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John Waters Reveals His Top 10 Films of 2022 - Chalamet & Donkey

by Alex Billington
December 1, 2022

"Can a movie be both stupid and effete yet unironic? Only the French can pull that off…" Ready to surprise us again!! It's always a joy to discover what John Waters has chosen for his Top 10 list every year. One of our favorite "best of the year" lists that kicks off this time of the year is from filmmaker John Waters - his Top 10 favorite films in a list that is unlike any other. For 2022, Waters has chosen yet another (expected) strange mix of films, featuring not only one but two films from French filmmaker François Ozon - Peter Von Kant and Everything Went Fine. These originally premiered in different years, but were released together in 2022. Other highlights include Bones and All, mostly because he's really attracted to Timothée Chalamet (who isn't??), Quentin Dupieux's goofball superhero comedy Smoking Causes Coughing, and the iconic donkey movie EO, which premiered in Cannes this summer. Check out all of his favorites below.

Waters includes a short one/two-sentence explanation with each pick, so head to ArtForum to read all of his thoughts on his Top 10 of 2022. I've included a few of his comments in quotes below for some of the films where he said some interesting things. Without further ado, here are John Waters' Top 10 Films of 2022:

1. Peter von Kant (dir. François Ozon) "Hilariously stilted, often overwrought, always highly entertaining, this cock-eyed tribute will make you swoon when Hanna Schygulla finally makes an appearance and Isabelle Adjani soon follows. My God, it's just plain Douglas Sirk perfect."
2. EO (dir. Jerzy Skolimowski) "Another tribute film, this time Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar meets Old Yeller. Can a donkey remember? Just ask Isabelle Huppert, who pops up in this movie for no apparent reason except that she’s the best actress in the world."
3. Everything Went Fine (dir. François Ozon)
4. Sick of Myself (dir. Kristoffer Borgli)
5. Bruno Reidal, Confession of a Murderer (dirs. Vincent Le Port Petri)
6. Detainee 001 (dir. Greg Barker) "John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban. This doc examines the hysteria of this case and asks the question I’ve been wondering about for years—was he an overhyped traitor or just a well-traveled kid caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? Oh, yeah, he’s really cute, in a grunge kind of way."
7. Dinner in America (dir. Adam Rehmeier)
8. Will-o'-the-Wisp (dir. João Pedro Rodrigues) "A racially risky, raunchy Portuguese musical about class and pyromania that will light you on fire. Facials! Fake dicks! A real arty head-scratcher of a film that makes Titane seem tame."
9. Smoking Causes Coughing (dir. Quentin Dupieux)
10. Bones and All (dir. Luca Guadagnino) "Is there such a thing as a butch twink? Yes, there is, and Timothée Chalamet goes all Larry Clark on us here, a soft-trade hetero cannibal who kills an evil closeted gay trick so he and his flesh-eating girlfriend can feed. Is that gay-bashing or cannibally correct love? Just asking."

What do you make of Waters' Top 10 list for this year? Have you seen all of the films he lists this year? As always, his picks are so kooky and strange! But that's what makes his Top 10 so refreshing every single year. It's nice to see Bones and All and EO on here, but all of his other picks from 2022 are a bit odd. I've heard great things about Dinner in America (trailer here) and Will-o'-the-Wisp (trailer here), but I haven't had a chance to see either of them yet. I hated Peter von Kant, I am just not a François Ozon fan at all. Some of these on his list I've never even heard of before today. Dupieux's Smoking Causes Coughing is fun, but I prefer his other 2022 film called Incredible But True instead of this one, but I don't know if anyone has seen that one either. There is always something wacky and weird to watch, and Waters is always introducing us to some of the most unique films of the year. As usual, it is good to pick at least one of these you haven't seen yet, and give it a look to see if it impresses/intrigues you as much as it did him. Thoughts on his 2022 picks?

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