20 Underrated Films from 2022

Ambulance

Dir. Michael Bay

Once derided as the exemplar of all that was coarse and dumb in American cinema, Michael Bay’s high-octane style now feels like a breath of fresh air in the barren landscape of American blockbuster filmmaking. In Ambulance, he gives us cacophonous action, broad comedy, insanely dynamic drone camerawork, and a gleefully unhinged Jake Gyllenhaal performance. It’s pure Bayhem, and it’s a blast. Streaming on NOW TV. [Philip Concannon]

Ali & Ava

Dir. Clio Barnard

On the streets of Bradford love blooms between our eponymous heroes. Theirs is a world where tensions erupt as quickly as they subside, rendering their partnership as luminous as the watchful moon. In a bond symbolised by song, where music be the food of love, director Clio Barnard ensures they play on. Streaming on Netflix. [Eleanor Capaldi]

All Light, Everywhere

Dir. Theo Anthony

Theo Anthony's ambitious and pressing essay doc traces the relationship between cameras and policing, throwing out multiple well-researched threads around power, watching and oppression. From the developments of 19th-century photography and weapons technology to a discomforting look inside one of today’s largest body cam manufacturers, the film undeniably speaks to recent histories while retaining an emphasis on the ambiguity of perception and truth. [Sanne Jehoul]

The Batman

Dir. Matt Reeves

There’s just something about a boy wearing eyeliner. Matt Reeves’ The Batman leans into the deeply emo – and deeply sexy – implications of the black smudge that always lingers around Bruce Wayne's eyes, crafting a superhero film that is volatile with regret and repressed desire, in which forces of light and dark wrestle with brutish chiaroscuro across the screen. [Anahit Behrooz]

Brian and Charles

Dir. Jim Archer

Some of cinema’s most compelling ruminations on loneliness employ the artificial to reflect on the human (think Jonze’s Her or Spielberg’s A.I.). This is true of Jim Archer’s Brian and Charles, a delightfully endearing comedy that sees a clunky seven-foot-tall robot made out of a washing machine rescue a hermit through the loving gift of friendship. [Rafaela Sales Ross]

Cyrano

Dir. Joe Wright

Wright's best film in a decade was lost in a bungled release. New songs by Bryce and Aaron Dessner amp up the yearning of Edmond Rostand’s 18th-century classic, with its well-intentioned yet flawed romantics brought to life with unselfconscious naturalism. This paean to love as ruin and salvation is also worth recommending for a career-best performance by Peter Dinklage. Streaming on Prime Video. [Carmen Paddock]

Elvis

Dir. Baz Luhrmann

Lurhmann’s whirling style frames a soulful star turn, with Austin Butler capturing a talented soul isolated in his own American rock iconography. Elvis treads familiar biopic ground, but panache and heart elevate the work. What emerges is a deeply sad portrait of an artist and young man used, abused, and lost. [Carmen Paddock]

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Dir. Sophie Hyde 

Sophie Hyde directs an intimate, hilarious sexual renaissance boasting riveting turns from Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack. In a delightful crescendo, the film offers a non-judgemental, earnest reflection on pleasure and human connections, dealing with the body, in all shapes and ages, with much welcome neutrality. [Stefania Sarrubba]

Jackass Forever

Dir. Jeff Tremaine

There are few reassuring constants in life, but the juvenile hilarity of a bunch of friends getting punched, tossed around and kicked in the nuts is eternal. The Jackass crew revive the franchise with new blood without sacrificing the wince-worthy pleasures of the stunts these lovable goofballs pull off. Streaming on Paramount +. [Iana Murray]

Kimi

Dir. Steven Soderbergh

You won't believe this, but Steven Soderbergh made a new film, and it’s really low budget. 'Blow Out with Alexa' is a reductive way to describe this surgically constructed tech thriller about an agoraphobic who stumbles onto a crime, as it niftily plays with shared anxieties of the pandemic and technology. Streaming on NOW TV. [Rory Doherty]

Lingui

Dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

The last few years have seen an abundance of abortion narratives on film - little wonder considering the bleak state of reproductive rights off-screen. Through the tale of a mother struggling to procure her teenage daughter an abortion, legendary Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun tackles the restrictive laws in his home country, foregrounding the radical power of female solidarity. Streaming on Prime Video. [Anahit Behrooz]

Mad God

Dir. Phil Tippett

A stop-motion dystopia conjured by special effects warlock Phil Tippett, Mad God is a descent through realms of Harryhausen-style monstrosities and junkyard food chains. Driven by themes of nihilism and suffering, the unhinged auteur builds war machines and torture devices, only to make viewers cringe and cower with maximum, gut-churning effect. Streaming on Shudder. [Lewis Robertson]

Memory Box

Dir. Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige

Lebanese directing duo Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige bring an experimental visual flair to their latest fiction feature, split between 1980s Beirut and contemporary Montreal. Imagination and reality blend as the pair pull from personal archives, telling a multigenerational ode to remembrance, reconciliation and connection through shared passions for documentation. [Josh Slater-Williams]

One of the Days

Dir. Bastian Günther

Bastian Günther effectively portrays the intensity and the absurdity of ‘Touch the Truck’ endurance competitions in One of These Days. The film’s extended coda feels like a slight misstep, but this is composed and quietly absorbing drama with some powerful moments. As the saleswoman determined to keep smiling while her event falls apart, Carrie Preston gives one of the year's great overlooked performances. [Philip Concannon]

Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle

Dir. Arthur Harari

Onoda portrays Japan’s famous WWII holdout Hiroo Onoda, who held fort in a Philippines jungle for 29 years. A deeply sad portrait of lives lost to drilled-in doctrines and absurd rationalising of beliefs despite all evidence to the contrary, it's a film concerned with the ravages of time but this epic adventure-drama zips by. [Josh Slater-Williams]

Playground

Dir. Laura Wandel

What if Uncut Gems took place inside a school and was seen through the eyes of a child? Belgian director Laura Wandel answers that question with Playground, an anxiety-riddled examination of the ruthlessly cruel nature of bullying and its harmful ripples swiftly laid out in 72 sharply edited, excruciating minutes. Streaming on MUBI. [Rafaela Sales Ross]

RRR

Dir. S. S. Rajamouli

Larger-than-life Tollywood epic following two revolutionaries fighting the British Raj that – like Inglourious Basterds – blends history and fantasy to riotously entertaining effect. When it finally reached UK audiences (via Netflix) it gave our right-wing press their own 'are we the baddies?' moment, and everyone else a deliriously cathartic thrill ride. Streaming on Netflix. [Bart Owl]

Three Thousand Years of Longing

Dir. George Miller

Clearly, George Miller is not interested in making his “one for me” film any less operatic and technically explosive than the heights he saw with Fury Road; turns out a friendship-cum-romance between a narratologist and an ancient Jinn is exactly the unwieldy and charming film everybody needs in their life. [Rory Doherty]

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car may have received the larger share of attention, but in doing so, it overshadowed the Japanese director’s other masterpiece of the same year. This breezy triptych of women-led character studies finds beauty and hidden complexities within life’s coincidences and is elevated by its particularly moving third segment. Streaming on MUBI. [Iana Murray]

X

Dir. Ti West

Juggling a love for 1970s exploitation horror and a consuming obsession with staying relevant, X is a frank, fleshy slasher on the things that make the world go round: sex, art and money. Disappointingly, it also resorts to prosthetics to equate monstrous with a grotesque, ageing female body. This (sadly very common) faux pas aside, Ti West's film is one bloody, fun ride. Streaming on Prime Video. [Stefania Sarrubba]