Critics valued precision and restraint as much as ambition.
In March 2022, the 27th Critics Choice Awards gathered the entertainment industry's critical voices to take stock of a year defined by psychological depth, prestige storytelling, and an expanding sense of what world cinema could mean. Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog emerged as the dominant force in film, while television's hierarchies were redrawn by Succession, Ted Lasso, and Mare of Easttown. Perhaps most tellingly, the ceremony extended its highest honors to a Korean thriller and a Japanese drama, quietly acknowledging that the boundaries of consequential art had shifted beneath everyone's feet.
- The Power of the Dog swept five film categories, signaling a rare critical consensus around Campion's vision of psychological complexity and formal precision.
- Succession's dominance in drama and Ted Lasso's triple acting sweep created a television landscape where both darkness and warmth could claim equal artistic legitimacy.
- Kate Winslet's return to prestige television through Mare of Easttown and Michael Keaton's Dopesick win underscored the limited series format's growing power to attract major talent.
- Squid Game's Best Foreign Language Series win — alongside Lee Jung-Jae's acting award — confirmed that a global streaming phenomenon had crossed from cultural curiosity to critical institution.
- Special honors for Billy Crystal and Halle Berry, alongside wins for Bo Burnham and John Oliver, reflected an industry attempting to hold legacy, innovation, and representation in the same frame.
The 27th Critics Choice Awards, held in March 2022, announced its priorities early: Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog claimed Best Picture and four additional honors, including Best Director for Campion herself, cinematography, and adapted screenplay. It was a sweep that spoke to a critical consensus around psychological complexity and formal ambition.
The film categories distributed their remaining prizes widely. Will Smith won Best Actor for King Richard, Jessica Chastain took Best Actress for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and Belfast earned recognition for its ensemble cast and Kenneth Branagh's original screenplay. Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur claimed supporting acting honors for West Side Story and Coda respectively, while Denis Villeneuve's Dune dominated technical categories. Drive My Car won Best Foreign Language Film — a recognition that would resonate as the year's international momentum built.
Television belonged largely to HBO. Succession swept the drama categories, with Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin both winning supporting honors. Ted Lasso claimed Best Comedy Series and three acting awards, while Mare of Easttown gave Kate Winslet a triumphant return to prestige television alongside the Best Limited Series prize. Michael Keaton won Best Actor in the same category for Dopesick.
The drama acting categories carried the evening's most resonant signal: Lee Jung-Jae won Best Actor in a Drama Series for Squid Game, the South Korean phenomenon that had reshaped global streaming culture. Squid Game also won Best Foreign Language Series, cementing its status as genuine artistic achievement rather than mere viral spectacle. Melanie Lynskey, Jean Smart, Jennifer Coolidge, and Murray Bartlett rounded out a television landscape that felt genuinely expansive.
Billy Crystal received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Halle Berry the SeeHer Award. Bo Burnham's Inside took Best Comedy Special. What the evening ultimately reflected was an industry reckoning with its own widening horizons — honoring established masters while making room for voices that, not long ago, might never have stood in the same conversation.
The 27th Critics Choice Awards, held in March 2022, painted a portrait of a year in entertainment defined by a few dominant forces. Jane Campion's psychological western, The Power of the Dog, emerged as the evening's heavyweight in film, claiming Best Picture along with four additional honors: Campion herself for Best Director, the film's cinematography, and its adapted screenplay. It was the kind of sweep that signals not just critical favor but a certain consensus about what the year's most accomplished filmmaking looked like.
Beyond Campion's film, the night belonged to a constellation of smaller victories distributed across the industry. Will Smith took Best Actor for his role in King Richard, while Jessica Chastain won Best Actress for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. The ensemble cast of Belfast earned recognition as a collective, and Kenneth Branagh received the award for Best Original Screenplay for the same film. Ariana DeBose won Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story, and Troy Kotsur took Best Supporting Actor for Coda. The technical categories favored Denis Villeneuve's Dune, which won for visual effects, production design, and Hans Zimmer's original score. Licorice Pizza claimed Best Comedy Feature, while The Mitchells vs. the Machines took the animated film prize. Drive My Car, a Japanese film, won Best Foreign Language Film—a recognition that would prove prescient given the year's international breakthrough moments.
Television told a different story, one dominated by HBO's Succession, which swept the drama categories with wins for Best Drama Series, Best Supporting Actress (Sarah Snook), and Best Supporting Actor (Kieran Culkin). Ted Lasso, the feel-good sports comedy that had captured cultural attention, won Best Comedy Series and claimed three acting awards: Jason Sudeikis for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, Hannah Waddingham for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and Brett Goldstein for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Mare of Easttown, the limited series that had made Kate Winslet a presence on prestige television again, won Best Limited Series and gave Winslet the award for Best Actress in a Limited Series or Made for Television Movie. Michael Keaton won Best Actor in the same category for Dopesick.
The drama series categories reflected the year's most talked-about television. Lee Jung-Jae won Best Actor in a Drama Series for Squid Game, the South Korean phenomenon that had become a global cultural event. Melanie Lynskey took Best Actress in a Drama Series for Yellowjackets. Jean Smart won Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Hacks. Jennifer Coolidge and Murray Bartlett both won supporting acting awards for The White Lotus, the anthology series that had emerged as a critical darling.
International television received explicit recognition when Squid Game won Best Foreign Language Series, cementing the show's status as more than a streaming curiosity. What If…? took Best Animated Series. The ceremony also honored achievements beyond acting and directing: West Side Story won Best Editing, The Eyes of Tammy Faye won Best Hair and Makeup, and Jenny Beavan won Best Costume Design for Cruella. The James Bond film No Time to Die took Best Song. Special honors went to Billy Crystal, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Halle Berry, who received the SeeHer Award. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won Best Talk Show, and Bo Burnham's Inside took Best Comedy Special. Oslo, a film adaptation of the peace negotiations, won Best Movie Made for Television.
What emerged from the evening was a picture of an industry recognizing both its established players and its new voices. The Power of the Dog's dominance suggested that critics valued psychological complexity and formal precision. Succession's sweep indicated that prestige television had fully arrived as a serious artistic medium. And the recognition of Squid Game and Drive My Car signaled that the boundaries of what counted as major entertainment had expanded—that a Korean thriller and a Japanese drama could stand alongside American productions as works of genuine artistic consequence. The night was, in its way, a referendum on what the industry believed mattered most.
Notable Quotes
The ceremony honored both established players and new voices, recognizing that the boundaries of what counts as major entertainment had expanded.— The awards as a whole
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did The Power of the Dog win so decisively? What was it about that film that made critics align around it?
It's a film about surfaces and what lies beneath them—a western that's really a psychological study. Campion's direction is precise, controlled. The cinematography is stunning but never showy. Critics tend to reward that kind of restraint, especially when it's paired with real emotional depth.
And on television, Succession swept the drama categories while Ted Lasso won comedy. Those are almost opposite shows—one's cynical, one's optimistic.
That's exactly right. It suggests critics weren't looking for a single vision of what television should be. They were saying both things matter: the sharp, ruthless examination of power in Succession and the earnest belief in human goodness in Ted Lasso. Room for both.
What strikes you about Squid Game winning Best Foreign Language Series?
A year or two earlier, that wouldn't have happened. A Korean thriller would have been seen as niche, interesting but not central. Now it's winning major awards at a major ceremony. That's a real shift in what counts as mainstream.
Did any of the wins feel surprising to you?
Lee Jung-Jae winning for Squid Game was significant—he's a veteran actor, but Western audiences didn't know him. That award was saying something about who gets to be seen as a major talent. And Kieran Culkin for Succession—he'd been in Home Alone as a kid, then disappeared. To come back and win at this level, that's a real career resurrection.
The technical awards went heavily to Dune. What does that say?
Dune is a massive, ambitious film. It won for visual effects, production design, score. Critics were rewarding ambition on that scale—the attempt to make something genuinely epic. But it didn't win Best Picture. So there's a distinction being made: technical achievement is one thing, but the best film of the year was something more intimate.