A series of strikingly bold formal choices, an unyielding control over tone and technique, and a clear moral framework combine to make Jonathan Glazer’s
The Zone of Interest one of the more provocative and disturbing films I’ve seen in a while. If Glazer’s purposeful remove makes it more of an intellectual object than an emotional one for most of its runtime, the brazen final moments brought home the horror of its setting in genuinely stunning fashion.
Christian Friedel and particularly Sandra Hüller give precise, unsettling performances as the commandant of Auschwitz and his wife, who navigate mundane professional and familial situations literally next door to the worst ongoing crime scene in history, only tangentially affected by the unimaginable suffering just over their garden wall.
The most memorable parts of Mica Levi’s unnerving score are deployed sparingly and for maximum impact, often paired with unexpected but highly effective choices by Glazer like
depicting certain rare moments of morally-driven action in crisp negative thermal images, or holding on black, white, or red screens for minutes at a time.
Like most of Glazer’s films, its initial impact is largely intellectual and on reflection continues to unfold and reveal itself, including in its broader allegorical implications.
FYI, I’m still catching up on reviews, and I can tell that this is going to be one of those years where I sound like I’m raving about everything, but the hit rate so far has been legit remarkable (and probably unsustainable), with everything I’ve seen almost halfway through the festival after
Kim’s Video falling somewhere between very good and great. Today’s schedule includes the German psychological drama
The Teacher’s Lounge, Andrew Haigh’s
All of Us Strangers, Christos Nikou’s
Fingernails, Kitty Green’s
The Royal Hotel, and Pablo Larrain’s
El Conde.