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| Director Steven Soderbergh |
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| Soderbergh behind the camera |
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| Soderbergh on the set with Michael Fassbender |
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| Soderbergh with screenwriter David Koepp |
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| screenwriter David Koepp |
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| musical composer David Holmes |
BLACK BAG B+ USA (93 mi)
2025 d: Steven Soderbergh
Whatever you may say about the films of Steven Soderbergh,
one thing you can count on is that they will be stylishly entertaining, in this
case like being immersed in the middle of a John Le Carré spy novel. The maker of SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE (1989),
one of the most influential catalysts of the 1990’s independent film movement,
leading to Out of
Sight (1998), The Limey
(1999), and Traffic
(2000), which remain among Soderbergh’s best films, all made at the height of
his creative peak, yet this feels more along the lines of Haywire
(2011), moving invisibly through a world of espionage, double agents,
government cover ups, and secret identities, where the one certainty is never
trusting anyone. Soderbergh indicated he
wanted this film to feel like the espionage version of Mike Nichols’ Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), but it doesn’t have that kind of verbal
pyrotechnics, as it’s much too sublimated for that, avoiding the high-octane
action sequences typical of spy thrillers, instead there’s a unique focus on
the interior psychology of the characters, where it actually feels more like an
Agatha Christie novel, a spy thriller that’s also an interpersonal relationship
movie, with a terrific ensemble cast that continuously plays mind games with
each other, where Soderbergh’s bag of tricks is in stark contrast to Tomas
Alfredson’s much more somber and subdued Tinker
Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). Given the
state of the world at the moment, where lying and disinformation have become
the new normal, with nations sabotaging and undermining their own people to
prevent the truth from ever coming out, we are living by new rules of
engagement, where we suddenly find ourselves mired in a labyrinthian sci-fi
dystopia, where we may never see the light of day, as the odds are continually
stacked against us, with Soderbergh having a little fun at our expense, poking
holes in our perceived covers, twisting the knife in what was once conceived as
an open democracy. Nowadays all bets are
off, with this film demonstrating just how convoluted and confusing it has
become, with the power brokers dangling the strings, making us believe whatever
the hell they want us to believe, closing off all avenues of the real truth,
while wrapping it all up in a mirage of freedom and democracy. Having written three of the director’s last
four movies, including his minimalist ghost story PRESENCE (2024), released
just two months ago, the ridiculously talented and successful screenwriter
David Koepp has written more than thirty feature films, including a wide
variety of genres, with U.S. box office receipts grossing over $2.6 billion,
making him the fourth most successful American screenwriter of all time (Top
Grossing Screenwriter at the Domestic Box Office), though evaluating who is
“best” is another story
(The 100 Best Screenwriters of All Time), consulting with actual spies to
write this movie, which is simply immersed in the culture of keeping secrets, which
extends into personal relationships, including marriage, where confidential
things that are off-limits for discussion are kept in a “black bag.” That’s the amusing premise for the film, with
Soderbergh having fun subverting genre expectations, becoming a puzzle piece
that turns into fun and games, where if you can lie about everything, then how
do you tell the truth about anything?
Perhaps unintentionally, that’s the real dilemma of living in America at
the moment, where it’s like living under the Russian KGB, as everything is filtered
through a wall of authoritative threats and manipulated disinformation. Lies and cover-ups, along with a blatantly
racist disregard for even the barest trace of historical diversity, are the
cultural cornerstones that have literally replaced truth and honesty in
American politics, the exact opposite of the Watergate era of the 1970’s, which
opened a new door of ethics reform along with journalistic integrity and transparency.
Using chapter headings counting down the days, one by one, this
moody, atmospheric film is driven by a remarkable soundtrack written by Irish
musician David Holmes, who has written the music for dozens of films going back
to Soderbergh’s Out of
Sight working with the director on and off for decades,
Black Bag 2025 Soundtrack
| Black Bag - David Holmes ... YouTube (1:09). The super-modern, stylish look of the film is
captured by none other than the director as cinematographer, working under a
lifelong pseudonym Peter Andrews, while also editing the film under the
pseudonym Mary Ann Bernard, where the sterile rooms and office spaces of
Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are void of color or
personality, much of it mimicking the sepia tones of David Fincher’s Se7en
(1995), swamped by an uneasiness that persists throughout, like an underlying
gloom that permeates through every character.
In a superbly constructed opening sequence filled with suspense, the
camera follows British intelligence office George Woodhouse (Michael
Fassbender) in a Scorsese-like, single-take opening shot through the underground
walkways of an upscale, carefully guarded London nightclub, leading to a
private VIP vaping room, with darkness saturating every frame, as his superior,
Mr. Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård), contends “There’s a stranger in our
house,” ordering him to investigate a leak in the intelligence service,
specifically the theft of a top secret cyberweapon code-named Severus, a
biological weapon capable of killing thousands, where one of the five suspects who
have access to it is his wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett), given one week to find
the culprit before it activates. Adding
to the intrigue, Meacham is poisoned and killed by morning, made to look like a
heart attack, with a covert murder operation suddenly infiltrating the picture,
where clearly there is trouble in the ranks.
Something of a twisty cat and mouse tale, perhaps the oddest
juxtaposition is an early scene of the Woodhouse’s hosting a dinner party inviting
all the suspects to their swanky townhouse, including a smug intelligence analyst
Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke) and his sharp and savvy girlfriend Clarrisa Dubose
(Marisa Abela), a junior agent and cyber technology expert, also the ever-observant,
in-house psychiatrist Dr. Zoe Vaughn (Naomie Harris) and her dapperly dressed, recently
promoted, second-in-command boyfriend Col. James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page). This social gathering with fellow spies allows
George to secretly place a psychotropic drug in the curry, lowering their
inhibitions, creating an opportunity to observe their reactions, as interactions
among the group frequently spark subtle shifts in the mood, where a brief
glance, a subtle change in tone, or a hesitant remark speaks volumes, enriching
the overall fabric of the narrative.
This opportunity allows secrets to be revealed, most of a private nature,
exposing cracks and infidelities in each relationship, where a culture trained
to deceive simply makes cheating too easy, growing very testy with one another,
often driven by their own personal ambitions, featuring stellar dialogue that
is delivered at a crisp pace, almost like a screwball comedy, Black Bag Movie Clip -
Nothing I Couldn't Handle (2025) YouTube (1:04), recalling the infamous
dinner parties hosted by married couple Nick and Nora Charles, a romantically
involved detective duo known for their witty banter in W.S. Van Dyke’s THE THIN
MAN (1934), where the dinner invite was a glamorous way to flush out the decisive
clues to solve a case. Outing Freddie as
a serial cheater, George meticulously details his predictable sexual
promiscuity, a provocation that prompts Clarissa to furiously retaliate by
stabbing him on his hand with a steak knife. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. While it’s a brilliantly conceived scene,
allowing deeply repressed emotions to suddenly erupt to the surface, it also
sets the stage for what follows, exposing what has to be the ultimate in workplace
romances with the potential for dire consequences, as we’re dealing with
clandestine operations that rarely see the light of day, so the film literally
toys with the possibilities, poking fun of the somber nature of the business,
but also cleverly finding humor at every turn with witty insinuations and quick
retorts.
The sanctity of marriage is broken when George finds a theater
ticket stub in his wife’s trash, contradicting her version of events, so he
breaks into her office and learns she’s secretly traveling to Zurich without
telling him, testing the loyalty to his wife or his country. His response, completely reflective of their
power dynamic, is one of the more ingeniously conceived, diabolically clever
scenes of the film, requiring the expertise of Clarissa to redirect a spy
satellite while deceiving the agency’s satellite video screens, watched like a
hawk by the man in charge, a silver-haired Pierce Brosnan (a playful take on
his late 90’s version of 007 himself!) as Arthur Steiglitz, going offscreen for
a mere minute or so to allow George to spy on his wife in Zurich meeting
someone of interest, a hilarious example of the extent marital partners are
willing to go to find out what they want about the other, Black Bag Movie Clip - It's
the Only Way - video Dailymotion YouTube (45 seconds), where the wrinkle is
a split-second glitch exposing their shenanigans, a subliminal moment and
potentially disastrous occurrence that could expose his dirty tricks. This marital relationship is at the heart of
the picture, as it thrives on secrets and lies, yet relies upon trust, a kind
of marriage that is unique to cinema, held together by a mutual understanding
of the lies they live in, where the wheels of power are forever changing, as
both are deliberate, smooth, rarely cracking a smile, where a certain frostiness
and cold precision is required in their profession. George is a cold and clinical character, robotic,
seemingly inhuman, like an A.I. invention, never revealing an inner life, yet
super intelligent, as his views are rarely challenged, while Kathryn is more
socially amenable, a master of disguise moving about with an icy calmness, with
a wardrobe right out of Todd Haynes’ 2015
Top Ten List #6 Carol, where her natural disposition tends to put people at
ease, allowing her to more easily gain people’s trust, including her husband,
but the open question is whether there’s been a breach in their marriage, and
whether she’s undermined official state secrets, becoming that mole in their
midst. This see-saw affair of shifting
perspectives is the engine that generates the understated power of the picture,
where everyone’s a suspect, yet the more George investigates, the more all the
clues lead to his wife, delving into moral complications, yet what’s a spy
thriller without the spies spying on each other? When George and Kathryn compare notes and suspect
they’re being set up, using each against the other, George shrewdly conducts
polygraphs tests that mix the personal with the professional, anything to make
each suspect feel precariously offguard, yet his interview with Clarissa, with
Abela stealing every scene she’s in, is drop dead hilarious, as she’s devised bizarre
methods to beat the test, which truly impresses the usually unflappable George,
who is supposedly unparalleled in the art of psychological manipulation, taking
this into unfamiliar territory while adding a bit of spice to the mix, Black Bag Exclusive Movie
Clip - Polygraph Tests (2025) YouTube (59 seconds). This sequence is cleverly edited, moving
rapidly between agents, merging the personalities of everyone involved, like a
musical crescendo, leading to yet another classic dinner sequence designed to
catch the culprit, with Kathryn remarking, “It’s been a while since we’ve had a
traitor to dinner, at least knowingly,” Black Bag | Official Clip |
Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender YouTube (1:06), a wonderful return to
form for Soderbergh, whose cinematic sophistication really shines. Something of a throwback to those paranoid
conspiracy flicks of the 1970’s, deliciously entertaining at every turn, this
is masterful filmmaking, immersing viewers in a sordid universe that we are
typically excluded from, yet here we’re given a front row seat in what is easily
one of Soderbergh’s best films in years.
