In an affluent intelligence agency with surveillance experts, data analysts, and spies, an experienced agent learns there's a leak from someone in his office. He gets a list of five co-workers who could be the leak, compromising the safety of the whole intelligence agency, and one of the people is his wife (a fellow spy). So this quiet, watchful, vigilant man has to get creative in finding the leak without anyone knowing his plan.
This film is "Black Bag," and at only one hour and 33 minutes long, it whooshed by like a startling autumn breeze. This rated R drama is a cerebral game of cat and mouse set in ordinary conference rooms, a dining room table, and a small finishing boat. Black Bag is not a physical game of cat and mouse, so don't expect something like "The Bourne Identity" (2002), "Mission: Impossible" (1996), or the James Bond films.
With only one explosion, Black Bag has no car crashes, fist fights, or stabbings, because it's so internally focused. It reminds me of other twisty thrillers like "Fail-Safe" (1964), "The Parallax View" (1974), or "Memories of Murder" (2003). And who better to direct this kind of film than Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic," 2000)?
Mr. Soderbergh has an eclectic list of films under his belt, from "The Good German" (2006) to "Magic Mike" (2012), so I wouldn't say he has a specific genre or category, but the connective recognizable thread through much of his best work is a minimalist control. And that control is on playful display in his latest film.
All the characters in "Black Bag" are psychologically mysterious, the dialogue is emotionally restrained, and the cinematography and production design are visually modest...like in his remake of "Solaris" (2002), "Side Effects" (2013), and "Unsane" (2018). (Just to be clear, the latter two films in that list are not remakes, only the first one.) All these elements work together seamlessly to keep the spotlight on the subtleties of the brisk screenplay and the actors' carefully natural performances.
Much of this film is about trying to figure out who is lying and who isn't. Who is the cat and who is the mouse? How will the leading man figure out the secrets of his colleagues, the most ambiguous of all being his wife? All viewers are pushed to stay on their toes (mentally) to keep up with Michael Fassbender's ("The Killer," 2023) leading role slowly gathering clues and bending some rules. The narrative style is impressively lean and taut here. Mr. Soderbergh doesn't spend time spoon-feeding anything to the viewer (which is partly why I was left wanting more when the closing credits started).
All the main characters are so well-dressed and so casually confident in this film, I felt seduced almost immediately. Cate Blanchett ("Tar," 2022) and Michael Fassbender are effortless in their sex appeal, but I was annoyed she does a scene in snug black underwear while Fassbender remains fully clothed from beginning to end. I still enjoyed this film. But I guess some things in film never change.
