Nikki Baughan is Screen’s deputy reviews editor.
Read our other critics’ top tens here.
Top 10
1. The Zone Of Interest
Dir. Jonathan Glazer
Every one of Glazer’s creative decisions is a powerful reminder of things unseen yet impossible to ignore, from DoP Lukasz Zal’s meticulous framing to Mica Levi’s visceral score and the uneasy sound design. It is anchored by an incredible performance from Sandra Hüller as a woman whose desire to do the best for her family is recognisably human, but never detracts from the monstrous evil in which she is wilfully complicit.
2. Anatomy Of A Fall
Dir. Justine Triet
Sandra Hüller in another astonishing performance as a singular woman — this time, one who finds herself being judged for who she is as much as what she may have done when her husband is found dead. Triet weaves this nightmarish patriarchal fable into a twisting whodunnit, keeping a tight grip on the threads of a story that cuts painfully close to the bone.
3. Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
Dir. Anna Hints
In a year of strong documentaries, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is a masterful example of the alchemy that can occur when a filmmaker develops absolute trust with their subject, and casts a spell I have been unable to shake. Following a group of women who bare their souls in the sanctuary of a traditional Estonian sauna, director Hints combines immersive visuals and sound to create a sensory, cathartic experience.
4. The Teachers’ Lounge
Dir. Ilker Catak
Just as The Zone Of Interest confronts overwhelming events via a hermetically sealed domestic environment, so Catak’s drama distils far-reaching societal themes into the seemingly benign setting of a school staffroom. Leonie Benesch is outstanding as a teacher who finds her entire belief system challenged, and Marvin Miller’s nervy score is one of the year’s best.
5. When Evil Lurks
Dir. Demian Rugna
As a die-hard horror fan, it takes a lot to surprise me — this did, and then some. Argentinian director Rugna’s follow up to 2017’s Terrified is equally as uncompromising and even more unsettling, as he puts his own political spin on demonic possession and pushes the genre to its thrilling extremes.
6. All Of Us Strangers
Dir. Andrew Haigh
7. Poor Things
Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
8. Oppenheimer
Dir. Christopher Nolan
9. Killers Of The Flower Moon
Dir. Martin Scorsese
10. Starve Acre
Dir. Daniel Kokotajlo
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