The Zone of Interest (2023 Jonathan Glazer & scr)

Apparently only distantly related to Martin Amis' novel (it's dedicated to him). It won Oscars and BAFTAs as Best Foreign Film and for Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn's ominous sound design. For me, the production designers Chris Oddy, Joanna Kus and Kataryzna Sikora also should have won.

It's most chilling in its detached view of everything, in the accumulation of detail (the little girl who's obviously not right, the clothes that come into the house, even the ever-present dog) and the casual acceptance of the horror around them. Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller do a most convincing job.

Wasn't quite sure what the woman was collecting from the ashes in weirdly filmed night scenes, turns out she was planting food. (she was inspired by the story of a 90 year old woman who was present during filming.) Nor Friedel's coughing fit at the end - was he on his way out? Bonus points if he was. 

Without showing anything, it leaves you feeling sick.

It's photographed by Lukasz Zal, who's often associated with Pawel Pawlikowski.

That final bit of music over the credits by Mica Levi evokes for me the horrific mechanized weapons of mass murder and the screams of the victims. It's truly chilling.

Glazer made the famous Guinness 'surfer' ad and many music videos, which e still does; plus Sexy BEast (2000), Birth with Nicole Kidman (2004) and Under the Skin (2013, Scarlett Johansson).