Sexy spy monogamy in ‘Black Bag’
At 62, versatile filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is as productive as ever. His latest film, “Black Bag,” is the second of three he has coming out this calendar year, following the spooky drama “Presence” and ahead of the forthcoming “The Christophers.” “Black Bag” is also the director’s third collaboration with writer David Koepp (“Jurassic Park”), after “Presence” and the paranoiac thriller “Kimi,” continuing an interesting streak in this stage of the celebrated auteur’s career. Best of all, each project stands apart, both artists seemingly challenging one another creatively.
In the film, Michael Fassbender plays George Woodhouse, an MI6 spy who is tasked with rooting out a possible mole. What makes things especially thorny is that one of the suspects is his own wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). He has one week to find the truth before a top secret operation goes into play that could spell doom for tens of thousands.
Structurally, “Black Bag” is anchored by two consequential dinners at George and Kathryn’s home, where George has engineered proceedings, either by dosing the food or having a particular sequence of questions and answers at the ready to eke out more revelatory information from his guests. They’re feats of staging, Soderbergh’s camera angles and lighting setting the scene where talented performers playing professional liars trade barbs. Since 1996’s “Schizopolis,” the workaholic director has lit and edited his own projects, and while skilled at all his various trades, his editing shines particularly here, with a very careful, sometimes frenetic, sometimes taut, almost always simmering tension lying underneath each scene, propulsively moving to the next.
Stellar cast
It certainly helps to have a great cast. Fassbender and Blanchett have worked with Soderbergh before, the former on “Haywire,” the latter on “The Good German.” The newer players (the other suspects) do great work as well, including Naomie Harris (“Skyfall”), Tom Burke (“Furiosa”), Marisa Abela (“Industry”), and Regé-Jean Page (“Bridgerton”). Burke especially seems to be having a ball with Koepp’s dialogue. Pierce Brosnan plays their boss.
It might also ring familiar because of Fassbender’s recent starring role in “The Agency,” where he’s also a spy but an American working for the CIA out of London. Apparently he was shooting that right after this; one hopes he never forgot his accent.
“Black Bag” is a fleet, sexy spy drama that refreshingly presents a functional monogamous marriage in the world of espionage. While its overplot about rooting out a mole provides the thrills, there’s a separate and equally satisfying frisson in seeing George and Kathryn’s utter trust in and devotion to one another, even when they aren’t in communication. It lets “Black Bag” be a change of pace from run-of-the-mill spy fare.
“Black Bag” is an Ayala Cinemas exclusive.
