Marling's and Batmanglij's Finest Work to Date
Author: emberobin
17 June 2013
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Belonging to the same ideological demographic on which the plot centers, and despite the writers' publicised foray into anarchist and freegan culture from which they took inspiration for -The East-, I did not have high hopes for a decently accurate and positive portrayal thereof. If I had, this film would have more than met them. The writing is flawless; the score is flawless; the cast is flawless, and the kiss between Skarsgård and Fernandez, in my opinion, is worth the cost of the cinema ticket alone. Especially poignant, perhaps more so than their struggle against corporate destruction of human and nonhuman animal life and environment, is the emotional bonding process and cultivation of trust between the activist protagonists. I'm biased as hell, but if you like Brit Marling or Alexander Skarsgård and hate corporatism, you will probably enjoy this film immensely.
Author: richard-1967 from United States
4 July 2013
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Two friends who know how to make original films. An original story about a young ex-FBI agent doing private spying on an eco-terrorist group and how her attitudes and life change. A beautiful, elegant lead actor, Alexander Skarsgard. The wonderful Ellen Page, completely convincing as a committed terrorist/gamin.And yet the film has earned less than $2 million since its May 2013 release. A lot of people who would love this movie are missing out.
Brit Marland is an actor of considerable talent, and Zal Batmanglij an able young director of indie films. Together, they've created and co-wrote this tight, suspenseful thriller that follows Marland's character from DC's posh Georgetown district to the wilds of ... well, we really never know. There, on behalf of her private spy firm boss, Patricia Clarkson playing a blond megalomaniac, she's got to discover who this group "The East" is, and what they're up to.
But life, of course, is not as simple as Good Guys vs. Bad Guys.Marland and Batmanglij do a beautiful job of realizing a story on screen that never over-stretches, remains credible, and hangs together right through the closing credits.This is a diamond in the rough. Find where it's playing, or rent the DVD when it comes out, and watch it!
This stands out as one of the most cinematic independent films that i have seen, felt like a real film. Independent films almost always have a great story to tell, as it requires such dedication from the cast and crew to make; therefore wouldn't be made if it did not have something to say. But most independent films seemed to find it except able to feel like and independent film, not saying they suck, it just doesn't feel like you are actually watching a film, and is (rightfully so) normally excused by the audience at film festivals, and in the select theaters it plays at, this film was highly cinematic and overall just told and utterly amazing story. It's the kind of film that keeps you thinking for weeks about the ideas portrayed in the film; and actually makes you want to rethink how you live your own life. All in all a great film to watch, amazing values, a great way to learn about a new life style; and a picture that really just gets you thinking. I'd recommend it for anyone to view.
This is an amazing movie. So beautifully crafted, written, played, acted. Hats off to the beautiful Brit Marling who is not only smart, but one of the most talented young actresses of today. I'm speechless. I'm obsessed. The talent in this team is remarkable. I've never been moved this much by a film. What a treat to be entertained purely for 117 minutes. What a fantastic flawless group of talent. Worth every penny...I'm left wanting more...I now am on a mission to watch every Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij film out there. Thanks for changing my life. Thank you for making a difference. Please don't stop your incredible work. Remarkable work. I wish I knew you both and wish we were friends in real life...Georgetown did you well. A+ Must See!
When Jane (Brit Marling), an operative for a private intelligence firm gets assigned to go undercover and join a group known as The East, her world is soon turned upside down. The East is an anarchist group who seek revenge on major corporations who are guilty of crimes against humanity and nature. After dying her hair and claiming the name Sarah, Jane is soon initiated into the group where she meets Luca (Shiloh Fernandez), Izzy (Ellen Page), Doc (Toby Kebbell), and the group's leader Benji (Alexander Skarsgard), among others. With every meeting, and every deadly tact she experiences with The East, Jane begins to report back to the head of the firm, Sharon (Patricia Clarkson). However, the more she begins to bond with The East, understand them, and see the familial connection they have, as well as fall for Benji, Jane soon begins to question where she stands on their actions.
Directed by Zal Batmanglij, The East is an incredible film that deals with a very big topic in the world today. From the start of the film where we are given a haunting dialog from Ellen Page about the The East's intentions, we are brought into a whole new world. When Jane finally becomes part of the group, we start to feel ourselves put into her shoes, as a viewer we watch The East's actions and their reasoning for it and we start to question if they are justified in their actions or not. Along with this we also become very emotionally attached to the characters in the group as gradually as Jane does. The film also gives us amazing performances by its cast.
Brit Marling shines as the lead, she really brings out the self-conflict she is having about where her morals lie, it can all be read in her facial expressions. Alexander Skarsgard known from his True Blood fame, gives his character a sense of mystery, leaving you wanting to know what his story his. But the one who most stands out is Ellen Page as Izzy. Of all the group members, Izzy is the one who has the strongest feelings about what they're doing, and shows great care about the victims of these corporations, all while harboring a personal secret of her own. Page brings out all of these feelings and throws them right on the table, leaving the viewer to become very close her character.
While the film deals with very big topics, and many may see it as a slam at big corporations. In some instances that may be correct, but more than anything it deals with the stance of where we choose to place ourselves on the topic. We feel just as conflicted as the the protagonist of the story, and as the story unfolds, our stances can gradually become more clear.With an engaging and interesting concept and story, as well as the terrific performances by its cast, The East is easily one of the best films of 2013.
My rating: 10/10
Author: thealefmagnus19 September 2013
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Is the saying "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" still relevant in our world today? The East carefully explores the thin line between morals and justice, and how easily people can be torn on choosing between two sides of the coin. We live in a world where most people label people by segregating one from the other. The Good or the Bad. If you do not belong in one, then you are standing in the other. The concept of middleground is somehow intentionally forgotten because it is easier to deal with things when there are only two options. The right and the wrong. But who decides which actions fall into those two?
To answer this question, we follow the story of Jane Owen (Brit Marling), an undercover working for Hiller Brood. The media has been bombarded with recent "attacks" from a new "terrorist" group, The East. The infamous anarchist collective began gathering press when they started attacking major corporations, specifically its leaders. There are no known information about the group and it's Jane's task to infiltrate the dangerous collective.
Smart and efficient, Jane poses as Sarah Moss, a traveler who now joins other collectives who has left the traditional office life to a more carefree living on the streets. Hoping to find someone that could lead her to The East, she befriends several travelers until they got caught by "bulls" security officers while sneaking into a train carriage. There she meets Luca, a lipstick wearing traveler who she defends from homophobic and violent bulls. Luckily for Sarah, she finds a tag that may connect Luca to the group she is really looking for.
Sarah finds a way to stay longer with Luca as he brings her into the hidden nest for medical attention. Once he brings her into the hideout, Sarah meets the other members of the group. Doc, a med school dropout treats her wounds and she witnesses an iconic initiation that will first post the question: Is the East really as dangerous as they claim? Soon, Sarah manages to infiltrate the group and even join them in one of their "jams" or planned attacks on corporations. This is where she gets thrust into the extremist philosophies while attempting to save as much lives as she can as she keeps her cover.
This is where Sarah begins to question which side she really belongs. Should she do her job as she is told or should she do what she think is right? While her job requires her to toughen up, it is obvious she has fallen for the true ideology behind the group's questionable ethics.Juggling between the pressure of her job as an undercover and the growing intimacy she has with the group, Sarah finds solace in her own opinion. Perfectly centered between the strong polar opposites pulling her lenience to either side. Things start to get more complicated when more backstories open up and she begins to grow to close with the charismatic leader, Benji, who has some morally ambiguous motivations of his own. Which side will our heroine choose?
All of this lead up to a satisfying ending to an almost 2 hour thriller from the same director that brought you Sound of My Voice (2011), Zal Batmanglij.Sharp and en pointe, The East takes you on a delicate ride of questioning morality, one simple mistake and the film may appear as self-righteous propaganda. It hangs perfectly on a balance and keeps a vague take on extremism without going as far as telling people what they should or what they should not do. It poses a question and allows the viewer to answer it for themselves.
Brit Marling partners up again with her long time collaborator, director Zal Batmanglij in this indie-like little thriller of epic proportions. Once again, the duo proves themselves a force to be reckoned with in the film industry, bringing back the excitement in the medium that has become formulaic and repetitive. Acting-wise, Brit Marling doesn't stray far from her two previous Sundance hit flicks, a flaw she has to work on if she wants to be respected as an actor not just as a screenwriter. She still uses the same subtle gestures her previous characters had. One aspect that suffered the most is the portrayal of Jane Owen as a partner to Tim played by Jason Ritter. The scenes between the two are rather awkward and forced although still giving the effect of growing distance.
Alexander Skarsgard is effective in portraying a fragile and tender, seemingly cult leader as he shows layers of the character from start to finish. Ellen Page gives off an emotionally charged yet controlled persona on screen while Toby Kebbell delivers a mix of pain and warmth very well on his screen time. Patricia Clarkson is ever graceful and valiant in portraying her role without bordering on cheesy and predictable. What puts The East head-and-shoulders above most thrillers is its carefully planned script and a moving screenplay that suits the pacing necessary to keep you hooked on your screen. While most people would be divisive on the way the movie ended, it was an enough closure on everything that transpired in the whole plot.
From a carefully measured cup of effective performances, the right tablespoonfuls of efficiency in the script and a little tinge of flavor in the subtle details and foreshadowing spread throughout the film, The East is a perfect recipe you will enjoy and come back to over and over.
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Author: Anthony Ehlers from South Africa
26 May 2014
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
This is the story of a woman who goes undercover and finds her true self.
Sarah Moss (Brit Marling), a Christian girl with a solid and dependable boyfriend, works for a corporate intelligence agency. Her first assignment is to assume another identity – that of a drifter – so she can infiltrate and gather intel on a radical group of eco-terrorists called the East.The leader of the East is the enigmatic, haunted, beautiful Benji (Alexander Skarsgard); Sarah is drawn to him and the free and honest lifestyle of his followers.
As she gets drawn to their mysterious operations, Sarah learns a few things. Each of the cell has a visceral and personal connection to the corporations they're targeting – from Doc (Toby Kebbel) wanting revenge on a pharmaceutical brand to Izzy(Ellen Page)wanting to punish her family business for polluting the environment. Sarah's moral compass shifts as she realises these corporations are corrupt, deadly, without a care for humanity.When she has an opportunity to turn rogue and fight for the cause, she has to make the biggest decision of her life.The East is a visually beautiful piece of cinema; it has a cool, natural 70s feel to it. It is not only a tense thriller, but explore a theme that will have you questioning your own values.
I thought this was a good film.
Excellently acted, well written and directed.
I read the reviews on here before attending a screening last night, and was expecting something less sophisticated, particularly based on the reviewer who said: "A well made but overly simplistic condemnation of corporate America. The eco-terrorist anarchists are presented as righteous while imperfect, yet only corrupt examples of corporate America are there to represent the seemingly, inevitably flawed state of capitalism. If some individuals are evil, does that make all individuals bad?"
In the Q&A that followed the film, the filmmakers said that although the anarchist group was entirely fictionalized, every instance of corporate corruption is based, in exact and excruciating detail, on actual incidents of gruesome real-life corporate corruption.The anarchist group is presented as righteous because they represent the majority of us who want justice, who feel powerless to stand up to the corporatocracy that seems to have taken the wheel, in the United States and globally.
This movie isn't balanced because the world isn't balanced right now. Sure there might be a few CEO's of certain corporations who are not myopic, but that certainly seems to be the exception. I think this movie puts into a narrative what we're seeing all around us, that when unregulated capitalism prevails, the bottom line trumps human life and common sense, and these titans of industry have gotten swept up with the disease.
Well-told stories like these are part of a picture of how progress happens.
Since 2011's Another Earth landed at Sundance and nabbed the Special Jury Prize, Brit Marling has quickly cemented herself as one of the most exciting and challenging new talents. When she feels a genre hasn't been explored to its full potential, she takes it further. When she notices women her age are typecast in boring roles, she writes her own. She's a visionary filmmaker with something to say and the talent and ambition to make sure she's heard - her second collaboration with director and co- writer Zal Batmanglij, The East, is no exception, and is perhaps the peak of her already illustrious career so far.
The film follows Jane Owen (Marling), an undercover security agent, as she leaves behind her doting boyfriend (Jason Ritter) to infiltrate an eco-terrorist group known as The East, who have publicly targeted massive corporations for their covered-up crimes against humans and nature. In between reports to her icy, amoral boss (Patricia Clarkson), Jane slowly grows fascinated with the group, its morals and goals, and its core (Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page, Shiloh Fernandez, Toby Kebbell), observing with a mix of horror and infatuation as they execute their violent "jams" on the corporations' key members.
The East will inevitably draw comparisons to Sean Durkin's Martha Marcy May Marlene because of the subject matter and its ingenue leading lady.The East is not as much of a psychological profile, but there are interesting similarities - like Durkin, Batmanglij and Marling never really villainize or condemn their subects; instead, they make a point of showing the East's appeal. We, the audience, begin to understand why these troubled young people would find solace and purpose in what is essentially a band of guerrilla terrorists, and, in turn, why Jane is so hypnotized by them. It makes for an uncomfortably provocative watch: as we learn more about the characters, their backgrounds, and the corporations' crimes (which are based in fact), it's hard to determine who the "bad guys" are.
I saw the film at a festival where Batmanglij gave a short Q&A after and he revealed that he, Marling, and Page had lived with similar groups (without the terrorism) before and were sympathetic with the East's cause, if not their methods. The sympathy shows in the writing and most of the time that's a good thing, but there are times when it gets closer to bias and muddies otherwise brilliant storytelling - but these are blips in the overall outstanding product.Marling is, as always, enigmatic and hypnotizing, but she is an observer and lets the other characters do the talking; it takes highly skilled actors to command empathy for villains and the cast doesn't disappoint. Alexander Skarsgard is incredibly charismatic and persuasive, and he fills in the blanks admirably whenever his development is cut short.
Patricia Clarkson surprises in an unusual role for her - she hints that her character might be more evil than any of the terrorists she is hunting. Jason Ritter and Hillary Baack are affecting in their small roles, and Julia Ormond dominates her five minutes of screen time - her last scene is perhaps the most haunting in the film. Ellen Page gives a career-best performances and reminds us that she's a force to be reckoned with if only she were given the chance to show off more often. She commands the screen with intimidating animosity from the second she walks on screen and has some genuinely heartbreaking moments later on.
In spite of occasional misfires, the screenplay is exceptional especially in its efficiency: there is so much going on that there isn't much time to devote to individual characters or relationships - Marling and Ritter's suffers the most - but Marling and Batmanglij make every second count as each line is weighted with enough subtext to tell us the stories implicitly and thoroughly nevertheless. The major characters are very well-drawn; even though we only get glimpses into Skarsgard, Page and Kebbell's pasts, we feel we know them inside and out.
The film moves along at a fluid, adrenaline-pumping pace and the tension is genuine and organic rather than forced - the audience's investment in the story grows from affection for the characters and connection with their ideals rather than cheap editing tricks, manipulative music and stylized lighting or sound. Music is used so sparsely that when The National's "About Today" plays over a silent montage of Marling's character breaking down, its emotional weight surprises and stuns. The ending is comparatively underwhelming, but the overall package is one of the best, most provocative thrillers in years and firmly establishes Batmanglij and Marling as a sensational and important pairing.
The East is one of the best films I've seen from 2013. It's a mystery thriller, about the emotional an physical journey of an intelligence officer while infiltrating an anarchist group. It takes you trough all the emotions, with some intense and captivating scenes that keeps you hooked for the start, right to the end. I would have personally like a little more detail and even a deeper and closer look into the lives of the anarchist, but I find myself wondering if that's not the real hooking factor of this movie, the need to want to know more. I can definitely see a sequel in the future and even though this might not be every bodies cup of tea, if you enjoy a good mystery, this movie will not disappoint.
