The East

[2.5 stars] [IMDb Link]

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Unlikely as it sounds, this is the second movie we've watched directed by Zal Batmanglij, written by and starring the lovely Brit Marling. (The other was Sound of My Voice.)

And I didn't care for this one much either.

Here Brit plays Sarah, who's an ambitious ladder-climber at a private security firm, which is ruled by no-nonsense Sharon (Patricia Clarkson). She is picked to go undercover, infiltrating an anarchist eco-vigilante group, "The East". This is tricky, because the group is understandably paranoid about this sort of thing. But of course, she gets in.

What happens is, well, utterly predictable: the group's leader is charismatic, they (kind of) have a legitimate beef with corporate malfeasance. Their views on environmental justice have an Old-Testament flavor: do unto the businesses as they are doing unto a largely unwitting populace. A dose of their own medicine; in one case, very literally.

Of course, it's all fun and games until someone gets shot.

It's too long, nearly two hours, and feels clichéd. One saving grace (and the one bit that is not clichéd) is that Sarah is unambiguously Christian, and this turns out to be a key driver of subsequent events. Extra half-star for that.


Last Modified 2024-01-27 10:57 AM EDT