Jonathan Glazer makes ordinary comfort frightening through patient observation and unnerving sound. We rate him highly, and the affection in Sexy Beast matters to that judgement as much as the coldness of The Zone of Interest.
Fi1m perspective
A boulder interrupts a gangster’s Spanish retirement in Sexy Beast (2001), and Jonathan Glazer’s taste for absurdity has an immediate use. Gal wants to be left alone, and the intrusion makes that wish feel precarious before the arguments have begun. Glazer gives Ray Winstone’s warmth time to register against Ben Kingsley’s intimidation. The marriage matters because we believe there is a life here worth protecting. The heist is less compelling, but we recommend the film for how seriously it takes the people caught up in it.
The Spanish passages show how well his collaborators serve the drama. Ivan Bird’s cinematography and Jan Houllevigue’s production design make the surroundings comfortable enough to miss when the peace is broken. Editors Sam Sneade and John Scott let the confrontations last until Don’s company becomes oppressive. Roque Baños’s music adds unease, but Glazer is wise enough to let the contrast between the leading actors supply most of the tension.
After that debut, Birth (2004), with Nicole Kidman, moved towards grief, identity and the uncanny. Under the Skin (2013), starring Scarlett Johansson, followed with an experimental form and an inhuman presence moving through ordinary streets without attracting a second glance. Composer Mica Levi worked on both Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest. In the latter, Glazer made his observation stricter and found something more frightening in people whose lives were orderly and comfortable.
In The Zone of Interest (2023), the garden wall of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss’s home is also the camp wall. We were frightened by the sound while the family went about its comfortable routine. Christian Friedel plays Höss with a concern for things being done properly, and Sandra Hüller’s Hedwig is content with what she has. Glazer lets the children behave like children, refusing the reassurance of making them look sinister.
We think the coldness works, though Glazer sometimes becomes too insistent. We recommend starting with Sexy Beast for the actors. The Zone of Interest needs an evening set aside for something more disturbing.
Biography
Jonathan Glazer is an English film director and screenwriter. He was born on 26 March 1965 in London and studied theatre design at Nottingham Trent University. He began his career directing theatre before moving into film, music videos and commercials.
Glazer has directed the feature films Sexy Beast (2000), Birth (2004), Under the Skin (2013) and The Zone of Interest (2023). For the latter, which he also wrote, he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
