm.