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The East
| Released |
28 June 2013 |
| Director |
Zal Batmanglij |
Starring
|
Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page, Toby Kebbell, Shiloh Fernandez, Julia Ormond, Patricia Clarkson |
| Writer(s) |
Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling |
Producer(s)
|
Ridley Scott, Michael Costigan, Jocelyn Hayes-Simpson, Brit Marling |
| Origin |
United States, United Kingdom |
| Running Time |
116 minutes |
| Genre |
Thriller |
| Rating |
15A |
|
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Eastern promise.
Actress Brit Marling and director Zal Batmanglij are an interesting team. Co-writers of Sound of My Voice and Another Earth, they are producing provocative and ideas-driven work. Their third collaboration, The East, continues this trend in terms of the concept but the execution is a lot more flimsy than I’m sure Marling and Batmanglij intended it.
Marling plays Jane, a former FBI agent now working for a private company that protects the interests of large corporations against their potential enemies. Jane’s latest assignment is to track down an eco-terrorist group known as The East. Going undercover as a Birkenstock-wearing drifter called Sarah, she befriends one of the group’s members (with staggering ease), and is accepted into the group led by dreamy hippy Benji (Alexander Skarsgard). As she becomes more involved in the group’s activities, she begins to question where her loyalties lie.
Marling and Batmanglij drew on their own experiences when writing The East, having spent some time train-hopping in the company of counter-cultural environmentalists. Their experience manifests itself in the reverence the film has towards its idealist characters and the earnest nature in which it approaches even their most ludicrous love-in activities. While on the one hand, there is a feeling of authenticity to the members of the group, this earnestness occasionally becomes a little awkward to watch and their brand of eco-terrorism seems a little tame.
In terms of the performances, Marling manages to be very good in a role that doesn’t makes a lot of sense. The fact that Jane/Sarah works in this mercenary and dishonest field doesn’t sit well with her characterisation as a sweet (if resourceful) naif, who is dumbfounded by the suggestion that the pharmaceutical and energy industries may not be 100% ethical. Skarsgard is quiet but compelling, while Ellen Page gives predictably irascible support.
While The East may be a dip in form for Marling and Batmanglij, it’s not all bad. This is a nicely acted and directed but essentially confused thriller that, like its central characters, suffers from being a little too earnest and unfocused in its righteous anger.
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Linda O’Brien |
