The best movies of 2022 (so far). And where to find them

The film critic’s year-end list of favorites has always struck me as a provisional undertaking at best, a flawed but essential attempt to bring some coherent framing to a year’s worth of cinematic plenty. Here are just a few of the recent best, listed in alphabetical order: Top: Jeremy Irvine, left, and Jack Lowden in “Benediction.” Bottom: Franz Rogowski, left, as Hans and Thomas Prenn, left, as Oskar in “Great Freedom.” ‘Benediction’ and ‘Great Freedom’ Two wrenching dramas about what it meant to lust, love and survive as a gay man in earlier, more oppressive eras of European history. Top: Léa Seydoux, from left, Viggo Mortensen and Kristen Stewart in “Crimes of the Future.” Bottom: Gwendoline Christie, left, and Asa Butterfield in “Flux Gourmet.” ‘Crimes of the Future’ and ‘Flux Gourmet’ The funniest, freakiest comedies of the year so far both imagine hard-to-stomach forms of performance art: wild gastronomical soundscapes in Peter Strickland’s “Flux Gourmet” and anesthesia-free abdominal surgery in David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future.” But for all their outlandish, satirical touches, both movies are also fundamentally serious-minded undertakings, and they treat their artist protagonists with the kind of tenderness that points to the presence of real artists behind the camera. Rama Rao Jr. in the movie “RRR.” ‘RRR’ The longest feature on my list runs more than three hours and earns every supercharged minute. Carloto Cotta, Crista Alfaiate and João Nunes Monteiro in the movie “The Tsugua Diaries.” ‘The Tsugua Diaries’ As a backwards-unspooling movie about moviemaking, this sly, summery delight from the Lisbon-based filmmakers Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes might sound like François Truffaut’s “Day for Night” crossed with Christopher Nolan’s “Memento.” But while it’s a model of narrative invention — and one of the loveliest surprises to emerge from COVID-era shooting restrictions — it has an intoxicating, wistfully enchanting vibe all its own.