Frenetic by design but also to a fault, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s inventive multiverse-spanning action extravaganza isn’t an unequivocal triumph. Yeoh’s performance, however, very much is. As the many, many different faces of Evelyn — and not just faces but bodies, all of them in glorious motion — Yeoh revels in the dazzling martial-arts prowess that has made her one of Asia’s biggest action stars, but she also demonstrates the emotional agility — and delicacy — that her audiences and critics have often taken for granted. For that reason, I could’ve easily slotted her and the terrific, resurgent Ke Huy Quan among my favorite co-leads, given not only how superbly and contrapuntally their performances fit together. But in the end, this is Yeoh’s movie, and she stands — and kicks and chops and leaps and soars — alone.
The next 10: Brian d’Arcy James, “The Cathedral”; Eden Dambrine, “Close”; Rebecca Hall, “Resurrection”; Bill Nighy, “Living”; Aubrey Plaza, “Emily the Criminal”; Jeremy Pope, “The Inspection”; Andrea Riseborough, “To Leslie”; Franz Rogowski, “Great Freedom”; Léa Seydoux, “One Fine Morning”; Maya Vanderbeque, “Playground.”
And here, in alphabetical order by movie title, are the best co-lead performances of 2022:
Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal in “Aftersun.”
(A24)