If a washing machine robot or retirement lottery winners sound like can't-miss material, then
check out these 2022 movie dramas that flew under the radar.
Steve Pink might not be the biggest name in showbiz, but he did direct the cult classic
comedies Accepted and Hot Tub Time Machine.
It turns out he also has a knack for drama, based on the candid and touching The Wheel,
which is about a young couple on the verge of divorce.
Albee and Walker met when they were 12 and fell for each other hard.
As The Wheel begins, their eight-year-long marriage is dangerously close to complete collapse.
So they rent an Airbnb cabin from a lovely couple in the woods to give their union one
last shot.
With the guide of a dime-a-dozen self-help book, Walker wants Albee to go through a set
of questions over the weekend.
But she isn't exactly keen on participating, as she's really just waiting for the perfect
moment to end their relationship.
During all this, the owners of the cabin begin to interfere with their guests' marital issues,
which only makes matters worse.
What makes The Wheel worthy of praise are the central performances by Amber Midthunder
and Taylor Gray, whose chemistry is palpable as their characters' opposite personalities clash.
The result is a heartbreakingly honest drama where we get hurt just as much as they do
by the time the credits start to roll.
A veteran of several Ricky Gervais projects, David Earl is a familiar face to fans of British comedy.
He usually plays shy, introverted, and often miserable outcasts who are inherently funny
and relatable by design.
In the Jim Archer-directed feature Brian and Charles, Earl delivers another variation of
his typically quirky and pathetic persona.
The film follows Earl as a lonely man named Brian, who lives by himself in a village in
the Welsh countryside.
He spends most of his days scavenging scrap and using whatever he can find to build odd
things that nobody really needs.
One day, he stumbles upon a mannequin's head along with an old, broken washing machine,
which leads to him building a robot.
The thing doesn't work at first, but after a stormy night, the robot mysteriously comes
alive and learns to communicate, and Brian names him Charles.
What follows is a weird but sweet friendship between an amusing machine and an isolated
man who longed for a companion his whole life but never had one, until now.
Brian and Charles' humor is delightfully strange and awkward, but its most endearing aspect
is how it depicts a touching benevolence underneath its protagonist's trauma.
"You soppy sod.
Look, he wants a kiss."
"Ooh."
"Right."
It's a little surprising that a neo-western like Montana Story didn't appeal to a larger audience.
Despite generally positive reviews, this tragic and untamed American family drama featuring
Haley Lu Richardson and Owen Teague remains a hidden gem.
Perhaps that's because its emotionally raw story doesn't go easy on the heart.
Erin, played by Richardson, and Cal, played by Teague, are two estranged siblings who
went their separate ways after a rough and abusive childhood.
Now, after many years, Erin returns to the ranch that she abandoned to escape her violent,
alcoholic father.
While she ran away, Cal stayed behind, and now he's the one who looks after their dying
dad and takes care of everything around the ranch.
Erin only comes back to say goodbye, but she ends up staying longer than she expected.
During that time, she and Cal confront their past and the demons that still haunt them.
Now they're both ready to confess their mistakes and the regrets they buried deep in their
hearts long ago.
Montana Story can be challenging at times, but if you can endure its bitter emotional
dynamics, it's a rewarding watch.
It seems that every time Zac Efron tries to show off his acting skills in a role that
demands more from him than being handsome and charming, the stars just never quite align.
But maybe we should give him more credit, and the survival drama Gold is just the latest
reason why.
Director Anthony Hayes's dystopian vision is a one-man show for the most part.
Virgil, played by Efron, is a traveler in the near future who pays a local man named
Keith, played by Hayes, to transport him into an area called The Compound.
On their way, they discover a large gold nugget in the desert stuck underground.
They decide to take it with them, but no matter how hard they try, it just won't budge.
So Keith convinces Virgil to stay behind and guard their newly found treasure until he
gets back with the right equipment to dig it out.
What follows are several days in the desert filled with unbearable heat, scavengers, and
local predators.
Virgil's mental state begins to crack, and it becomes doubtful whether he can make it
until his partner returns.
Efron delivers a powerful performance as his character slowly breaks down physically and mentally.
You feel his suffering and root for him with all your heart.
Despite the unbalanced pacing and flawed script, Efron's effort comes through, making Gold
an underrated gem that's worth a watch.
"Take it easy.
Breathe.
That's it."
Jerry and Marge Go Large is one of the most charmingly delightful dramedies of the year.
It's low-key yet exciting, funny, and even moving.
It's an unbelievable story told in an unfussy way.
That lack of heightened drama might be why it never took off, but the moderate pacing
combined with restrained performances from veterans Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening
fit the tone and script perfectly.
Jerry and Marge are a long-married couple who have just entered retirement.
Workaholic Jerry simply doesn't know what to do with all the newfound free time he suddenly
has after working for the same company 42 years.
But then he finds a loophole in a lottery game called WinFall.
To find out whether his theory works in practice, he buys a lot of tickets.
He ends up winning, but he's afraid to tell his wife, since they don't have much money
saved for their golden years.
But when Marge finds out accidentally, she sees an opportunity to spice up their marriage.
So she joins him on a journey that ends up bringing them a lot of cash and a shot not
just at changing their lives but also the town they love wholeheartedly.
Jerry and Marge got so-so reviews, and that might be the most common opinion from general
audiences as well.
It's hard not to like this lovely little gem, even if it can't give you everything to fall
in love with it on a first watch.
"Oh, uh, please.
'Jerry and Marge' is fine."
As They Made Us, Mayim Bialik's directorial debut, features a set of great actors and
a delicate portrayal of a Jewish family spending their last days with their dying father while
his physical and mental health rapidly deteriorates.
Dianna Agron plays Abigail, the daughter, caretaker, and glue of the family.
She's also a single mother raising two kids while trying to take care of her elderly father
Eugene, played by Dustin Hoffman.
She has an awful lot on her plate, and her mother is more of an obstacle than a helper.
Abigail genuinely cares about her dad, despite the rough and traumatic upbringing he put
her and her brother through.
When death comes scarily close for Eugene, Abigail gives it one last shot to convince
her brother to say goodbye to their father, while he still can.
As They Made Us slowly works its way through your heart and crushes it.
Hoffman gives a performance for the ages, while everyone else around him is just as solid.
There aren't any big surprises in this drama, but it's so well-written and acted that it
doesn't need them.
"I didn't necessarily want to Write it.
I felt a need to write some of these things down."
After putting in the hard work as a supporting actor for three decades, Clifton Collins Jr.
proved more than capable to carry an entire film on his shoulders.
Jockey is a fantastic, soulful movie that doesn't only do justice to Collins, but also
to a sport that's been mistreated so many times on screen before.
Collins plays Jackson Silva, who's been a jockey his whole life.
Horse racing is in his blood, and despite the several serious injuries he's suffered
during his career, he doesn't want to retire.
After all, he isn't really good at anything else, and he knows horses better than people.
But he can't reverse time and what it's done to his body.
That doesn't mean he won't try, though.
With the help of a skillful trainer named Ruth, he decides to take part in the upcoming
championship that will most likely be his last, if he can finish it at all.
What he can't be prepared for, though, is the racing newcomer who claims to be his son.
Jockey is a superb drama with a sublime atmosphere that not only does right by the world of horse
racing, but gives us a chance to feel like we're a part of it.
In a perfect world, The Survivor wouldn't have been a TV film produced by HBO but instead
a big-budget studio flick that would earn Ben Foster his first Oscar nomination.
But in reality, this biopic about Holocaust survivor Harry Haft is a drama that flew under
the radar, even though critics praised it upon its release.
The plot follows Haft post-World War II on his road to becoming a professional boxer
after surviving the concentration camps by fighting his fellow inmates to death.
Besides making a living, his goal is to gain enough publicity to find his long-lost love,
who was separated from him during the war.
As he continuously grapples with his past trauma, we see flashbacks of him in the camps,
depicting how he stayed alive.
Though The Survivor is a little uneven as it ambitiously attempts to cover several decades
of Haft's tumultuous life, Foster's exceptional performance is what pulls it together.
He's a little too old to play Haft in his younger years, but it doesn't feel that way.
He convincingly conveys all the anger and terror he went through in horrifying experiences
that left him with survivor's guilt.
"You murdered your own people."
"Why like this?"
One Moment is perhaps most notable as the final film for legendary character actor Danny
Aiello , who passed away in 2019 after a brief illness.
His performance as Joe McGuinness couldn't have been more fitting.
As a recently widowed husband, Joe tries to cope with the loss of his wife by becoming
more present in his middle-aged children's lives.
The plot follows the three McGuinness siblings and how they operate their overwhelmingly
busy lives.
Besides working and raising kids, they're also trying to comfort their ailing father,
who struggles with increasing physical and mental health issues.
It provides an excellent opportunity for Aiello to showcase his subtle and charming skills
one last time.
Even at the age of 86, Aiello delivers the kind of performance that made him one of the
most memorable character actors around during an almost 50-year-long career.
The rest of the cast does a good job, but none of them can quite rise to Aiello's level
as an experienced veteran.
He's the heart of the movie and the one who makes it all work.
Comedian Jerrod Carmichael's feature directorial debut, On The Count of Three is a dramedy
exploring mental health and trauma with pitch-black humor and a raw emotional palette.
The plot follows Carmichael and Christopher Abbott as Val and Kevin, two best friends
at the end of their ropes.
Val is depressed, dreading life at his mundane day job.
After receiving a promotion, he walks to the bathroom and tries to hang himself but gets
interrupted.
Meanwhile, Kevin is in a psychiatric hospital after a suicide attempt, trying to convince
a social worker that he doesn't have suicidal thoughts anymore.
When Val shows up to Kevin and asks him to run away together, Kevin doesn't hesitate.
Once they flee, Val suggests they should help kill each other.
He's thought of everything: two handguns in a backpack, an abandoned parking lot behind
a strip club, and an unchangeable determination to go through with it.
On the Count of Three tackles mental health issues without illusions.
It's a poignant and realistic depiction of people experiencing suicidal thoughts with
grace and empathy.