Black Bag

Director Steven Soderbergh, known and loved for his wide-ranging films such as SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE, TRAFFIC, the OCEAN’S trilogy and the MAGIC MIKE franchise, has this time chosen a spy thriller, just the way it should be: thrilling, unpredictable and slick. Soderbergh even manages to make paranoia romantic.

Hollywood stars Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender play the devoted couple Kathryn St. Jean and George Woodhouse, who met each other at work. The job: intelligence officers at the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre). When George is given a week to find the leak of a top-secret software called Severus, he receives a list with five suspects. Under investigation are top agent James Stokes, his girlfriend and in-house psychiatrist Dr. Zoe Vaughan, alcoholic agent Freddie Smalls, his girlfriend and junior agent Clarissa Dubose and the last name on the list… Kathryn, his own wife. George is given the ultimate test that will challenge both his loyalty to his wife and to his country.

Soderbergh bewijst met zijn oeuvre dat geen enkel genre hem te veel is. “BLACK BAG feels like a return to form for the triple threat filmmaker who directed, filmed, and edited together a smart, sexy spy vs. spy thriller fought mostly over dialogue. The result is absolutely delicious, a svelte piece of entertainment that feels like a vintage yarn yet very much represents our own current anxieties, questions of sustaining trust in relationships and high-stake careers.” – Monica Castillo, rogerebert.com