Showroom Cinema's Best Films of 2022

The end of the year is always a great period for reflecting on the previous 12 months. From 26 December, we will be returning five of our very favourite films that played on our screens in 2022. Each film costs just £5 to see and is a great time to catch up on the cinema hits you’ve missed or to revisit favourites on the big screen one more time. Our shortlist wasn’t so short with favourites like Aftersun, Decision to Leave, Ali & Ava and Drive My Car just missing out, but the final programme offers something for everyone.

Our festive five begins with Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, a film that has enjoyed both critical and commercial success. Reuniting the team behind British cult classic In Bruges, we expected big things from the irresistible pairing of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason but its resonance with audiences saw it become one of our longest-running films of the year. Banshees… is now a real contender for major awards season success, including a recent win for Colin Farrell at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

A personal favourite of the year, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, took a very personal story and told it with both the assurance and invention of a master. Aided by a captivating turn by Renate Reinsve, a unique, specific film from Norway captured universal ennui and millennial anxiety, resonating profoundly with many filmgoers.

If you’re wanting to see the year out with a bang, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is a perfect film for the excess and indulgence of the festive season. Austin Butler’s revelatory performance and Luhrmann’s recognisably opulent visual style took the film beyond bland biopic and into one of the year’s strongest films.

Julia Ducournau’s Titane blew away the cinematic cobwebs with a body-horror so good that it took home the Palme D’or. A filmic cousin to David Cronenberg’s Crash and a must-see on the big screen,Ducournau’s work has been celebrated at Showroom Cinema this year, including a Young Programmer’s screening of Raw.

Finally, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza kicked off 2022 with a special 35mm engagement and it seemed fitting to return it to bring the year’s programme to a close. PTA’s post-Boogie Nights return to the 1970s paired Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman, to great success. The film is worth revisiting for Bradley Cooper’s manic turn as Jon Peters alone.

The Best Films of 2022 season runs from 26-30 December and you can buy tickets now.

This article first featured in the Sheffield Telegraph on Thursday 22 December 2022.