34 Movies Rejected by the Oscars in 2022

“There Is No Evil”

Mohammad Rasoulof’s anthology film tells four stories about Iranian military officials who are forced to perform executions as part of their job. The film does a stunning job of humanizing people whose careers force them into impossible moral dilemmas, managing to humanize executioners without ever painting them as completely innocent or fully guilty. The film illustrates the brutality of the death penalty and the toll it takes on both its victims and those charged with carrying it out, all while resisting the temptation to jump to easy conclusions. —CZ

“What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?”

Aleksandre Koberidze’s modern fairy tale follows two would-be lovers who experience a chance meet-cute before quickly having a spell cast on them. They wake up the next day in two completely different bodies, and what’s left is a sweetly meandering film that follows them as they attempt to find each other. But the film’s real charm lies in the way it finds beauty in everyday life, resulting in a viewing experience that reminds you of what cinema is capable of in the hands of a skilled auteur. —CZ

“Procession”

Robert Greene’s documentary about sexual abuse survivors working through their trauma through art is not an easy watch, but it is one of the most powerful films of 2021. The film follows six men who were sexually abused by Catholic clergymen, and ultimately allows and encourages them to direct and star in scenes that dramatize their moments of assault. The result is a documentary that is equal parts a condemnation of the Church’s complicity in the scandal and a tribute to cinema’s ability to heal. —CZ

“Days”

Seven years had passed since Tsai Ming-Liang announced his retirement from feature filmmaking after releasing “Stray Dogs,” but the legendary auteur clearly has not lost a step. After spending the better part of the 2010s working on museum installations, Tsai returned with “Days,” another brilliantly slow film featuring longtime muse Lee Kang-Sheng. The film, which took five years to film, tells the story of a chance meeting between a young man battling severe pain and a handsome sex worker, is a beautiful extension of the aesthetic that the master of Taiwan’s Second New Wave has spent decades perfecting. —CZ

“Zola”

Jeremy O. Harris and Janicza Bravo co-wrote the brilliant “Zola” screenplay, based off the real-life Twitter thread by A’Ziah King. Taylour Paige and Riley Keough give career-best performances as two exotic dancers with very different goals for a road trip. “Zola” premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival right before the COVID-19 pandemic; the film was released in theaters in July 2021, landing a slew of Film Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award nominations. But alas, no Oscar. —SB

“C’mon C’mon”

Shot in black and white, Mike Mills’ “C’mon C’mon” follows a radio journalist (Joaquin Phoenix) as he embarks on a cross-country trip with his young nephew (Woody Norman). Young Norman received a BAFTA nod for Best Supporting Actor opposite recent Oscar Best Actor winner Phoenix. —SB

“The Last Duel”

Neither of Ridley Scott’s Oscar hopefuls this year fared well on Oscars morning — “House of Gucci” settled for a Makeup and Hairstyling nod, while his medieval “Rashomon”-like epic “The Last Duel” scored nada. There was a fervid fanbase for Jodie Comer as the center of a battle between toxic men — played by Adam Driver and Matt Damon — but it wasn’t enough to slay the day. —SB

“Titane”

Writer-director Julia Ducournau stunned at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival with Palme d’Or winner “Titane,” about a woman (Agathe Rousselle) whose attraction to metal cars leads to a horrific adventure. Despite the film’s critical buzz and Ducournau’s BAFTA nomination, “Titane” couldn’t speed past the finish line to wow Academy members after becoming the official submission for France. —SB

“The Velvet Underground”

Apple TV+ documentary “The Velvet Undergound” premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews. Director Todd Haynes chronicled the art rock icons’ rise to fame and work with Andy Warhol at The Factory, utilizing never-before-seen footage to craft an entirely new perspective on the New York City titans. “The Velvet Underground” was nominated for Best First Documentary Feature at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, and landed on the IndieWire Critics’ Poll for Best Documentary. —SB

“Red Rocket”

Simon Rex stars as an aging adult film actor who returns to his small Texas hometown in Sean Baker’s film. Nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes, “Red Rocket” was nominated for a slew of Gotham Awards, including Breakthrough Performer for Suzanna Son. —SB

“Pig”

Nicolas Cage portrays a troubled truffle hunter who sets out to find his kidnapped pig. Writer-director Michael Sarnoski was recognized at the Directors’ Guild Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film, plus “Pig” is nominated for Best Feature at the Gotham Awards. However, Cage’s quiet, solemn lead performance has not been given its fair due on the awards circuit. —SB

“Nine Days”

Meta psychological drama “Nine Days” centers on a reclusive man, played by Winston Duke, who conducts a series of interviews with human souls to determine who deserves to be born. Writer-director Edson Oda’s first feature landed a Film Independent Spirit Award, plus Sundance Film Festival’s Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Cast members Benedict Wong and Zazie Beetz have additionally been recognized for their turns in the mind-bending film. —SB

“Test Pattern”

Tense drama “Test Pattern” is about an interracial couple whose relationship is tested after a Black woman is sexually assaulted and her white boyfriend helps her search for a rape kit. Brittany S. Hall and Will Brill star in the film written and directed by Shatara Michelle Ford. “Test Pattern” is nominated by the IndieWire Critics’ Poll for Best First Feature, with similar accolades at the Gotham Awards and Film Independent Spirit Awards. —SB

“Passing”

Rebecca Hall’s directorial feauture debut “Passing” was one of the biggest snubs of the 2022 Oscars. Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson have both been recognized for their stellar performances in the period piece, playing two high school friends who grapple with colorism in the 1920s. Hall, Negga, and Thomspon were all nominated at the BAFTAs, with “Passing” also up for Outstanding British Film of the Year. —SB

“The Card Counter”

Oscar Isaac plays a war veteran-turned-gambler in Paul Schrader’s “The Card Counter.” As IndieWire’s David Ehrlich wrote in his review, “Poker is all about feeling around in the dark, and Schrader knows there’s no limit to what a man can do who’s capable of forgiving himself.” 

Tiffany Haddish and Tye Sheridan round out the cast in the Gotham Award nominee. —SB

“Annette”

Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard are a pair of artists who fall in and out of love in experimental musical film “Annette.” Director Leos Carax crafts a film that, according to IndieWire’s Eric Kohn, “works as well as it does because its outlandish story has been doused in beguiling melodies and a cinematic tapestry that supports it at every turn.” Need we remind you that the 2021 Cannes selection “Annette” also made headlines for a scene involving Driver singing during cunnilingus? —SB

“The Disciple”

Chaitanya Tamhane’s 2021 centers on a classical Indian musician who begins to question if he will ever truly reach excellence as a vocalist. IndieWire critic Eric Kohn called the international film a “brilliant look” at what it takes to make it in the arts. —SB

“From the first scene until its closing moments, the movie hints at a big moment that never quite arrives, but the profundity comes with the big picture,” Kohn wrote in his review.

“Parallel Mothers”

Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers” stars Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit as two women who grapple with motherhood and the deep desire for a family at any cost. Writer-director Almodóvar told the cast that the rehearsal process was about “drying our tears,” Cruz exclusively told IndieWire. “These things can mix up, your instrument, your own traumas, your own memories, good, bad, everything, with getting to the character without forcing it. Forcing it would be terrible.” Cruz was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars, but “Parallel Mothers” did not land another nomination aside from Best Original Score. —SB

“The Green Knight”

Dev Patel stars as King Arthur’s nephew who sets out to confront the mysterious giant, The Green Knight. Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, and Sean Harris co-star in the Camelot epic based on the legend. The “unforgettable adaptation,” as IndieWire’s David Ehrlich penned, was directed by David Lowery. —SB

“The Souvenir: Part II”

Joanna Hogg’s follow-up to “The Souvenir” sees Honor Swinton Byrne reprise her role as a heartbroken film student grappling in the aftermath of an emotionally abusive relationship. The semi-autobiographical work premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, before being recognized at the British Independent Film Awards and Gotham Awards. —SB

“Respect”

Jennifer Hudson stunned as Aretha Franklin in the star-studded “Respect” biopic. Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, and Mary J. Blige rounded out the ensemble cast, with the story centering on superstar talent Franklin’s rise to fame. Hudson set out to make “Respect” as “authentic” a tribute as possible to the late Franklin, including singing live during production. “She gave it to us in real time,” Hudson exclusively told IndieWire. “If I’m the actress to portray her, I should do the same.” —SB

“Prayers for the Stolen”

Coming-of-age film “Prayers for the Stolen” is the story of three young girls in Guerrero amongst the drug trade and human trafficking. Mexican-Salvadorian documentarian Tatiana Huezo directs her first narrative feature, which premiered the New York Film Festival and is currently streaming on Netflix. —SB

“Great Freedom”

Austria’s 2022 Best International Feature Oscars submission, “Great Freedom,” wows in its subtle glory. Franz Rogowski stars as gay man finding more freedom and agency in prison than in daily life during post-WWII Germany. Co-star Georg Friedrich becomes both an onscreen lover, confidante, and later, cellmate, in the decades-spanning epic. —SB

“In the Heights”

Sure, Lin-Manuel Miranda is already on his way to an EGOT thanks to an “Encanto” Best Song nomination, but Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of Miranda’s beloved Broadway musical was prime Oscar fare. “This vivid and revitalizing work of cultural memory couldn’t be more at home in the movie theaters that it’s willing back to life,” IndieWire’s David Ehlrich wrote following the film’s Tribeca Film Festival premiere and subsequent HBO Max release. “Unlike the neighborhood it loves so much, this movie will never change. It will never be a victim of the urban amnesia that forced Chu’s production design team to dress Washington Heights in subtle period drag. Its characters will always be waiting there for you, even the ones who are desperate to leave it behind.” —SB 

“Memoria”

“Memoria” premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and was selected as the Colombian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards. Tilda Swinton plays a Scottish expatriate now living in Colombia who starts hearing a mysterious sound that follows only her. “In his own precise, abstract manner, [filmmaker] Apichatpong [Weerasethakul] has made an ecological disaster movie about the danger involved in ignoring the natural state of things and the people who respect it,” IndieWire’s Eric Kohn wrote. —SB

“Mass”

Fran Kranz makes his directorial debut with “Mass,” starring Reed Birney, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, and Martha Plimpton as grieving parents meeting to discuss a school shooting. Dowd was honored at the BAFTA Awards with a nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, but the film was entirely iced out of the Oscars. —SB

“Lamb”

A grieving mother (Noomi Rapace) had a little “lamb” as a surrogate child in Valdimar Jóhannsson’s baffling directorial feature debut. The head-scratching film no doubt sparked a critical debate, with IndieWire’s Eric Kohn summarizing: “Even as his debut derives from recent ‘elevated horror’ efforts, it funnels them into a concept that eventually works on its own terms; it’s both a complex metaphor as well as one helluva sight gag. If the starting point is, ‘What the fuck is this?’ the answer is obvious: It’s ‘Lamb.'” —SB

“The French Dispatch”

Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” endearingly saluted the field of journalism through the ultimate aesthetically pleasing collection of vignettes. Set in a fictional French town, the fantasical “French Dispatch” stars Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Timothée Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, Owen Wilson, Frances McDormand, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, and Bill Murray, among other A-listers in the ensemble cast. Come for the beloved actors, stay for the exquisite cinematography, and remember it as Anderson’s latest display of mastering the frame. —SB

“Jockey”

Clifton Collins Jr. is Jackson Silva, an aging jockey who starts to question his life’s purpose while reflecting on his sports legacy. The film debuted at 2021 Sundance, with IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio applauding lead star and executive producer Collins’ emotive performance, calling the role a “deeply lived one, not only in terms of what appears to be the actor’s all-in plunge into what actually goes into horse-racing, but also because of the sadness Jackson constantly seems to emanate.” —SB

“Bergman Island”

Written and directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, “Bergman Island” is as much an ode to the legacy of Ingmar Bergman as it is a screenshot of a failing marriage. Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth star as a married set of filmmakers who start to question their union amid temptations while on a working vacation. —SB

“Benedetta”

Nuns, sex, Paul Verhoeven. Dare we say more? “Benedetta” was boycotted, banned, and of course, applauded at its various film festival stops. ” ‘Benedetta’ is a movie in which the abbess of a convent gets fucked by a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary that someone has whittled into a dildo for her,” IndieWire’s David Ehrlich reported. Throw in some Catholic protests and we’re down for a good time. —SB

“Compartment No. 6”

Finnish Oscar entry “Compartment No. 6” centers on a train trip from Moscow to Murmansk, during which a Finnish student (Seidi Haarla) forms an unlikely friendship with a Russian miner (Yuri Borisov). The film shared the Grand Prix honor at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival with “A Hero,” and later was nominated at the Golden Globes before being shortlisted for the Oscars. 

“A sweet tale of cross-cultural bonding with a hard-edged spirit, ‘Compartment No. 6’ finds its central characters bickering their way across the chilly Russian countryside as they realize that the journey is the real destination. That’s a fairly obvious point, of course, but Kuosmanen’s actors deliver such endearing performances that it’s always fun to watch them sort through the nature of the trip,” IndieWire’s Eric Kohn wrote. —SB

“The Tender Bar”

George Clooney directs Ben Affleck in the adaptation of J.R. Moehringer’s memoir about a bar-owning uncle who becomes a father figure to a young boy. The 1970s-set family drama “paints an attractive, Spielbergian picture of all-American 1970s domestic clutter, combined with a Scorsese-ish vision of countless talkative relatives bustling between the kitchen and the dinner table,” as IndieWire’s review stated. —SB

“Belle”

Best described by IndieWire critic David Ehrlich as ” ‘Beauty and the Beast’ meets ‘The Matrix,'” anime film “Belle” places a fairytale romance within a modern-day tech landscape. The “sheer mania” of director Mamoru Hosoda’s lush visuals lends itself to the loving message of the feature film, which premiered at 2021 Cannes. —SB