It is already that time of the year. The bite in the air, a longer darkness everyday – you know in your bones that another year is drawing to a close. As with any beginning that can exist only with a wrap-up of something else, this bitter-sweet longing to relive past moments are hard to escape. I find it tougher the older I grow – there is now an expectation of achieving milestones commensurate with my age, something to show for the year which has passed. And if my happy moments are not something that society recognizes as worthy, how do I retain its value? Instagram, Facebook does not make it easy – there are a dozen videos proudly being shared right at this moment. People getting married, going places, founding things, giving birth, earning horrifying amounts from glaringly straight-laced career paths. In this melee, where does a person like me – a loner, an avoider of deep entanglements, a lover of stories, quiet moments, and quieter places – stand?
Living life the way you want to can be an alienating, arduous enterprise. Things that give you joy can be stripped off its meat until only a bare skeleton survives. Things that give you peace can be cruelly dismissed. I know how it feels to stand in an unforgiving spotlight – a lone surveyor of once beautiful bits of time, now shattered from a fellow being’s callous disregard for it. All because it is different. Long, silent walks. Lungful of pristine air. A book that inspires an inappropriate burst of laughter. A movie that makes you sit in your seat, contemplating, even as the credits roll to a close. A T.V show that takes you away from your own, suffocating life – even if it is for 30 mins. These are the things I measure my life by. Stories painstakingly consumed to make me what I am at this very moment. When was the last time anybody gave any credence to these simple things and thought these were worthy pursuits? As I stood in a room where these moments which defined my year were mocked at, I felt furious. Wasted though my time might seem to some, I am sure there are others out there who feel as consumed by a well-told tale or a well-made piece of art.
Finally putting an end to my relatives-bashing, teenage-worthy (in case the innuendo was not clear, I am NOT a teenager in any form, as my family so lovingly reminds me), I-am-a-Thanos-sympathizer rant, I’ll get to the point of this post. The following is a sort of my personal Best-of-2022 list – all derived from TV shows I binged on and cinema which awed. I will table the books for now since this looks like it will be a long post already.
The Best Series
- Severance –
When work life balance is a bane in most of our armchair-led lives, the concept of Severance is intriguing.
In this series, we are introduced to Lumon Industries and its ‘Severed’ floor. Employees of the floor have a chip planted in their brains which enables their memories of workplace to be severed from their personal ones. These select employees do not remember anything of their ‘outside’ life when in office – they might see their son and not recognize him. And vice versa. So when a grieving Mark signs up to become an employee at Lumon’s severed floor, in a fit of desperation to forget his dead wife for at least a part of his day, it seemed like a good idea. But when is it ever so straight forward? Watch the whackiest, creepiest show to come out this year to find out where the innumerable hallways lead to.
The season finale is one the best finales I have watched till date, across several series. I could feel my heart pound, my breath catch – and that, right there, is a story well told.
P.S – Did I mention that it is directed by Ben Stiller?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEQP4VVuyrY
- Tokyo Vice –
I admit, the first couple of episodes in, I was wondering why I was watching this slow-burn show. But boy, was I glad I stuck to it. This underrated, ignored thriller which returns Crime to Noir follows the antics of American Jake Addelstein as he starts working in Japan’s most prestigious newspaper. His interactions with the Yakuza and Japan’s police force, midnight shenanigans with nightclub hostesses – all while chasing the next big headline by any means necessary – forms the bulk of Tokyo Vice. Amidst all the irredeemable, shady characters I found my favorite in the reluctant Yakuza, Sato. This series too made this list because of the nail-biting finale which tied together all different narrative threads very neatly to set up a fantastic premise for Season 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3oWrNQo_Ng
- Derry Girls –
Amidst the doom and gloom shows which I usually prefer, Derry Girls was a breath of fresh air. Set against the backdrop of Ireland’s “Troubles” in Derry, it follows the antics of Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle & James as they navigate teenage life in a Catholic community. Sister Michael is the world’s biggest treasure, and I will not hear any arguments (though there might not be any). A comedic gem with surprising moments of poignancy, sweetness, and deep meaning, this is a show which absolutely stole my heart. It has one of my favorite scenes of all times – Orla dancing down the streets of her hometown – Walkman plugged into her ears – in simple joy, starkly contrasted against the Englishmen with rifles standing guard in a blurred background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFmFuXH0IRY
- Sandman –
Despite being a stranger to Neil Gaiman’s famed graphic novels, I found myself enjoying the show immensely. Visually striking with a very good background score and a well-rounded script, Sandman was an engaging and intriguing watch. The cinematography is good enough to turn each frame into a dark, colourful poster. Get on this ride where Dream walks down a lane with Death as she goes about her duty or witness the duel between Dream & Lucifer (stunningly conceptualized with Gwendoline Christie guest starring as Lucifer Morningstar) or attend a serial killer conferemce or even go on a journey with a bizarrely animated cat – but be aware, this is not a straight in-your-face, light entertainment. Take a leap and embrace the abstract.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83ClbRPRDXU
- Andor –
It is a testament to the show that it made the list even before I completed watching it. I love that it is meaty (So much happens within the first few episodes, yet it doesn’t feel rushed or forced), personal and so real despite the outlandishness of the Star Wars world it is set in. Straying far away from any references to the Skywalker sagas, this fantastic return to the beginnings of the Rebellion itself is a treat to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKOegEuCcfw
Note – Nothing says “Golden Age of Television” like someone struggling to limit the best TV shows of the year to just 5. I have deliberately stayed away from popular shows like House of the Dragon (a piece with perfect production value and a fantastic cast, but somehow did not make me care about the characters), Peacemaker (glorious gore, action, and script) or The Bear (a genre bending drama about a highly talented chef who returns to his small, family run sandwich shop). And there are many others I am yet to watch – Only Murders in the Building S2, The Boys, The While Lotus, etc. etc., etc.
The Best Movies
- The Batman –
Many griped when Robert Pattinson was cast. I did not. And not because he is a pretty boy. He has surprisingly shrugged off the Twilight remnants to be involved in delightfully different movies. But the best thing about 2022’s Batman was not its lead actor. It was its city. It was Gotham. Gotham at its worst, at its darkest, at its sleaziest. And it was glorious for it. Cinematography so beautiful that it can be a character driving the movie forward by itself, complementing music and above all – rooted in reality at a level which no superhero movie has seen before, expect perhaps for Logan (indeed, you forget that it is a superhero flick, what with Pattinson’s Batman struggling to escape cops, almost crashing to the ground after jumping from a building). I do realise that there are a lot of complaints – for instance, the childish puzzles which Batman is required to solve can hardly be considered worthy of the world’s best detective. But this is an origin story – an unhinged Bruce Wayne who is yet to take on his more famous vigilante name, looking forlornly into the glass, fading eye makeup starkly visible. Rarely is a movie an action thriller yet beautiful to look at, inspires dread throughout but ends on a note of hope – The Batman did it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqqft2x_Aa4
- Top Gun: Maverick –
I almost missed watching Maverick on the big screen and I must thank my friend for dragging us to the theatre. In a world where sequels are a sure shot way of landing a flop, Maverick defied expectations and showed how it is done. With just the exact dose of fan service, nostalgia & call-backs, awe-inspiring stunts & effects, a perfectly beautiful cast (literally) and a sensible, simple story which connected with every audience member – Maverick was approachable Cinema at its finest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSqVVswa420
- The Power of the Dog –
This movie will be in a lot of people’s shit-list. It might have been on mine had it not been for the second half. It is not made for the average movie watcher and it doesn’t pretend otherwise. You are not spoon-fed dialogues to explain what goes on – it is the screenplay which acts as a script, showing rather than saying. The silence and malice gets to you and you can feel yourself lose your smile along the way. Shot at stunning locales and scenes which haunt you long after the movie ends, it is one story that left my mouth hanging open at the end. Jane Campion’s Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing is a deserving accolade, and you witness this in how exact each scene is, how perfect the actors are. Stay away from this movie if you are not into humorless, depressing, psychological slow burns with endings you do no see coming.
Note – The movie is an adaptation of Thomas Savage’s 1967 book with the same name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRDPo0CHrko
- Everything, Everywhere All at Once –
The Multiverse we so deserved. Though the runtime is a con and could have done with tighter editing, the movie is a surprising gem. With a cast that includes the incomparable Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan playing a lot of parts (a lot, really) deftly, it is another movie which defies genre. Sci-Fi? Family drama? Mother-Daughter relationship? Immigrant identity crises? Sexual identity crises? Action? Comedy? Well, you decide. It is, after all, everything everywhere all at once. Note – you can tell the movie is good when it has a scene with just two rocks, no BGM and dialogues typed out in floaty boxes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxN1T1uxQ2g
- Silent Night –
I think I am the only person in the entire world including this movie on “The-Best” list of anything, but I will stick to my guns. It is abysmally rated, badly reviewed, or worse, completely unheard of. Yet. There is something here. Something dark, something so dark that it is funny. The premise is simple – a group of friends and their young kids gather for a Christmas dinner. There is a darker purpose to this gathering which is gradually revealed as the movie unfolds. There are parts of the story which absolutely horrified me in its bleakness. This is what made me take notice – I can, perhaps immodestly, agree that after nearly 1 ½ decades of watching mostly humorless stuff, nothing much can horrify me anymore. But Silent Night did. It made me pause and contemplate life. To what extent is a parent allowed to decide for their child? Is the adult, who is more capable of understanding a better option, right? Or is the child, who can sometimes offer moments of greater clarity with simple thinking, right? And who gets to decide in an impossible situation? A story which starts as a slapstick comedy but takes to you places you would rather not go, this is a movie which will drag you out of your comfort zone. And the best part? It is only 1 hour 32 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1dOECVgqIQ
So, this is the list of content I watched and thoroughly enjoyed in 2022. Did you watch something different and was it the best? Do you disagree with anything on this list? Excited for something in 2023? Do let me know!
P.S. Some of the movies and series were not out in 2022, but 2021. I have included them here since I discovered them in 2022.
Picture Credits: IMDb
The Ramblings of A Most Ordinary Mind 
Leave a comment