Small works of art: What was the best opening credits in 2022?

[14:48 Sun,22.January 2023 by Thomas Richter]

At best, opening credits whet the appetite for the film to follow, arouse anticipation and set the mood for the filming pleasure to come; at worst, they are ignored or even lead to the next film being clicked on straight away if watched online. So they are quite important and ideally represent an art form in their own right, works of art that are sometimes a very special experience just in themselves. Some sequences are even so good that many viewers enjoy watching them again and again before each episode. That&s why, at the beginning of a new year, critics focus not only on last year&s best movies, but also on the best title sequences of movies and TV (or streaming) series of the past year.

There are several top 10 lists of the best opening credits, for example from the online magazines

Art of the Title (a website that deals only with the topic of the aesthetics of opening credits),

Printmag,

Slashfilm and

Salon. Fortunately, after a period of rather simple title sequences, there now seems to be a creative revival - there are classic animations as well as trashy dance numbers by the entire ensemble, surreal dream sequences, stop motion animations, close-ups of a virtual Renaissance mural, typographic artwork and elaborate CGI effects sequences. It&s also interesting how the opening credits set the mood for the plot, characters or atmosphere of each series.

Here are some of the favorites:

No opening credits, but a nice playful changing series title presented differently each time:

Get a taste for the series? Some - unfortunately not all - of the series are also available in this country via one of the many streaming services, which are you can check via

Justwatch or

Wer streamt es?. And if you haven&t had your fill of previews yet,

here has many more, and in the two clips below you&ll find some of the best movie previews ever, as well as a history of why and since when there have been any.

Which series credits impressed you the most last year?

more infos at bei kottke.org

deutsche Version dieser Seite: Kleine Kunstwerke: Was war der beste Filmvorspann 2022?