Fifth about The Seventh

Black Bag (2025)

Black Bag: Steven Soderbergh’s film is a grown-up spy thriller reminiscent of John le Carré’s work. It tells the story of a spy (whose given name must not be a coincidence) who learns that the culprit of stealing a computer program is among five people within the agency, one of them his wife. The plot that follows is deliciously tortuous, filled with double and triple crossings, and the conversations that happen are rich and insightful about the kind of people that would get into this sort of game. The tone is cold, but so must the people in this world; there are no heroes. The cast is very game: Michael Fassbender is excellent as the extra-serious and focused agent; Cate Blanchett, an equally capable agent, is very fine as well. Marisa Abela, Naomie Harris, Tom Burke, and Regé-Jean Page, play the quartet of suspects, and they are very interesting to watch. Soderbergh works with his usual crew, cinematographer “Peter Andrews” (Soderbergh under an alias) and editor “Mary Ann Bernard” (the same); the film is tight, elegant, and efficient.

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