Top Gun: Maverick is the best of the best.
So says the National Board of Review, which named the year’s highest grossing movie the Best Film of 2022.
The NBR is a mysterious, eclectic group (consisting of neither film critics nor industry professionals) that often mixes expected citations with surprising snubs, ignoring some artier fair for more mainstream offerings. Their choices for 2022 seem to be a perfect mix of both.
Awards season hopefuls that didn’t make the cut include: Babylon, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Nope, She Said, and the Brendan Fraser comeback drama The Whale.
And the biggest shock? A complete shutout of the heralded Cate Blanchett drama TÁR.
Filling out some of those slots were international indies Aftersun and RRR, plus the civil rights drama Till and pending blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water.
Martin McDonagh‘s The Banshees of Inisherin took the most honors with 3 wins and a place on the Top 10 List. Co-stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson won Best Actor and Supporting Actor, respectively, and McDonagh won for his Original Screenplay.
Actress prizes when to Michelle Yeoh for her lead turn in Everything Everywhere All at Once and Janelle Monáe won supporting for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Other top winners included Best Director Steven Spielberg for The Fabelmans and the Adapted Screenplay writing trio of Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell for their adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front. The cast of Sarah Polley‘s Women Talking was named Best Ensemble.
Here is a complete list of the Board’s winners.
NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW
2022 Film Awards
Best Film: Top Gun: Maverick
Other Top Films (listed alphabetically)
Aftersun
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
RRR
Till
The Woman King
Women Talking
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
Best Actor: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Supporting Actor: Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Supporting Actress: Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Adapted Screenplay: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell, All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Animated Feature: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Breakthrough Performance: Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Breakthrough Performance: Gabriel LaBelle, The Fabelmans
Best Directorial Debut: Charlotte Wells, Aftersun
Best International Film: Close (Belgium)
Best Documentary: Sr.
Best Ensemble: Women Talking
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed and Argentina, 1985
Top 5 International Films 2022 (listed alphabetically)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)
Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)
Decision to Leave (South Korea)
EO (Poland)
Saint Omer (France)
Top 5 Documentaries 2022 (listed alphabetically)
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
All That Breathes
Descendant
Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb
Wildcat
Top 10 Independent Films 2022 (listed alphabetically)
Armageddon Time
Emily the Criminal
The Eternal Daughter
Funny Pages
The Inspection
Living
A Love Song
Nanny
The Wonder
To Leslie
Honoring annual achievements in film since 1929, the National Board of Review is a “select group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers, professionals, academics, and students of varying ages and backgrounds” who watch over 250 films and participate in discussions with directors, actors, producers, and screenwriters before making and announcing their selections.
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Click on links below for other major Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far for the 2022 / 23 season:
The 95th Academy Award Nominations
Producers Guild of America Nominees
Directors Guild of America Nominees
Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominees
Golden Globe Winners
Chicago Film Critics Association
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
American Film Institute Top 10 Films of 2022
New York Film Critics Circle