However, before this quickly morphs into a Jeff Bezos ad, the delivery of top-quality Prime original movies in 2022 has simply been delayed. Perhaps the memo that people are paying their hard-earned cash on Prime subscription fees got lost in the post along with the platform’s greatest movies? Here’s to hoping… Anyway, here are the best Prime Video films of 2022…
5My Policeman
It gets better, I promise…My Policemansignified pop icon Harry Styles' third step on his ascent of attempting to conquer the summit of the acting world. While Styles is by no means a young Robert De Niro, Henry Fonda, or Cary Grant in the making,My Policemanis athought-provoking LGBTQ+ drama, set during the 1950s on the south coast of England.
Styles plays policeman Tom Burgess, who falls in love with schoolteacher, Marion Taylor (Emma Corrin). Yet, their fairytale romance is derailed when Tom falls for a museum curator, Patrick Hazlewood (David Dawson), and the pair begin a then-illegal gay love affair. This is a movie that addresses the issue of the criminalization of homosexuality, and the lengths one will go to for love.
Stream on Prime Video
4Emergency
Director Carey Williams’ socially-attunedsatirical thrillerEmergencycollides head-on with issues of systemic racial injustice within police forces across the United States, and the honest perspective of the American Black man who dare not report the incident in case they are prejudicially implicated. The film concerns the story of friends, Sean and Kunle, two black college students, who attempt to have the night of their lives by completing the “Legendary Tour."
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After this hilarious (albeit hectic) night of partying, the friends discover the body of an unconscious woman at their apartment. Despite their innocence, Sean and Kunle are scared that, as Black males, alerting the police will only arouse suspicion, so they take the decision to guide the girl to safety by their own means.
3Argentina, 1985
Santiago Mitre’s Spanish historical drama concerns the plight of 1980s Argentina, and a legal team fearless enough to prosecute the imposing, bloodthirsty forces of Argentina’s dictatorship under Leopoldo Galtieri and Reynaldo Bignone. For seven long years,the Argentinian peoplewere subject to a violent, and often bloody military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, following the coupe d’état of 1976.
Argentina, 1985is based on the true story of lawyer Julio César Strassera (Ricardo Darín), who, with his fellow justice-seeking law experts, rigorously pursued those responsible for the countless criminal and human rights abuses carried out by military figureheads in their country. This is a movie that is phenomenally acted and embodies the ardent, passionate desire to hold the accountable to account.
2The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Benedict Cumberbatch is characteristically resplendentas the peculiar 19th-century artist Louis Wain in director Will Sharpe’s biopic,The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.The artistic eccentric was known for his anthropomorphic illustrations and paintings of cats. His love for them stems from a cat he adopted with his late wife. The biographical picture is exuberant and whimsical, reflective of the nature of its subject, a man enamored with the simple things in life — love, animals, and nature.
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The film (which was released at the end of 2021 in the States and in 2022 throughout the rest of the world) follows Wain’s rise from an unknown to a prolific artist respected by many. It also traverses Wain’s battles with his mental health, and his eventual and saddening susceptibility to schizophrenic episodes following the premature death of his beloved wife, Claire (Aimee Lou Wood). Like all of Sharpe’s work (especially the excellent British showFlowers),The Electrical Life of Louis Wainis an energetic, funny, but ultimately melancholic slice of life.
1Thirteen Lives
Thirteen Livesis certainly Prime Video’s partial redeemer and is no small part down to the directorial titan of Academy Award-winning films,the great Ron Howard, and his stellar ensemble of the ever-compelling Vigo Mortensen, Joel Edgerton, and Colin Farrell. While there have been several documentaries, as well as a narrative film, made about the Thai cave rescue, Howard’s rendition of the events that unfolded over those fateful two weeks in June 2018 is arguably the best to date.
After a 13-strong Thai boys' football team enter the Tham Luang Nang Non cave, flash floods in the vicinity would trap them, leaving them stranded and fearing for their lives. Mortensen and Farrell play Richard Stanton and John Volanthen, two specialist British cave divers who are commissioned by the Thai authorities to undertake a seemingly impossible mission — venture into the flooded, 2.5-mile-long cave and rescue the 12 boys and their coach.Thirteen Livesis a film of human survival, selfless courage, and unparalleled bravery, and a rare gem in what has been a relatively dismal year for the streaming giant.
