Jonathan Glazer has made four films in 25 years. Following The Zone Of Interest, we won’t be waiting as long for the next one.
Jonathan Glazer’s films always feel like an event, in part because of the quality of them. Of course, the British director’s films also feel like an event because we have to wait such an incredibly long time for them to arrive. With just four films in the last 25 years to his name, it’s clear that Glazer is only drawn to directing when the compulsion strikes him and that’s perhaps why his films are so incredibly compelling: each of his movies feels like an artist being impelled to draw something out from deep within themselves.
Following the release (and Oscar-winning triumph) of last year’s The Zone Of Interest, Glazer has promised us that we won’t have to wait another decade for his next film. According to World Of Reel, while appearing at Bologna’s Il Cinema Ritrovato festival to host a masterclass, Glazer told the assembled audience that “I have something in my head that I will soon translate into a movie,” also stating that the writing process will begin soon.
Glazer didn’t deign to add any details about the new project but at Cannes 2023 Glazer hinted that his next film would be a stark departure to his usual work – Sexy Beast, Teeth, Under The Skin and the aforementioned The Zone Of Interest. All four of those films possess a kind of bleak cruelty to them, but back at Cannes Glazer promised something centered on “tenderness, how tender we can be as well.”
Whether that’s still the project he’s now promising us, remains to be seen but we’d be very interested in seeing the filmmaker turn his artistry to the human condition’s capacity for goodness.
As already mentioned, The Zone Of Interest was a critical darling but also pushed Glazer’s distanced, observational style of filmmaking even further than the bleak, largely dialogue-free strangeness of his wonderful 2014 science fiction film, Under The Skin. Whether a film that explores a different side to humanity will see Glazer adopt a different mode of filmmaking remains to be seen, but we’re certainly eager to find out. More on this one as we hear it.
