The Courier (2020)
Country: GB/US
Technical: col/2.39:1 112m
Director: Dominic Cooke
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Angus Wright, Jessie Buckley
Synopsis:
1961: CIA and MI6 approach a machine parts salesman to make contact with a potential source inside the Russian scientific bureau. Meanwhile tensions mount around Cuba and he finds himself a conduit for military secrets bound for London.
Review:
This 'based on fact' espionage drama manages to avoid most clichés in the Cold War arsenal and instead busies itself with on the one hand the friendship forged in Moscow, and on the other the marital relationship back home. There is still suspense, but it is the performances and detailed production that really pay off and, one senses, without a penny of the budget wasted. (The film took nearly 20 months to get its UK release, because of Covid.)
Country: GB/US
Technical: col/2.39:1 112m
Director: Dominic Cooke
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Angus Wright, Jessie Buckley
Synopsis:
1961: CIA and MI6 approach a machine parts salesman to make contact with a potential source inside the Russian scientific bureau. Meanwhile tensions mount around Cuba and he finds himself a conduit for military secrets bound for London.
Review:
This 'based on fact' espionage drama manages to avoid most clichés in the Cold War arsenal and instead busies itself with on the one hand the friendship forged in Moscow, and on the other the marital relationship back home. There is still suspense, but it is the performances and detailed production that really pay off and, one senses, without a penny of the budget wasted. (The film took nearly 20 months to get its UK release, because of Covid.)
Country: GB/US
Technical: col/2.39:1 112m
Director: Dominic Cooke
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Angus Wright, Jessie Buckley
Synopsis:
1961: CIA and MI6 approach a machine parts salesman to make contact with a potential source inside the Russian scientific bureau. Meanwhile tensions mount around Cuba and he finds himself a conduit for military secrets bound for London.
Review:
This 'based on fact' espionage drama manages to avoid most clichés in the Cold War arsenal and instead busies itself with on the one hand the friendship forged in Moscow, and on the other the marital relationship back home. There is still suspense, but it is the performances and detailed production that really pay off and, one senses, without a penny of the budget wasted. (The film took nearly 20 months to get its UK release, because of Covid.)