Ranking Jonathan Glazer’s Films: Discover Which Movie Tops the List

Jonathan Glazer, though he has directed only a few films, consistently turns each release into a cinematic event. Known for his extensive work in music videos and commercials, Glazer has released just four films over his career, often with a decade-long gap between them. These films — “Sexy Beast” (2000), “Birth” (2004), “Under the Skin” (2013), and “The Zone of Interest” (2023) — have cemented his reputation as a master filmmaker of the 21st century, delving deep into themes of alienation, duality, and moral decay. Despite the potentially challenging nature of these narratives, Glazer captivates audiences with his striking visual storytelling and innovative use of sound and music.

Garnering critical acclaim throughout his career, Glazer achieved a significant milestone at the 2024 Oscars with nominations for writing and directing “The Zone of Interest.” This film, which also vied for Best Picture, ultimately took home awards for Best International Feature and Best Sound. While it’s uncertain when Glazer’s next project will debut, audiences can be assured that it will be eagerly anticipated and undoubtedly impactful.

Ranking Jonathan Glazer’s four films is no easy task, as each one stands out in its own right. There isn’t a “worst” film in his repertoire, and deciding on the “best” is purely subjective, as each movie presents strong arguments for its top placement. So, if your preferred film lands at the bottom of this list, or your least favorite is at the peak, don’t take it to heart. Instead, appreciate the remarkable career Glazer has had, given his selective filmography.

“Under the Skin” features Scarlett Johansson as a mysterious woman discovered naked on a Scottish roadside. After acquiring clothing and makeup, she begins driving around Glasgow in a van, picking up random men. She leads them to a decrepit house, where they disrobe and vanish into a liquid void. This enigmatic woman is revealed to be an alien, mesmerizingly disguised as a human being, intrigued by her new form as she lures men to their demise.

A mysterious woman (Scarlett Johansson) is found on the roadside in Scotland, completely naked. After buying some clothes and makeup, the woman starts driving around Glasgow in a van, picking up random men. She takes the men back to a decaying house, where they undress before disappearing into a liquid void. It turns out the woman is an alien disguised as a human, and fascinated by the new form it has taken to lure men to their death.

“Under the Skin” (2013) is Jonathan Glazer’s most perplexing film yet, defiantly anti-narrative and experimental in its approach to adapting Michel Faber’s sci-fi novel. Glazer spent more than a decade getting the movie made, narrowing his focus from a large-scale epic to an intimate character study. Working with non-professional actors and hidden cameras, Glazer often shot on the streets of Glasgow without telling anyone they were appearing in a movie opposite Scarlett Johansson. This documentary approach contrasts with the more stylistic sequences inside the alien’s house, which feels more surreal and unsettling (thanks in large part to Mica Levi’s score).

In taking this approach, Glazer places audiences within the point of view of an alien visiting Earth for the first time. We experience life in the same way they do, seeing our own planet as an outsider. Although some audiences might find the film too weird and unconventional, those who stick with it will be treated to a truly out-of-this-world experience that utilizes Johansson’s star power to its greatest effect.

After serving time behind bars, British ex-con Gal Dove (Ray Winstone) has left his life of crime behind to enjoy retirement in Spain. The idyllic life he’s created with his wife, DeeDee (Amanda Redman), and their friends Aitch (Cavan Kendall) and Jackie (Julianne White) is disrupted by the arrival of Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), a violent mobster from Gal’s past. Don wants Gal to return to London for one last job, and won’t take no for an answer.

Jonathan Glazer announced himself as a major filmmaker with his feature debut, 2000’s “Sexy Beast,” one of the best heist movies ever made. You’ve never seen a bank robbery like the one mounted here, with Gal and his team accessing an underground vault via a swimming pool. But the film’s real secret weapon is Kingsley, who earned an Academy Award nomination for playing a sociopath that’s at polar opposites with his gentle, Oscar-winning performance in “Gandhi” (1982). Screaming like a madman and threatening violence to everyone he meets (including a flight attendant who politely asks him to put out his cigarette, prompting him to suggest he’ll extinguish it in the attendant’s eye), Don Logan is as frightening as villains get, even if his bark is worse than his bite.

In many ways, “Sexy Beast” is an anomaly in Glazer’s career, as it’s more plot-driven than his subsequent films. Yet it cemented him as a bold stylist who defied genre conventions, be it in sci-fi, psychological horror, war, or heist movies. In that way, “Sexy Beast” is a Jonathan Glazer classic.

10 years after the sudden death of her husband, Anna (Nicole Kidman) is finally ready to remarry. As she prepares to tie the knot with her new fiancée (Danny Huston), a 10-year-old boy (Cameron Bright) shows up, claiming to be her reincarnated husband, Sean. Rightfully skeptical, Anna tries to dissuade the little boy from this belief, yet she becomes convinced as he tells her information that only her late husband would know. As her mother (Lauren Bacall) and sister (Alison Elliott) watch with growing concern, Anna becomes dangerously attached to the young boy.

No Jonathan Glazer movie was more divisive upon its release than 2004’s “Birth,” which received mixed reviews from critics and generated controversy for a scene in which Anna takes a bath with 10-year-old Sean. Yet its reputation has grown more positive in the years since, with many declaring it “a misunderstood masterpiece” (Far Out) worthy of “careful, critical reconsideration” (Indiewire). In an interview commemorating its 20th anniversary, Nicole Kidman declared it to be one of her best movies, and audiences can discover it anew thanks to a Criterion Collection 4K UHD release.

Taking the form of a supernatural haunted house movie in the vein of “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), “Birth” is Glazer’s meditation on grief and our inability to deal with death. Anna’s behavior doesn’t stem from psychosis, but rather from a desire to believe in a life beyond our own. Featuring a haunting score from Alexandre Desplat, “Birth” will linger long after the credits have rolled.

German commandant Rudolph Höss (Christian Friedel) is put in charge of a concentration camp in Auschwitz in 1943. His new job affords him the house his wife, Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), has always wanted. The massive home, which comes with a beautiful garden for Hedwig to tend to, is located next to the concentration camp. As their children play outside, the sounds of the horrors on the other side of the wall echo loudly around them.

The phrase “banality of evil” has been used so much that it’s almost lost all effect, desensitizing us to the horror it seeks to criticize. With “The Zone of Interest” (2023), Jonathan Glazer dramatizes the banality of evil with such disturbing immediacy that we come to understand its true meaning. Glazer took massive creative liberties in adapting Martin Amis’ 2014 book, basing the movie on the true story of the Höss family as opposed to the fictional one they inspired. This reality-based approach extends to the filmmaking, as Glazer set up a series of cameras inside and outside the house to run simultaneously without interference from the crew. 

Rather than dramatize, Glazer simply observes his characters going about their daily lives as atrocities unfold in the background, relying upon an Oscar-winning soundscape to paint a picture of cruelty happening all around us. In effect, Glazer shows how we can desensitize ourselves to evil in order to achieve everything we’ve ever wanted: a good job, a nice house, a future for our children. It’s in that way that evil becomes truly “banal.”