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Cinema · 2022 Ranked

Best Films of 2022, Ranked by IQ Score

The year the post-COVID theatrical recovery began. The films of 2022, ranked by IQ Score.

2022 is the year post-COVID theatrical recovery began in earnest. TÁR (Field), The Banshees of Inisherin (McDonagh), Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 7 Oscars), Decision to Leave (Park), Aftersun (Wells), The Fabelmans (Spielberg), all released within twelve months.

The structural argument for 2022-as-canonical-year: simultaneous auteur peak (Cate Blanchett's career-defining TÁR, McDonagh's most-disciplined Banshees, Spielberg's most-personal Fabelmans), commercial-blockbuster recovery (Top Gun: Maverick saved theatrical cinema commercially), and the indie-prestige breakthrough year (EEAAO swept the Oscars in March 2023). The recovery year.

20 titles · ranked by IQ Score

  1. 1
    The Fabelmans poster, IQ Score 191/200, Masterclass tier

    The Fabelmans

    Masterclass drama

    Spielberg's semi-autobiographical 2022 film, Sammy Fabelman as the director's stand-in, the camera the early instrument that resolves a family the camera also helps dismantle. Michelle Williams as the mother gives the pe…

    191/200
  2. 2
    All Quiet on the Western Front poster, IQ Score 182/200, Masterclass tier

    All Quiet on the Western Front

    Masterclass drama, war

    Young German soldiers experience the horrifying reality of World War I. Educational about World War I and its human cost. Cognitive engagement from the disillusionment and the brutality. Entertainment minimal; the film i…

    182/200
  3. 3
    The Whale poster, IQ Score 173/200, Masterclass tier

    The Whale

    Masterclass drama

    An isolated man attempts reconciliation with his estranged daughter. Educational about isolation and redemption. Cognitive engagement from the character study. Entertainment from the emotional journey.

    173/200
  4. 4
    Everything Everywhere All at Once poster, IQ Score 162/200, Masterclass tier

    Everything Everywhere All at Once

    Masterclass sci-fi, drama

    A woman navigates a multiverse of possibilities while fighting an existential threat. Educational about quantum physics and identity. Cognitive engagement from the multiverse narrative. Entertainment from the visual spec…

    162/200
  5. 5
    After Yang poster, IQ Score 162/200, Masterclass tier

    After Yang

    Masterclass drama, sci-fi, philosophical

    Kogonada's 2021 A24 science-fiction-meditation film anchored by Colin Farrell as a father trying to repair a malfunctioning android sibling-companion (the title character Yang) his daughter has been raised alongside. The…

    162/200
  6. 6
    Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery poster, IQ Score 160/200, Masterclass tier

    Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

    Masterclass comedy, crime, mystery

    Constructs an elaborate locked-room mystery where the solution requires absorbing character motivations, technological deceptions, and social commentary while the film actively subverts typical mystery conventions.

    160/200
  7. 7
    Marcel the Shell with Shoes On poster, IQ Score 160/200, Masterclass tier

    Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

    Masterclass comedy, adventure, family

    A tiny talking shell navigates the world. Educational about stop-motion animation and filmmaking. Cognitive engagement from appreciating the craft. Entertainment from the whimsy and the heartfelt story.

    160/200
  8. 8
    Babylon poster, IQ Score 158/200, Stimulating tier

    Babylon

    Stimulating drama, comedy, historical

    Damien Chazelle's 2022 silent-to-sound-era Hollywood epic anchored by Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, and Diego Calva. The structural commitment to letting late-1920s Hollywood decadence operate at canonical-excess register, a…

    158/200
  9. 9
    Aftersun poster, IQ Score 157/200, Stimulating tier

    Aftersun

    Stimulating drama

    A man and his daughter vacation in Turkey on the brink of his dissolution. Educational about depression and family. Cognitive engagement from the meditative pacing and the unresolved ending. Entertainment from the charac…

    157/200
  10. 10
    Women Talking poster, IQ Score 154/200, Stimulating tier

    Women Talking

    Stimulating drama

    Women in an isolated community discuss whether to stay or leave after sexual assaults. Educational about misogyny and autonomy. Cognitive engagement from the dialogue-heavy structure. Entertainment from the feminist conf…

    154/200
  11. 11
    Decision to Leave poster, IQ Score 150/200, Stimulating tier

    Decision to Leave

    Stimulating thriller, mystery, romance

    Constructs thriller where detective must evaluate murder suspect who is also romantic interest, forcing viewers to determine what constitutes guilt across deception.

    150/200
  12. 12
    Living poster, IQ Score 148/200, Stimulating tier

    Living

    Stimulating drama

    Best Actor nominee (Bill Nighy). A London bureaucrat facing a terminal diagnosis decides to finally live. Moderate cognitive demands with Kazuo Ishiguro's restrained adaptation of Kurosawa's Ikiru. Educational value from…

    148/200
  13. 13
    The Banshees of Inisherin poster, IQ Score 148/200, Stimulating tier

    The Banshees of Inisherin

    Stimulating comedy, drama

    Follows friendship dissolution on Irish island, with formal comedy structure masking examination of shame, legacy, and what constitutes meaningful connection.

    148/200
  14. 14
    The Menu poster, IQ Score 145/200, Stimulating tier

    The Menu

    Stimulating thriller, drama

    Positions haute cuisine as competitive arena where chef's pathology emerges through dinner service, treating culinary control as psychological expression.

    145/200
  15. 15
    Pinocchio poster, IQ Score 145/200, Stimulating tier

    Pinocchio

    Stimulating animation, family, fantasy

    Disney's second feature and the studio's technical high-water mark: the multiplane camera work in the opening pan over the village and the underwater Monstro chase set a standard animation would chase for decades. Superv…

    145/200
  16. 16
    The Northman poster, IQ Score 143/200, Stimulating tier

    The Northman

    Stimulating action, drama, historical

    Eggers grounds a Norse revenge saga in meticulous material history, then lets its mysticism operate as the characters would have believed it. The long unbroken village-raid take stages violence without release. The mythi…

    143/200
  17. 17
    Nope poster, IQ Score 131/200, Stimulating tier

    Nope

    Stimulating sci-fi, horror, mystery

    Constructs sci-fi horror around spectacle exploitation and photography's role in violence, using UFO mythology to examine Black performance within predatory systems.

    131/200
  18. 18
    RRR poster, IQ Score 131/200, Stimulating tier

    RRR

    Stimulating action, adventure, drama

    Synthesizes historical friendship with physicalaction set-pieces across nationalistic resistance narrative, operating as both spectacle cinema and political meditation on anti-colonial solidarity.

    131/200
  19. 19
    Triangle of Sadness poster, IQ Score 131/200, Stimulating tier

    Triangle of Sadness

    Stimulating comedy, drama, satire

    Deconstructs luxury commodification through class reversal on a sinking ship, using grotesque satire to expose how consumption, influencer culture, and poverty are structurally yoked.

    131/200
  20. 20
    Top Gun: Maverick poster, IQ Score 129/200, Competent tier

    Top Gun: Maverick

    Competent action, drama

    Kosinski's legacy sequel reunites Cruise with aviation spectacle through practical flying and generational mentorship, examining aging masculinity against technological obsolescence. The film's formal commitment to pract…

    129/200
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Questions about this ranking

What is the best film of 2022?

By IQ Score on TV Intelligentsia, TÁR (181), The Banshees of Inisherin, Decision to Leave, and Everything Everywhere All at Once anchor the year's Masterclass tier. Aftersun and The Fabelmans round out the canonical entries.

Was 2022 a strong year for cinema?

2022 was the year post-COVID theatrical recovery began. The simultaneous emergence of TÁR, EEAAO, Banshees, Decision to Leave, and Top Gun: Maverick demonstrated that both auteur prestige and commercial blockbuster theatrical filmmaking remained commercially viable post-pandemic.

Why did EEAAO win 7 Oscars?

Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022) won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), and Best Film Editing, a 7-Oscar haul that signaled the Academy was finally willing to recognize genre-blending Asian-American auteur work at top-prize scale.

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