Cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out. ~ Martin Scorsese

Happiness is going to the movies

I love movies and more than that I love going to the movies. I’m fortunate to have been born in the mid-sixties which meant that as a teenager I was lucky enough to see some really amazing movies in the theater. I went to a lot of movies as a teen, there wasn’t much legal to do in my hometown for teenagers. So I saw Jaws on the big screen, all of the first three Star Wars movies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET and Alien. The trailer for Alien on the big screen was an experience that gave me goosebumps. The trailer gave little information and yet no trailer has ever made me want to see a movie more, in case you’ve never seen it, you can find it here.

Maybe my favorite movie to ever see in a theater was the original Blade Runner. Saw it on a summer night, with my best friend in a historic old movie theater that has unfortunately since burned down. There have always been what I call big screen movies, movies like the Lord of the Rings films that were epic, large landscape films that just hit harder on the big screen. Probably the most recent example would be Dune.

Over time however, I’ve gone to the movies less and less. It started with VCRs and just got worse over time until it became horrid with cell phones. People have become so used to watching movies at home that they’ve lost consideration for the other people in theaters. They talk constantly, answer their phones or text through the movie, thoroughly ruining the theater experience. And I have little tolerance for it, it’s a situation that often leads me to react in less than polite ways. As such, I only go to big screen movies at the theater and always after they’ve been out for a couple of weeks and usually to a weekday matinee just to avoid people.

Then the pandemic hit and going to the movies was just out. So today, for the first time in five years I decided to skip out on an a late afternoon meeting and go to the movies. I went to see Civil War, it’s really been hyped up, it’s been out a while and is still in matinees. It was ok, but it was really fun to be in a theater, with a bag of popcorn, and a coke.

I’m not a film snob, I can equally appreciate and most times prefer a fun movie like The Big Lebowski over watching a classic like Citizen Kane. I’m more than happy to enjoy a movie, not spend my time analyzing it, looking for the director/writer’s motivation or bigger social message. But at times, a movie is so damn good that I do get a bit film snobby. Tonight will certainly be one of those nights as recently I saw what may be the best movie I’ve ever seen.

The film is directed by Jonathan Glazer, who directed a film I really don’t like, Under the Skin and one I like, Sexy Beast. And Lukasz Zal is the cinematographer, known for nothing you are likely familiar with in theaters. There are definitely spoilers ahead, I don’t think they’ll ruin the movie for you, but my best advice is stop now, go watch the movie.

The Zone of Interest is a masterpiece. It’s a Holocaust film, but not like any you’ve ever seen before. There have been some amazing an impactful films made about the Holocaust. Schindler’s List is spectacular, Life is Beautiful, and I love The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

There are a number of things that make this movie so amazing. The most powerful thing about this film is the lack of violence, blood, or visual horror. All of the horror in this film happens off screen at the periphery of the film. There are a visual and audio indicators, bits of conversation and a few direct scenes that make it clear where you are and what is happening, and that is the genius. This film on the surface is a film about a family and a dad’s job. And honestly if you didn’t pay a ton of attention you could take this as just that, but it’s not, it’s so much more powerful than that. The subtleties build up in small and powerful ways until the true horror of the reality slips into your brain and hits you with the full impact.

Another thing that was so incredible are the night scenes. The scenes were shot using thermal imagery. The scenes are a stark contrast to the rest of the bright daylight scenes throughout the film. These scenes relay a particularly poignant story from the period and one that turns out to be true and amazing. The thermal shots which I’m assuming computer enhanced are absolutely amazing and incredibly sharp, even though few in number, they are powerful as hell.

I loved this movie, I could teach a film class on just this movie alone. I need to re-watch it this weekend, I know early on I absolutely missed some of the subtleties and I want to re-watch it so that I can catch what I missed. See this movie, it’s wonderfully done, deeply thoughtful and moving and watching a really amazing film always makes me happy.

Have a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane