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Just last month, Robert De Niro turned eighty, a milestone that came and went without much fuss. It may well be that famously private actor didn’t want any. However, this moment reflects another milestone, marking a half century since De Niro broke out as a screen actor with two indelible performances, first in “Bang the Drum Slowly” playing a terminally ill baseball catcher, second as the unhinged Johnny Boy in “Mean Streets.”

Why were so many of our very best actors born in April? It’s an unanswerable question, of course, but intriguing nonetheless. And in the rarefied world of movie stardom, the concentration of April birthdays is pretty remarkable.

Now as before, all the noise and hype around these major commercial titles can distract us from a few smaller gems released in the past year. So below I’ve compiled a list of nine outstanding “under the radar” films from ‘22, including three narrative features from overseas, and three documentaries. If you’re just hearing about some of them now, then I’m doing my job. Here’s to lots more great movies — big and small — in ’23.

Twenty-five years later, 1997 feels like yesterday, yet at the same time an eternity. So much has changed. Will the movie industry ever experience another banner year like 1997, not just in box office terms but also the range and quality of its output? It’s an open question.