1. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE is the cinematic equivalent of getting slapped in the face with a large dildo (literally, as it turns out). However exhausted you are by what Hollywood churns out, it will leave you gobsmacked, overjoyed, and aching for more films as inspired.
2. HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK by Sequoia Nagamatsu (@SequoiaN)
HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK is a haunting collection of short stories that begin to weave themselves together until a mosaic novel reveals itself. That happens right around the same time you also realize you’re reading a heartbreaking, beautiful inspiring book about fighting to hold on to the beautiful in the face of terrible tragedy.
3. “THE BOYS” Season 3
“THE BOYS” continued to deliver this year, proving yet again why it’s the best television series ever created about America. Because you really cannot talk about what America is without super-hero sex parties, obviously. You can read my thoughts on it here:
4. MOBY DICKENS by Blak Douglas
Australia’s Archibald Prize winner for 2022. Blak Douglas’s portrait of artist Karla Dickens — the first time a portrait of an Aboriginal woman has been awarded the prize — depicts the Biblical flooding that laid waste to Lismore this year…but is also a canny metaphor for the artist’s journey in the art world.
5. TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Easily the most satisfying blockbuster experience of 2022…at least so far. It’s a cinematic miracle in many ways, as far as I’m concerned. You can read my thoughts on the challenges the filmmakers faced and why I think their solutions provide a MasterClass for storytellers here.
6. “THE BEATLES: GET BACK”
In a year packed with phenomenal docuseries, Peter Jackson’s “THE BEATLES: GET BACK” tops them all by allowing Beatles fans — and anyone else interested in the artistic process — into the studio with the Fab Four for the first time. If you’ve ever cracked jokes about how Yoko broke up the band, you’re in for a surprise.
7. THE LEBS by Michael Mohammed Ahmad
I’ve read many books this year, many of which will stay with me for the rest of my life, but few will like Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s THE LEBS. It’s brutally confrontational, but what it reveals about how the traditional artistic gatekeepers in the West interact with non-white artists to warp these artists’ identities and their communities’ place in cultural and even political conversations must be experienced.
8. “RUSSIAN DOLL” Season 2
A stunning, challenging, confronting series about international trauma. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I finished the final episode. You can read my thoughts on it here:
https://www.colehaddon.com/post/russian-doll-season-2-a-moving-study-of-intergenerational-trauma
Cole Haddon
Kelly