The 20 best Spanish films of 2022

For yet another year, the editorial team, and partners of Cine con Ñ have selected, among this year’s cinema releases, a list of the best spanish films of 2022. A period that has seen a growing interest for good quality spanish films, making it feel like the course of history has been impacted by their success at international film festivals, and the steady stream of well-appreciated films (by some critics at least). 

Only time will tell if the works of Simón, Sorogoyen, Serra, Palomero and the like, will mark a turning point, although this selection of films is sufficient to tell how real this selection of talent, driven by the setbacks of the pandemic, truly is. For the first time, and because of the high standard of films, the Cine con Ñ team’s list of best spanish films of the year counts 20 movies, instead of the usual 10 (with a few that had to be left out in the end). 

Apart from a necessary critical statement on the Spanish film market, several of the contemporary trends in Spanish films are reflected in this final selection. We can also observe the appearance of a successful generational change led by female filmmakers, a diversity in the ideas put forward, and a determination of pointing the camera towards the countryside – one of the main background themes during those months. Here’s our team’s list of the best spanish films of 2022. 

The 2022 best Spanish movies

20. UNICORN WARS

he animated feature film that hadn’t yet been produced in Spain is here. Gory and grotesque, Unicorn Wars is a story about peace which overturns with grace and cruelty the traditional creatures in children’s animal films. Alberto Vázquez’s twisted imagination came to life as he used Blender, a software that respects the craftsmanship of the process and the possibilities of using colour, for its entire animation. This is a film to be applauded simply for the courage of offering an animated adult feature film, while also daring to delve into a mystical interpretation on the very essence of war. 

19. PIGGY

The female self-discovery in rural areas found in Piggy, offers a good genre film filter. Bold comedy, thriller, or the terror of B-films go hand in hand with Carlota Pereda’s funny, yet grouchy film. Set in a small town in Extremadura, we follow the story of a young woman victim of bullying. Funny and painful when it was necessary, this original coming of age film makes us reflect on the limits imposed by our body and the construction of an object of desire, not forgetting that all of this should be a small party. 

18. OUR FATHER (RENDIR LOS MACHOS)

One of those great little films that you shouldn’t miss or let drown in the sea of a movie streaming catalogue. David Pantaleón brought back hope for a truly unique Canary Islands film with this story about two brothers who can’t stand each other but must come together after their father’s death. Through static shots, Our Father takes a closer look at traditions and the strong silent type of man in a non-static way, connecting the objects and subjects in the frame.

17. THE WATER (EL AGUA)

Another debut feature film, this time directed by Elena López Riera, an intuitive director we need keep an eye on. Unbiased and subversive when it comes to understanding naturalistic films, The Water puts a new spin on a more rural 2022. Set during the Spanish summertime in Alicante, a region that has been devastated by continuous floods; a young woman is threatened by a legend that says the water gets inside some women and takes them away. A world of superstitions that demystifies our image. 

16. THE GRANDMOTHER (LA ABUELA)

The best Spanish horror release of the year had to be listed among the best Spanish films of 2022. Paco Plaza continues to find new ways of being scary beyond commercial limits, with this film that ranges from everyday discomfort to supernatural horror. Written by Carlos Vermut, The Grandmother’s main strength is its way of suggesting a harsh intergenerational contrast of sophisticated melodrama, with easily recognisable gender tools. Plaza has managed to explore with respect for its viewers, the different ways in which fear of aging exists. 

15. PRISON 77 (MODELO 77)

Alberto Rodríguez and screenwriter Rafael Cobos have gathered an entire decade of cinema dedicated to the historical review of Spain during the second half of the 20^th century. This time, they tell the true story of a group of prisoners from Barcelona’s Modelo Prison who came together to fight for amnesty at the beginning of the Spanish Transition for democracy. A classic prison thriller that doesn’t invent anything new, but respects and depicts with energy the collective spirit it wants to portray. From the men that form the COPEL (Prisoners in Struggle Coordinating Body), Rodríguez draws on all the underlying humanity that exists in every fight for collective rights. 

14. MY EMPTINESS AND I (MI VACÍO Y YO)

A meaningful film set in Barcelona about a trans woman’s search for her identity, Raphëlle Pérez fantasises about her own life. After having done it in the form of a documentary in Sediments, Adrián Silvestre normalises transgender representation by using plain and functional language, without adding drama or sensationalism to the discrimination or violence they suffer from for being themselves. My Emptiness and I truly conveys without artifice and with the use of intelligent film techniques, the idea that being trans is to be just a person like everyone else.

13. YOU HAVE TO COME AND SEE IT (TENÉIS QUE VENIR A VERLA)

This feel-good release of all the mental fog we had when we came out of lockdown also had to be included in the list of the best Spanish films of 2022. Funny and subtle, Jonás Trueba’s film is a carefree invitation to spend some time together at the cinema, as absurd as this may seem. The director of Who’s Stopping Us, continues to produce “wacky” films. In a limbo between our emotions and our feelings, this time he gave everything a more ironic, almost self-parodic touch. A film with very simple footage and narration which encapsulates the dilemmas of our time and between generations. 

12. VASIL

Avelina Prat’s first feature film is much more than your classic feel-good film with an “extraordinary foreigner”, you know, that wonderful person who comes from abroad and changes your life for the better. It tells the story of a Bulgarian man who ends up living in a pensioner’s home in Valencia. It’s a pleasant, yet bitter approach on loneliness and the void that gets filled when two people meet, acknowledge each other, and try to reconnect with their loved ones. Ivan Barnev and Karra Elejalde salieron deserve the awards they received for their work with this film at the Valladolid International Film Festival. 

11. DÚO

We follow in slow motion the progressive break up of a couple and artistic duo. Set in the Andes landscapes of Argentina and Chile, Meritxell Colell’s Dúo presents the sequel of Facing the Wind (2018) as a painful performance, which also works as a stand-alone film. No previous knowledge of Mónica, the film’s protagonist, is necessary to sense the soulless cracks that open between the characters while they are on tour. Colell creates her own non-verbal breakup mode of communication by using sounds and images to reach the break up’s frenzy and bitterness. One of the best Spanish films of 2022 to be acclaimed. 

10. THE VISIT AND A SECRET GARDEN (LA VISITA Y UN JARDÍN SECRETO)

A surprising biopic dedicated to the life of a mysterious artist. Through Antonio López’s voice, Irene M. Borrego follows the figure of Isabel Santaló, an important 20^th century painter who was unknown and understated for decades in Spain. Accepting the impossibility of solving the enigmas of Santaló’s life and career, The Visit and a Secret Garden is set out more as a self-referential approach to how elusive and contradictory an artist’s work can be. Sincere and open, it wins the title of Spanish non-fiction film of the year, which is representative of the other valued films that could have made it onto this list (¡Dolores guapa!, 918 Nights, or Tolyatti Adrift). 

9. ONE YEAR, ONE NIGHT (UN AÑO, UNA NOCHE)

Isaki Lacuesta recounts the 2015 Paris attacks at the Bataclan, addressing trauma from an off-screen perspective, in which terror is kept alive through our memory and residues of emotional trauma. The film follows a couple with different ways of processing grief, One year, one night focuses above all on the ‘after’ of the unexpected paths our memories follow (always fragmented, and sometimes made up). Intense and romantic in its own way, of all the films in this selection of best Spanish films of 2022, it has the most precise editing. 

8. THE RITE OF SPRING (LA CONSAGRACIÓN DE LA PRIMAVERA)

Fernando Franco undoes the judgment and separation created between the film and the audience in this sensible drama, which follows the story of a young woman who has just arrived in Madrid and meets a guy with cerebral palsy. A reflection on empathy, its occasional absence, and the need for self-awareness which sometimes allows those we least expect to take advantage of us, Valèria Sorolla flawlessly focuses on the way in which Franco lays out situations that are only uncomfortable because of the way we make them up in our heads.  

7. CORK (SURO)

Harsh and imposing, Cork adds to the exodus from cities to the countryside that Spanish cinema has recently been experiencing. A couple, ruthless Vicky Luengo and Pol López, move from Barcelona to a farmhouse they have inherited and decide to hire a team of local workers to harvest their cork tree woodland. Mikel Gurrea’s directorial debut of the season attempts to delve deeper with this thriller set in the Spanish countryside. This film stands out by focusing on the moral and emotional contradictions of a couple, less in sync than they may seem. If there were prizes for the ellipses of the year, Cork would’ve won them all. 

6. MANTICORE (MANTÍCORA)

A time bomb that explodes as soon as you have it in your hands. From the privacy of his home, the Metaverse-esque offices, and the old buildings in the centre of Madrid, Carlos Vermut (Magical Girl) strips away the mystery and aesthetic depth of his films in this story about a man with a terrible secret. With its immediate impact and taboo images, Manticore has some of the most impressive sequences of 2022 held by Nacho Sánchez’s nervous and apparently defenceless eyes.

5. MOTHERHOOD (LA MATERNAL)

A whirlwind of emotions and anger, Motherhood is a teen motherhood drama full of outbursts and anguish, in which Pilar Palomero (Schoolgirls) has outdone herself. A vivid teen portrait which is as unpredictable as its protagonist’s outbursts. Without letting us differentiate between the spontaneous and the calculated, this film tells the story of a group of young women. A masterfully written story of reconciliation and returning home knowing that nothing will ever be the same again, this film also counts as group therapy.

4. LULLABY (CINCO LOBITOS)

Since it swept the Málaga Film Festival, this film has touched the hearts of those who were able to watch it. The Basque Koreeda-esque family written and directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, speaks directly to us spectators through the film’s ability to talk about the intangible issues that are close to our hearts, in which we better understand what isn’t said, rather than what is said. Lullaby touches on the resistance of the ties we have and our intergenerational care giving responsibility, which gives the impression that the dynamics existed long before they were captured by a camera. 

3. PACIFICTION

An incorruptibly atmospheric and political film set in French Polynesia. The story follows a government official who looks like a shady version of the protagonists in Graham Greene’s novels. Albert Serra’s film is full of memorable moments, while also being more accessible than others in his filmography. Pacifiction follows the exotic decline of a time-trapped colonialism with a sense of humour, paranoia led conspiracy and moral evil. If you are looking for ideas on shot composition and the relationships created by the editing, this should be your top pick in this list of the best Spanish films of 2022. 

2. THE BEASTS (AS BESTAS)

Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s best work had to be on the list of the best Spanish films of 2022. A chilling thriller against the idealisation of the countryside and the internal contradictions for and against its theoretical recovery. This film might not be completely whole in a third act that changes the perspective on the why and how to experience the conflict that fuels the story. The escalating tension created by Sorogoyen and Isabel Peña in their script, nearly manages to give off a smell of manure and old tavern to some of the images. 

1. ALCARRÀS

Alcarràs is the perfect example of a Spanish film that has managed to simultaneously talk about life as it is, and life as it would have to be. Carla Simón uses a Catalan family’s last harvest, to display a series of individual perspectives that tell us about the multiple aspects of Spain’s rural crisis, while uniting them with the invisible bond that links families together. This is the Solé’s last line of defence before they get consumed by an economic system that already gave them up for lost. Not only did Simón manage to build a simple line of defence, but he also planted a collective seed that allows us to understand many of life’s uncertainties with some certainty.