Clint Worthington's Overlooked Films of 2022 | Features - Roger Ebert

We asked 10 contributors to prime 3 films from 2022 that they deliberation everyone should spot earlier making their apical 10 lists of the year. These are the choices of Clint Worthington.

One of the large joys and pressures of being a professional is that we conscionable spot so overmuch in a fixed year. Between the hustle of festivals, caller theatrical releases, and the flood of streaming-exclusive films that travel retired each week, it’s hard not to consciousness similar aged Alex DeLarge successful “A Clockwork Orange,” eyelids pulled unfastened successful a Ludovico concern of our ain making. 

Every truthful often, 1 of those flickering images lingers successful beforehand of us, and it’s hard not to privation to snatch it retired of the aerial and amusement it to everybody. Sometimes, the viewing nationalist already knows our joy: Films similar “Top Gun: Maverick,” “RRR,” and “Nope” negociate to find their mode into peoples’ imaginations without our help. But it’s not astonishing erstwhile immoderate incredible, thought-provoking works walk done the sieve by sheer dint of their obscurity. And it’s truthful gratifying erstwhile you get the accidental to champion those films, their scintillating ideas, and the hard-working artists who forged them.

The 3 films I’ve picked research the ever-malleable quality of individuality on 3 disparate genres: A documentary filmed wholly successful VR, a folkloric communicative of shapeshifters and witches, and a Lynchian ode to the changing tides of the state euphony industry. At archetypal blush, they couldn’t beryllium much dissimilar to 1 another. But cheque retired astatine slightest 1 (or each three!), and you’ll marque this critic happy.

“You Won’t Be Alone”

You’d beryllium forgiven for seeing the trailer for Romanian manager Goran Stolevski’s “You Won’t Be Alone” and dismissing it arsenic conscionable different riff connected “The Witch.” But conscionable similar its mercurial main character, it’s a movie that requires you to peel backmost the tegument of its selling to feast upon the tasty soma beneath. Set successful 19th-century Macedonia, Stolevski’s debut follows a young peasant miss named Nevena (Sara Klimoska, astatine first) kidnapped by the witch-creature (Anamaria Marinca) who lives successful the woods extracurricular her village. Not agelong after, she’s near to her ain devices with thing but this terrifying caller acquisition and nary knowing of the extracurricular world.

What follows is thing abbreviated of mesmerizing, a Grimm’s fairy communicative soaked successful humor and curiosity. Matthew Chuang’s shallow-focus 1.66:1 cinematography seeps america successful the Malickian haze of Nevena’s journey, turning each flesh-ripping section successful her way of self-discovery into a happening of perverse romance. Every fewer minutes, a caller histrion takes the mantle of Nevena’s “skin,” whether Noomi Rapace’s doomed parent oregon Carlota Cotta’s comely Boris, oregon the children (and men) she tries connected for a bit. In truthful doing, she (and we) get a clang people successful the joys and vagaries of humanity, successful each the orgasmic highs and convulsive lows it entails. 

“You Won’t Be Alone” cries retired for a queer reading, with the innate fluidity of sex and look its quality experiences. And it requires much patience and rumination than you mightiness beryllium acceptable for. But fewer films entranced maine astatine Sundance this twelvemonth rather similar this one. 

“Country Gold” 

Oklahoma-born Mickey Reece is nary alien to the surreal and deconstructive: Take 2017’s “Alien,” which reimagined Elvis Presley successful a overmuch antithetic mode than Baz Luhrmann did. Or past year’s “Agnes,” which starts arsenic an exorcism representation earlier bravely veering disconnected into a much contemporary, contemplative absorption astatine the halfway mark. “Country Gold” takes those instincts arsenic acold arsenic they’ve ever gone before, with Reece imagining a fictionalized gathering of the minds betwixt 2 titans astatine the tallness of their respective state euphony careers: George Jones (Reece regular Ben Hall) and Troyal Brux (Reece himself), a gossamer-thin analogue for Garth Brooks astatine the tallness of his mid-’90s fame. 

Jones has invited Troyal to Oklahoma for an intimate chat, thing the second takes arsenic validation for his much focus-grouped, crowd-pleasing schoolhouse of popular country. It’s not agelong aft arriving, however, that helium learns the existent crushed for Jones’ invitation: aft their nighttime together, Jones plans to cryogenically frost himself truthful helium tin outlive his enemies and detractors. Before helium goes, helium wants to spot what satellite he’s leaving down for state music. 

The ensuing odyssey is hard to picture and yet intolerable to look distant from, flipping betwixt signifier and genre with Reece’s signature agility. Black-and-white indie-film hangout scenes crook into ink-sketch animations and groovy ‘70s transgression homages arsenic Jones tells gangly tales of his beingness and Troyal struggles to support up with him. But each these episodic jaunts interval supra a amazingly melancholic communicative of 2 men astatine antithetic ends of the mirror, wondering what astir themselves is reflected successful the other. What volition they embrace? What volition they reject? It’s offbeat and unpredictable successful the nonstop mode I love, and its extremity credits country rivals “Pearl”’s for its jaw-dropping committedness to the bit.

“We Met successful Virtual Reality”

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught america anything, the connections we forge online tin often beryllium conscionable arsenic existent to america (if not much so) than the ones we marque successful meatspace. Joe Hunting’s warm, inviting “We Met successful Virtual Reality” is an ode to that principle, zeroing successful connected respective folks who predominant the virtual-reality societal networking abstraction VRChat. There’s nary point-and-laugh condescension to beryllium found; sure, there’s plentifulness of abstraction for mirth, but the netizens of VRChat would chuckle close on with you erstwhile their VR car overturns connected a virtual freeway, oregon erstwhile Hunting pans implicit from a superior speech astir accessibility to uncover the different subordinate is Kermit the Frog.

What’s astir magical astir this doc, though, is the way it highlights however VR tests the boundaries of gender, geography, and accessibility. Communities, and adjacent romances, travel to beingness crossed the globe; bonds signifier astir taking creation classes oregon learning motion language. A radical of friends successful anime catgirl avatars fuss implicit a glitzy VR wedding with each the anticipatory glee of the existent thing. A late-film country successful which a deaf idiosyncratic signs an affectional goodbye to her member (who died by suicide) successful a virtual lantern ceremonial brought maine to heaving sobs. 

There are undoubtedly much hard-hitting oregon analyzable documentaries astir the virtues and vices of VR—the innate issues with consent oregon harassment that plague immoderate online community. “We Met in Virtual Reality” focuses connected the small pockets of joyousness radical tin carve retired for themselves erstwhile freed from the constraints of their carnal bodies. The avatars are specified clusters of polygons. But the radical powering them (and the emotions they feel) are precise real.