This was one heck of a year at the movies.
Hollywood doled out some boring films based on familiar brands — the same as it ever was — but the world of independent and international cinema offered up a wealth of beautiful, risky, energizing and poignant work. With the COVID pandemic gumming up the production pipeline, fantastic work we didn't get in 2020 or 2021 erupted into arthouse theaters and onto streaming services in 2022.
I made a few changes to my year-end roundup this year, the 16th I've been putting The Wallys together. First, I chose to put it out earlier instead of waiting for all the stragglers and Oscar hopefuls to reach my local theater. That means I haven't seen the latest from a few of my favorite filmmakers — namely, Sarah Polley (Women Talking) or Darren Aronofsky (The Whale). For me, those will be 2023 films.
I've also chosen to eliminate the gender divide in my acting categories. When I first started doing this, I cribbed the categories from Oscar. This change reflects my belief that great art can come from anywhere — and anyone — regardless of something as incidental as gender. Going forward, I will nominate 10 lead and 10 supporting performances each year with a single winner from each category.
Finally, I introduced a new category recognizing breakthrough performances, a catch-all to honor actors not named in the other categories who I noticed for the first time in 2022 and want to see a lot more from. This is subjective, like everything else: Two of this year's honorees, Theo Rossi and Tandi Wright, have decades-long careers on TV and in supporting roles. Some of our finest talents go unsung until, suddenly, they break through. This new category is one way to recognize them and spread the love.
THE TOP TWENTY:
1. Everything Everywhere All at Once (U.S., Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert)
2. Petite Maman (France, Céline Sciamma)
3. Red Rocket (U.S., Sean Baker)
4. A Hero (Iran, Asghar Farhadi)
5. The Innocents (Norway, Eskil Vogt)
6. Drive My Car (Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
7. Decision to Leave (South Korea, Park Chan-wook)
8. Compartment No. 6 (Russia, Juho Kuosamen)
9. Aftersun (U.K., Charlotte Wells)
10. The Menu (U.S., Mark Mylod)
11. Pearl (U.S., Ti West)
12. You Won’t Be Alone (Serbia, Goran Stolevski)
13. Mass (U.S., Fran Kranz)
14. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (U.S., Rian Johnson)
15. Emily the Criminal (U.S., John Patton Ford)
16. After Yang (U.S., Kogonada)
17. Vortex (France, Gaspar Noé)
18. The Banshees of Inisherin (Ireland, Martin McDonagh)
19. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (U.S., Guillermo del Toro)
20. The Woman Who Ran (South Korea, Hong Sang-soo)
BEST PICTURE
Everything Everywhere All at Once
A Hero
The Innocents
Petite Maman
Red Rocket
BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker (Red Rocket)
Asghar Farhadi (A Hero)
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)
Céline Sciamma (Petite Maman)
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Honorable Mention: Juho Kuosamen (Compartment No. 6), Park Chan-wook (Decision to Leave), Eskil Vogt (The Innocents), Charlotte Wells (Aftersun), Ti West (Pearl)
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
Cate Blanchett (Tár)
Danielle Deadwyler (Till)
Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Mia Goth (Pearl)
Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car)
Aubrey Plaza (Emily the Criminal)
Tang Wei (Decision to Leave)
Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
HM: Ralph Fiennes (The Menu), Amir Jadidi (A Hero), Kim Min-hee (The Woman Who Ran), Paul Mescal (Aftersun), Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World)
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Hong Chau (The Menu)
Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Rory Kinnear (Men)
Anders Danielsen Lie (The Worst Person in the World)
Vincent Lindon (Titane)
Janelle Monae (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery)
Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans)
HM: Yuriy Borisov (Compartment No. 6), Margaret Cho (Fire Island), Judd Hirsch (The Fabelmans), Nina Hoss (Tár), Noémie Merlant (Tár), Tôko Miura (Drive My Car)
BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
A Hero
The Innocents
Mass
Petite Maman
Red Rocket
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Lashana Lynch (The Woman King)
Daryl McCormack (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
Paul Mescal (Aftersun)
Theo Rossi (Emily the Criminal)
Tandi Wright (Pearl)
BEST BODY OF WORK
Penelope Cruz, actor (Official Competition and Parallel Mothers)
Mia Goth, actor/writer (The House, Pearl and X)
Hong Sang-soo, director (In Front of Your Face, Introduction and The Woman Who Ran)
Eskil Vogt, director/writer (The Innocents and The Worst Person in the World)
Ti West, director (Pearl and X)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Asghar Farhadi (A Hero)
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Seth Reiss and Will Tracy (The Menu)
Céline Sciamma (Petite Maman)
Eskil Vogt (The Innocents)
HM: Fran Kranz (Mass), Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin), Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Guillermo del Toro and Patrick McHale (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio)
Andris Feldmanis and Juho Kuosmanen (Compartment No. 6)
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe (Drive My Car)
Rian Johnson (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery)
Kogonada (After Yang)
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Turning Red
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Ascension
Descendant
Fire of Love
Is That Black Enough for You?!?
Searching for Mr. Rugoff
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Compartment No. 6
Drive My Car
A Hero
The Innocents
Petite Maman
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Matias Boucard (Athena)
Kim Ji-yong (Decision to Leave)
Claire Mathon (Petite Maman)
Larkin Seiple (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Hoyte van Hoytema (Nope)
HM: Drew Daniels (Red Rocket), Sturla Brandth Grøvlen (The Innocents), Chayse Irvin (Blonde), Darius Khondji (Bardo, Chronicle of a Handful of Truths), Emmanuel Lubezki (Amsterdam), Jani-Petteri Passi (Compartment No. 6)
BEST EDITING
Sean Baker (Red Rocket)
Denis Bedlow (Vortex)
Jens Christian Fodstad (The Innocents)
Blair McClendon (Aftersun)
Paul Rogers (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
HM: Olivier Bugge Coutté (The Worst Person in the World), Kim Sang-beom (Decision to Leave), Jessica Kingdon (Ascension)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
After Yang
Decision to Leave
Flux Gourmet
Nope
White Noise
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Arjun Bhasin (After Yang)
Jennifer Johnson (Blonde)
Linda Muir (The Northman)
Malgosia Turzanska (Pearl)
Mary Zophres (Babylon)
BEST HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGN
Crimes of the Future
Men
The Northman
Titane
You Won’t Be Alone
BEST MUSIC SCORE
Alexandre Desplat (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio)
Alberto Iglesias (Parallel Mothers)
Eiko Ishibashi (Drive My Car)
Jo Yeong-wook (Decision to Leave)
Gary Welch [music supervisor] (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Babylon
The Batman
Blonde
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Innocents
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Nope
The Northman
Three Thousand Years of Longing
Titane
