‘The Zone of Interest’ will bag Best Director nomination for Jonathan Glazer
“The Zone of Interest” is one of the year’s most intriguing movies. Director Jonathan Glazer (very) loosely adapted Martin Amis‘ 2014 novel of the same name in this experimental-feeling film from A24. The story follows Christian Friedel as Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) living a relatively normal life just outside of the concentration camp.
The movie is about the banality of evil — how monstrous people live almost boringly while, in the background, some of the worst horrors in human history are being carried out. Daring is probably the best word to describe this film, particularly with one very late sequence that throws the film forward to modern-day Auschwitz, wherein we see women cleaning the buildings and grounds of the camp. Critics have hailed Glazer for his work.
Raphael Abraham (Financial Times) noted: “Glazer has achieved something much greater than just making the monstrous mundane — by rendering such extreme inhumanity ordinary he reawakens us to its true horror.”
David Ehrlich (Indie Wire) observed that the camerawork on show instills “a flattening evenness into a film where the lack of drama becomes deeply sickening unto itself.”
David Rooney (The Hollywood Reporter) called the film a “devastating Holocaust drama like no other, which demonstrates with startling effectiveness [director Jonathan Glazer]’s unerring control of tonal and visual storytelling.”
As a result of this critical acclaim, we are predicting that Glazer will earn his first-ever Best Director nomination. We think he’ll be nominated alongside Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”), Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), and Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”). Glazer is on the precipice, however, with Alexander Payne (“The Holdovers”), Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Celine Song (“Past Lives”), and Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”) all hot on his heels.
Glazer has only directed three films prior to “The Zone of Interest” — “Sexy Beast,” “Birth,” and “Under the Skin.” “The Zone of Interest” is absolutely the work of a singular director with a unique style and vision. Voters do like that in this category, with recent such nominees including Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness” in 2023), Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (winners for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” in 2023), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car” in 2022), David Fincher (“Mank” in 2021), Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), and Bong Joon Ho (winner for “Parasite” in 2020). Glazer’s nomination would make sense in this regard.
Plus, WWI and WWII dramas do well in this category. Sam Mendes was nominated in 2020 for “1917,” Christopher Nolan was nominated in 2018 for “Dunkirk,” Mel Gibson was nominated in 2017 for “Hacksaw Ridge,” and Morten Tyldum was nominated in 2015 for “The Imitation Game.”
Glazer did win the Grand Prix award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. And two of the last 30 Grand Prix winners have gone on to land Best Director nominations at the Oscars — that was Roberto Benigni in 1998 for “Life is Beautiful” (nominated at the 1999 Oscars) and Spike Lee in 2018 for “BlacKkKlansman” (nominated at the 2019 Oscars).
Nolan and Scorsese feel like locks for this category while Lanthimos has got a great chance with “Poor Things.” Gerwig and Glazer, meanwhile, feel very at risk of missing out, particularly as those on the precipice have such strong movies. Voters may want to nominate Cooper after they snubbed in 2019 for “A Star is Born,” Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes over “The Zone of Interest,” and Song is the hot new talent around town. Payne, meanwhile, is an academy favorite with two Oscar wins (Best Adapted Screenplay twice — in 2005 for “Sideways” and 2012 for “The Descendants”) and three Best Director nominations (for “Sideways,” “The Descendants,” and “Nebraska” in 2014).
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