The Zone of Interest is a soul-shaking historical document, closer to a docudrama or recreation than a traditional film.
Auschwitz concentration camp in Oświęcim, Nazi-occupied Poland, summer, 1943- Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife, Hedwig (Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller), live a quiet, idyllic life in their residence bordering the northwest wall of the infamous Nazi killing center. Every day, Rudolf Höss goes to work, where he experiments with gasses and approves funding for new crematoriums to make sure the largest mass murder in human history continues smoothly, and Hedwig Höss keeps their five children and the servants while tending the enormous garden that borders the prison wall. On weekends, they play in the Soła and host parties with other Nazis.
Mean Girls (Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr, 2024) is an adaptation of a Broadway musical that was itself an adaptation of the iconic 2004 film Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2004), and it’s exactly what it looks like.
North Shore High School in Evanston, Illinois, apparently pre-pandemic, probably in 2017 when the play premiered, who cares- high school junior Cady Heron (Angourie Rice), after 12 years of homeschooling with her zoologist parents in Kenya, is thrust into a different kind of wilderness when – I may as well summarize “Hamlet.” You know how the story goes.
Alex Garland’s Civil War is a pulse-pounding, eye-popping masterpiece from start to finish. The Londoner has seen this country’s heart, which is not difficult right now from that distance, and brought it to screen in such accuracy that many Americans still cannot recognize it.
New York City, the near future- the president of the U.S. (Nick Offerman) has secured a third term in office, causing three groups of states to secede from the union, the notably being the Western Forces of California and Texas. The president starts a war to keep the union together, and despite his constant claims of being on the cusp of victory, the W.F. is laying siege to Charlottesville, Virginia, from where they will advance to Washington D.C. with little resistance. Though his death will certainly not end the directionless civil war that has suddenly fallen over the U.S., the president’s days are numbered.
Journalists have been declared enemies of the state and are reportedly being killed on sight at the capital, but knowing their window is closing, renowned war photographer Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), a rookie independent photographer who idolizes her and reporters from Reuters and The New York Times (Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura and Stephen McKinley Henderson) set out on a suicide mission to photograph and interview the tyrant before he is killed. Because the interstates have all been destroyed and Philadelphia is reportedly too dangerous to be within even 100 miles of, they take a circuitous, 1,000 mile-route around Pittsburgh and south to the front line.
Denton, Texas- In the 1950s, professional wrestler Jack Adkisson incorporates his grandmother’s maiden name to develop a Nazi-themed “heel” character, Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany), and all of his sons and grandsons who follow in his footsteps adopt the Von Erich name in the ring as well as his signature move, the Iron Claw. Over time, a curse appears to befall the family. The film primarily follows second-born Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron), the one-time WCWA World Heavyweight Champion who would eventually take over his father’s ownership duties in the league.
Fritz Von Erich had six sons, and he would bury five of them, three of them after dying by suicide. The Iron Claw omits one of the suicide victims, partially for time and partially for believability concerns, worried that viewers would find three suicides unrealistic. It’s a tacit admission of failure from writer/director/producer Sean Durkin to approach this story and then shy away from telling its full extent, and it’s especially sad to see because he wouldn’t have failed.