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Everyone or almost everyone has heard about “The Batman” or “The Northman.” But this year, besides big premieres and talked-about projects, many cool movies have come out that you could easily have missed.

Whatever the external circumstances, new, original, ambitious, and simply interesting movies are released regularly. But due to modest advertising, genre specificity, or lack of theatrical distribution, such projects can go unnoticed.

Today we invite you to add to your watchlist 5 cool movies of 2022 that you have probably already missed for one or another of the reasons mentioned.

The Outfit

The Outfit movie

It's 1956. London tailor Leonard (Mark Rylance) opens his shop in Chicago. Among his regular customers are local gangsters. One fine evening, two men show up at Leonard's doorstep: the wounded son of the boss Richie (Dylan O'Brien) and one of his associates Francis (Johnny Flynn). The guys are ambushed by another gang and suspect a mole in their ranks. But who could it be: Francis himself, the tailor Leonard, or perhaps his secretary Mabel (Zoey Deutch), who is secretly dating Richie? They all face a long night trying to get to the truth.

The directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter Graham Moore (“The Imitation Game”) turned out to be a tightly crafted detective thriller that needed only a single location to build a tense plot, spiced with a couple of unexpected twists. The credit goes not only to the well-constructed script, which raises almost no questions. Much of the film's quality is due to the measured performance of the wonderful Mark Rylance. He took on the role of the soloist in this chamber orchestra and brilliantly led the talented young cast.

Fresh

Fresh

Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is unlucky in love. Among her acquaintances, there is no one special, and the guys from Tinder turn out to be stranger than the next. But suddenly she meets Steve (Sebastian Stan), a charming, attractive, and sociable young man. They quickly hit it off and grow close, so Noa sees nothing unusual in Steve's invitation to a weekend trip to a country house.

Another debutante on our list, director Mimi Cave, took a modern horror story about the dangers of blind dates and turned it into a fairly classic thriller in the vein of “Misery.” The twist here is the cannibalistic motifs. And of course, Sebastian Stan's dancing.

After Yang

After Yang

Tea shop owner and loving adoptive father Jake (Colin Farrell) tries to save the household robot Yang (Justin H. Min), who helps his stepdaughter absorb her national cultural heritage. In his attempts to restore Yang's functionality, Jake begins to explore Yang's memory and realizes that he has long become much more than just a service appliance.

While one project garnered flattering press and record box office, their other, more subtle, refined, and profound project remained without wide audience attention. Reflections on what it means to be human have long and firmly occupied a niche in science fiction. Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick have spoken about this. Filmmakers continue to actively make movies about it today. And this time, director Kogonada invites us to ponder eternal questions in a devilishly stylish and mesmerizing form.

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Studio A24 released a new sci-fi comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once” about family, the meaning of life, and the multiverse at the beginning of the month. Almost immediately after its release, it became known that the comp

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Lost Illusions (Illusions perdues)

Lost Illusions movie

Young poet Lucien (Benjamin Voisin) works in a printing house in the small town of Angoulême. He secretly meets with the local baroness Louise de Bargeton (Cécile de France) and dreams of becoming a famous author throughout France. Out of love for the youth and sincere faith in his talent, the baroness, secretly from her husband, takes Lucien with her to Paris.

“Lost Illusions” plot-wise echoes many significant works. For example, if desired, one can see parallels with , except that the political context and motives of the characters will differ greatly. What distinguishes the French story is the intoxicating spirit of freedom. It gives the feeling that anyone can rise above their station, regardless of the strength of their surname. It shows that the realization of talent is in the hands of the talent's owner. As is the possibility of ruining it.

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Varvara Ulyanenok
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Read our full review at

“Lost Illusions” — A Successful Adaptation of Balzac’s Biting Novel About Ambition and Unbridled Aspirations
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“Lost Illusions” — A Successful Adaptation of Balzac’s Biting Novel About Ambition and Unbridled Aspirations

For almost two centuries now, Balzac’s novel “Lost Illusions” has not lost its relevance, and in the age of bloggers and social media, it acquires a new dimension. Therefore, the adaptation

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All the Old Knives

All the Old Knives

CIA agent Henry Pelham (Chris Pine) is assigned a task related to a high-profile case from eight years ago. Back then, terrorists hijacked a plane, and it ended with the mass death of innocent people. CIA leadership believes there was a mole in their agency who leaked information to the criminals. Among the suspects is Henry's former colleague and lover Celia (Thandiwe Newton).

Spy thrillers are not in high demand these days. The genre is too slow and requires patience and attention to detail. But if you play by the rules set by one of the directors of “True Detective,” Janus Metz, there is a good chance that this story will capture your attention and not let go until the shocking conclusion. The peculiarity of this project is that, in addition to a very intricate central plotline, enormous attention is paid to the relationship between the main characters. Their intimacy and tenderness sometimes even overshadow the spy intrigues. And where else will you see a sentimental spy thriller?