OMG. I wasn’t going to see this. But I, like you, loved Under the Skin. (BTW, did you read the book? Even creepier.) And I also dug Sexy Beast. So, I’m in. And how could I NOT see it, with phrases like this to tempt me? “ like floaters in your eye or city traffic” xo thx. And I’m STILL thinking about Past Lives
Oh, I’m not a feel-good-picture kind of girl (!) Under the Skin is a really good book. (I read it twice; once for plot, the other time for nuance.) Written from Scarlett’s character’s point of view. She (it?) comes across as a really sympathetic character.
I had somehow missed even hearing of Under the Skin until Roy mentioned it recently, and I was intrigued. But now I feel I'm going to have to see it, thanks to comments like yours, and several others in here.
I do love Sexy Beast - I have to admit that it just amuses me to no end that the psychopathic dude in it was played by the same actor who portrayed Gandhi. Talk about range, hahaha!
I also enjoyed the fact that Ray Winstone, the central character in Sexy Beast, was also in Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, as the singer of the band the Looters. I'm trying my hardest to find a version of that on dvd/bluray that has either subtitles or closed captioning, as my hearing is not what it once was. No luck so far.
Oh, by the way, my partner said that there was a bit of an uproar about the baby in Under the Skin quite similar to the one in Yellowjackets. People seriously freaking out about it in both cases. People, it's a movie! I'll readily acknowledge that I probably won't see Zone of Interest because the underlying subject matter would stress me out, but I can recognize it's a movie.
Thanks Roy. This one is on my list, and I share your admiration for both Sexy Beast and Under the Skin. I’ll probably wait a bit, because this is one of those movies you more feel like you SHOULD see than like you WANT to see. And after Anatomy of a Fall I’ve become a Sandra Huller fan, so I’ll be looking forward to her performance at least.
I really liked "Under the Skin". Everyone I recommended it to made a point of coming back to me and telling me I was weird. I thought Sexy Beast was pretty good too. At least nobody threatened to kick my ass for recommending it.
Excellent review, Roy. Glazer is a terrific talent, and I agree that Under the Skin is one of the best films of this still young century. I recently watched it again and I was probably even more disturbed than I was the first time I saw it. I am not "looking forward" to watching The Zone of Interest, but I will indeed see it.
I was looking forward to that just for what I’ve seen of the cinematography. It looks like he’s just using a normal lens and a muted color palette which is kinda where I’m at. I didn’t like Under the Skin, but thought it was well conceived and well made. Unfortunately, I’m down on the whole enterprise this year because the only truly great and timeless movie was not even nominated and the nominated movies I’ve seen (Flower Moon, Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall) are no better than good tv. For example, the acting, directing, story, and cinematography for Feud: Capote vs The Swans is as good as any of those, and they are all lacking vs The Boy and the Heron. I’m not really sure about Barbie. Possibly it’s up there, probably not.
"A normal lens and a muted palette"? Cripes, does this guy not understand modern film? What about the overseas sales? This guy needs to talk to Michael Bay! 🤪
(Seriously, it makes me a little less desperate that folks are still making think movies and it isn't just ALL blue-tinged scenes of people yelling and pointing guns at each other.)
Yes, that's good, although the impression I get is if it's not a Marvel franchise movie then it's WAAAAAAY over on the other end of the spectrum of "arty and difficult." I feel obligated to speak up for America's middlebrow moviegoers, where's the relatively unchallenging content we crave?
And hopefully write about it! Every year you could do the Edroso “Shoulda been Best Picture if the Academy weren’t so Willfully Blind” award.
And Best Director. Seriously, one of the widely acknowledged best filmmakers of all time produced the crowning achievement of a long and storied career and isn’t even in the conversation for a relevant award? Just more evidence we’re living in a tacky computer simulation, I fear.
I saw it on a big screen, just now. You're review is good. It actually opened with several minutes of a green rectangle though. I wonder if that was defining the zone of interest - the rectangle of the screen. Most of the film was that claustrophobic. At first I really liked the cinematography. I thought the green and white scenes were great with their classical compositions and impressive application of color theory and expected the whole film to be like that. But then he started introducing some muted reds to the color palette, then we were in totally red compositions, and then all over the place, even dazzling gold, and all the while the composition remained impeccable. It got a bit tiring and at times I thought I was in a bizarro humorless Wes Anderson movie. Not that that's entirely a bad thing, but I don't know if that was the intention. Perhaps it was, as there was that audacious homage to David Lynch that kinda came out of nowhere. The story was more interesting. I thought it was a horror story until it broke the fourth wall at the end. I pity the poor souls that worked on that soundtrack. Like you, there were parts I just didn't get but I'm sure had narrative purpose. By the end though, I didn't care. Glad I saw it in the theater though. Regardless of how I'll ultimately feel about it, and I suspect I'll feel next to nothing, I think it's worthy of attention.
Ha! See, one reason I can't go over the top on things like this Is: Why am I being made to suffer for? Is there something I will learn that I didn't know about mass support for tyranny? Is there anything else there?
I failed to mention Lacombe, Lucien, which may be the best movie about the Nazi phenomenon, about a young Nazi whose responses to what's going on -- first getting caught up and pursuing a career in the movement, then falling in love with a Jew and fucking all that up -- are very believable gut-level reactions. They suggest that for this one person, at least (but one person is everything in a work of art), evil is just one factor among many, and even a brute may be led out of it. I like a lot about The Zone of Interest but it's not on the same level.
As I tend more towards the absurd, I think, my go to film to understand mass tyranny is The Tin Drum. Bang drum loudly, shriek, break things. I doubt it’s much more complicated than that. Or in evolutionary terms, humans are packs of baboons and too many of us are predisposed to follow the biggest, meanest monkey with the gnarliest big red ass, or hairpiece as the case may be.
I saw this on Saturday and I very much agree with your thoughts, Roy. I left the theater not sure whether I liked it or not but it sat with me all weekend and the more I went over it in my mind, the more I came to both appreciate it, and be horrified by it. Rudolph and Hedwig are stone cold monsters, but this film does such a good job of slowly drawing that out that. For a long time you think it’s just a more straightforward “banality of evil” type piece, then there will be a line like Hedwig’s comment to their Jewish servant/slave girl the morning her mother flees and it’s like, oh, no, no, these fuckers know exactly what’s going on and who they are and they are 100% down with it. It’s a really unsettling work, especially that ending, and I’m glad I took the time to see it.
"For a long time you think it’s just a more straightforward 'banality of evil' type piece, then there will be a line like Hedwig’s comment to their Jewish servant/slave girl the morning her mother flees and it’s like, oh, no, no, these fuckers know exactly what’s going on and who they are and they are 100% down with it."
TFW you lean in on the "crimes against humanity" part of your resume.
I think watching any movie about the Shoah is going to elicit despair, because of the enormity of what happened, the horror that just has to be based on fact to seem over-the-top, and the INEVITABLY of those; that, as you say, we are here now in this moment with *waves arm* all of THIS thanks to a grotesque Austrian gnome and his twisted visions. There's a lot more involved, of course, *side eyes capitalism* but would we have the slaughter in Gaza, the Russo-Ukraine war, or the bullshit Great Replacement, just as examples, if it wasn't for the ghosts of the Third Reich and the aftermath?
BTW, speaking of film, I have finally tracked down a copy of The Falls, and watched a bit of it the other night. It's nuts, but in a good way. I think it's going to demand attention, which I wasn't giving it the other day, so I'm glad I went for the purchase rather than just renting.
Seven Days In May and Twilight's Last Gleaming have also gone on the watch list.
I found the ending unsatisfying. Scott doesn't go to jail, he just gets fired from his job. I assume the sequel is where Scott - now free to run for President - wins in a landslide. Because an attempted overthrow of the US government isn't a deal-breaker for a near-majority of American voters. Of course, someone could have attempted to keep him off the ballot, arguing that he had taken part in an insurrection. We can all see how well that's going.
In the first review of this movie I read, they noted they had to use a nearby house because the Hoss house was occupied. !?! Living in that actual house today?!?
Well now yo've piqued my curiosity and I'll try to get to see this before it leaves theaters. I've also never seen Sexy Beast - for some reason the combination of that title and Ben Kingsley really put me off (even though I like him)! And as a fan of Downfall, I expect I can take the subject matter.
OMG. I wasn’t going to see this. But I, like you, loved Under the Skin. (BTW, did you read the book? Even creepier.) And I also dug Sexy Beast. So, I’m in. And how could I NOT see it, with phrases like this to tempt me? “ like floaters in your eye or city traffic” xo thx. And I’m STILL thinking about Past Lives
You loved Under the Skin? I knew you had taste. (Now I'm scared of the book!) ZoI is worth seeing but, obviously, not exactly a feel-good picture.
Oh, I’m not a feel-good-picture kind of girl (!) Under the Skin is a really good book. (I read it twice; once for plot, the other time for nuance.) Written from Scarlett’s character’s point of view. She (it?) comes across as a really sympathetic character.
She-it does. That's what's so horrifying!
Oh! One more thing: The guys she picks up in the beginning scenes were actual random guys...that's why they look so surprised when she stops for them!
Ha! I had no idea.
I had somehow missed even hearing of Under the Skin until Roy mentioned it recently, and I was intrigued. But now I feel I'm going to have to see it, thanks to comments like yours, and several others in here.
I do love Sexy Beast - I have to admit that it just amuses me to no end that the psychopathic dude in it was played by the same actor who portrayed Gandhi. Talk about range, hahaha!
Hope you like it! p.s. I felt the same way about the casting in Sexy Beast (!)
I also enjoyed the fact that Ray Winstone, the central character in Sexy Beast, was also in Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, as the singer of the band the Looters. I'm trying my hardest to find a version of that on dvd/bluray that has either subtitles or closed captioning, as my hearing is not what it once was. No luck so far.
Oh, by the way, my partner said that there was a bit of an uproar about the baby in Under the Skin quite similar to the one in Yellowjackets. People seriously freaking out about it in both cases. People, it's a movie! I'll readily acknowledge that I probably won't see Zone of Interest because the underlying subject matter would stress me out, but I can recognize it's a movie.
Thanks Roy. This one is on my list, and I share your admiration for both Sexy Beast and Under the Skin. I’ll probably wait a bit, because this is one of those movies you more feel like you SHOULD see than like you WANT to see. And after Anatomy of a Fall I’ve become a Sandra Huller fan, so I’ll be looking forward to her performance at least.
Now I'm looking forward to Anatomy of a Fall for her specifically.
She is very good in that
I'm holding out for "Strays" to get a nod. 🤣 it was hilarious.
I really liked "Under the Skin". Everyone I recommended it to made a point of coming back to me and telling me I was weird. I thought Sexy Beast was pretty good too. At least nobody threatened to kick my ass for recommending it.
I don't know if I could watch this.
Well to be fair, you are kind of weird, but shouldn't want to kick your ass for that
Yeah, was gonna say...
Anyway, nice twofer!
Excellent review, Roy. Glazer is a terrific talent, and I agree that Under the Skin is one of the best films of this still young century. I recently watched it again and I was probably even more disturbed than I was the first time I saw it. I am not "looking forward" to watching The Zone of Interest, but I will indeed see it.
I was looking forward to that just for what I’ve seen of the cinematography. It looks like he’s just using a normal lens and a muted color palette which is kinda where I’m at. I didn’t like Under the Skin, but thought it was well conceived and well made. Unfortunately, I’m down on the whole enterprise this year because the only truly great and timeless movie was not even nominated and the nominated movies I’ve seen (Flower Moon, Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall) are no better than good tv. For example, the acting, directing, story, and cinematography for Feud: Capote vs The Swans is as good as any of those, and they are all lacking vs The Boy and the Heron. I’m not really sure about Barbie. Possibly it’s up there, probably not.
"A normal lens and a muted palette"? Cripes, does this guy not understand modern film? What about the overseas sales? This guy needs to talk to Michael Bay! 🤪
(Seriously, it makes me a little less desperate that folks are still making think movies and it isn't just ALL blue-tinged scenes of people yelling and pointing guns at each other.)
Hearted for blue tinge.
"folks are still making think movies"
Yes, that's good, although the impression I get is if it's not a Marvel franchise movie then it's WAAAAAAY over on the other end of the spectrum of "arty and difficult." I feel obligated to speak up for America's middlebrow moviegoers, where's the relatively unchallenging content we crave?
TV, same as it ever was.
Now I guess I gotta see that cartoon.
The cinematography in Zone of Interest is really good. Such pictures, living pictures! Or I think so, you tell me.
And hopefully write about it! Every year you could do the Edroso “Shoulda been Best Picture if the Academy weren’t so Willfully Blind” award.
And Best Director. Seriously, one of the widely acknowledged best filmmakers of all time produced the crowning achievement of a long and storied career and isn’t even in the conversation for a relevant award? Just more evidence we’re living in a tacky computer simulation, I fear.
I saw it on a big screen, just now. You're review is good. It actually opened with several minutes of a green rectangle though. I wonder if that was defining the zone of interest - the rectangle of the screen. Most of the film was that claustrophobic. At first I really liked the cinematography. I thought the green and white scenes were great with their classical compositions and impressive application of color theory and expected the whole film to be like that. But then he started introducing some muted reds to the color palette, then we were in totally red compositions, and then all over the place, even dazzling gold, and all the while the composition remained impeccable. It got a bit tiring and at times I thought I was in a bizarro humorless Wes Anderson movie. Not that that's entirely a bad thing, but I don't know if that was the intention. Perhaps it was, as there was that audacious homage to David Lynch that kinda came out of nowhere. The story was more interesting. I thought it was a horror story until it broke the fourth wall at the end. I pity the poor souls that worked on that soundtrack. Like you, there were parts I just didn't get but I'm sure had narrative purpose. By the end though, I didn't care. Glad I saw it in the theater though. Regardless of how I'll ultimately feel about it, and I suspect I'll feel next to nothing, I think it's worthy of attention.
"a bizarro humorless Wes Anderson movie"
Ha! See, one reason I can't go over the top on things like this Is: Why am I being made to suffer for? Is there something I will learn that I didn't know about mass support for tyranny? Is there anything else there?
I failed to mention Lacombe, Lucien, which may be the best movie about the Nazi phenomenon, about a young Nazi whose responses to what's going on -- first getting caught up and pursuing a career in the movement, then falling in love with a Jew and fucking all that up -- are very believable gut-level reactions. They suggest that for this one person, at least (but one person is everything in a work of art), evil is just one factor among many, and even a brute may be led out of it. I like a lot about The Zone of Interest but it's not on the same level.
As I tend more towards the absurd, I think, my go to film to understand mass tyranny is The Tin Drum. Bang drum loudly, shriek, break things. I doubt it’s much more complicated than that. Or in evolutionary terms, humans are packs of baboons and too many of us are predisposed to follow the biggest, meanest monkey with the gnarliest big red ass, or hairpiece as the case may be.
I saw this on Saturday and I very much agree with your thoughts, Roy. I left the theater not sure whether I liked it or not but it sat with me all weekend and the more I went over it in my mind, the more I came to both appreciate it, and be horrified by it. Rudolph and Hedwig are stone cold monsters, but this film does such a good job of slowly drawing that out that. For a long time you think it’s just a more straightforward “banality of evil” type piece, then there will be a line like Hedwig’s comment to their Jewish servant/slave girl the morning her mother flees and it’s like, oh, no, no, these fuckers know exactly what’s going on and who they are and they are 100% down with it. It’s a really unsettling work, especially that ending, and I’m glad I took the time to see it.
"For a long time you think it’s just a more straightforward 'banality of evil' type piece, then there will be a line like Hedwig’s comment to their Jewish servant/slave girl the morning her mother flees and it’s like, oh, no, no, these fuckers know exactly what’s going on and who they are and they are 100% down with it."
TFW you lean in on the "crimes against humanity" part of your resume.
I think watching any movie about the Shoah is going to elicit despair, because of the enormity of what happened, the horror that just has to be based on fact to seem over-the-top, and the INEVITABLY of those; that, as you say, we are here now in this moment with *waves arm* all of THIS thanks to a grotesque Austrian gnome and his twisted visions. There's a lot more involved, of course, *side eyes capitalism* but would we have the slaughter in Gaza, the Russo-Ukraine war, or the bullshit Great Replacement, just as examples, if it wasn't for the ghosts of the Third Reich and the aftermath?
BTW, speaking of film, I have finally tracked down a copy of The Falls, and watched a bit of it the other night. It's nuts, but in a good way. I think it's going to demand attention, which I wasn't giving it the other day, so I'm glad I went for the purchase rather than just renting.
Seven Days In May and Twilight's Last Gleaming have also gone on the watch list.
Seven Days In May is must-see. General James Mattoon Scott was probably the inspiration for Alexander Haig.
I found the ending unsatisfying. Scott doesn't go to jail, he just gets fired from his job. I assume the sequel is where Scott - now free to run for President - wins in a landslide. Because an attempted overthrow of the US government isn't a deal-breaker for a near-majority of American voters. Of course, someone could have attempted to keep him off the ballot, arguing that he had taken part in an insurrection. We can all see how well that's going.
Ah, jeez – there you go with that slightly-too-demanding content again!
It's kind of a great unsung Frankenheimer film. I think it's terrific. I like it more than Manchurian Candidate. Maybe not as much as The Train.
Nobody plays a dick like Burt Lancaster.
Twilights Last Gleaming in a big gap in my Aldrich viewing. Let us know !
In the first review of this movie I read, they noted they had to use a nearby house because the Hoss house was occupied. !?! Living in that actual house today?!?
6 rms oven vu
What, no Oof?
There’s a Sexy Beast TV show that I find entertaining.
I prefer " distinctive"
Worriedman of distinction has a ring to it.
You know, the minute I walk into some joint, they can see tthat I'm a man of distinction.
I don't know about the big spender thing. Honestly, I never kept a dollar past sunset. It always burned a hole in my pants.
You leave those dollars out in the sun all day – a course they burn yer pants, son!
Beautiful review.
Sounds great!
Well now yo've piqued my curiosity and I'll try to get to see this before it leaves theaters. I've also never seen Sexy Beast - for some reason the combination of that title and Ben Kingsley really put me off (even though I like him)! And as a fan of Downfall, I expect I can take the subject matter.