You might have heard me singing the praises of last year’s low-fi indie offering The Sound of My Voice quite a few times around here, and – spoiler alert – I’m probably going to be doing it again, since it was just so damn good. Writer/star Brit Marling had a tall order following up her debut effort, 2011 Sundance festival top pick Another Earth, but she delivered with a movie that left you scratching your head (but in a good way, not that lice infected way like Darryn) long after the credits rolled.
Now she’s looking to go 3 for 3, reteaming with Sound director Zal Batmanglij (he has Batman in his name, that should be enough for you take notice) for another tale of paranoia and subterfuge with The East.
In “The East,” Sarah Moss (Brit Marling) is a brilliant operative for an elite private intelligence firm whose top objective is to ruthlessly protect the interests of their A-list corporate clientele. She is assigned to go undercover to infiltrate an anarchist collective known for executing covert attacks upon major corporations. Living amongst them in an effort to get closer to their members, Sarah finds herself unexpectedly torn between two worlds as she starts to fall in love with the group’s charismatic leader (Alexander Skarsgard), finding her life and her priorities irrevocably changed.
Look, the moment I saw Marling and Batmanglij’s name attached to this the first time, I was already sold, so really a trailer is nothing but gravy for me. That doesn’t mean that it’s not some lip smackingly good gravy though. Featuring a support cast (Ellen Page, Alexander Skarsgard, Julia Ormond and Patricia Clarkson) taken directly from the list of Actors/Actresses I Really Like, this looks like the indie writer/director duo have once again delivered the goods.
With Fox Searchlight Pictures just picking up the film a short while ago, there’s currently no release date set apart from some time this year. Another way to read that sentence would be “WHY?! WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT?!!”
Last Updated: January 23, 2013
