Movie Reviews: Bridge of Spies and The Gift

“Bridge of Spies”

In 1957, a New York insurance lawyer, James Donovan (Tom Hanks, “Saving Mr. Banks“), gets pulled back into criminal law, called to represent an accused Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance).

James, an honest, principled man finds that justice can be relative, even as America showing to the world that we provide due process and capable defense for everyone.  He presses on with integrity, sticking to the principles of the U.S. constitution, doing his job as best as he can even with pressures mounting from the system and the public to seal his client’s fate.

On the other side of the continent, an American spy plane went down and its pilot, Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) is captured by the Soviet Union.  Just as the Berlin Wall is going up, an American student, Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers) lands himself on the wrong side of the wall and gets thrown in prison.

The U.S. government would like James, acting as a private citizen, to negotiate a swap, Rudolf for Francis.   James takes him upon himself to add Frederic into the mix; 2-for-1 exchange.  It’s a lone clandestine mission that could go wrong in many ways.  A skilled negotiator, James intuitively understands his opponents and pushes the right buttons to make things happen in tricky political waters and hostile climate.

This is a story about doing the right thing even when it doesn’t suit your purpose and having respect for people for doing their job honorably for their country even when you don’t agree with what they do.

Not as tension-filled as one might think, it’s a serious slow-burn, surprisingly sprinkled with mordant humor. Based on real events and helmed by Steven Spielberg (“Lincoln“), “Bridge of Spies” is classily crafted, directed and acted.  Steady, measured and assured historical Cold War drama.

***

“The Gift”

Great psychological thrillers (“Black Swan,” “Shutter Island“) are hard to come by these days.  So when one comes along, it knocks your socks off.

Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall, “Transcendence,” “Iron Man 3,” “The Town“) are a married couple recently moved to Los Angeles from Chicago for a new start.  One day they run into an old high school friend of Simon, Gordo (Joel Edgerton, “The Great Gatsby“).  Soon Gordo begins to get obsessed with the couple, starting with an innocuous gift at the front door step.  But the gifts keep on coming and things get weirder.  It’s no slasher, but you’d feel a sense of dread creeping up even when you don’t see him onscreen.

As the movie progresses, Robyn discovers an unsavory history between Gordo and her husband.  And that her husband may not be the Mr. Nice Guy she’s married to.  As they say, revenge is best served cold.  Go in cold; steer clear of anything resembling spoilers.

Along the lines of the crazy sick twist in “Old Boy,” prepare for a wicked ending that will haunt your mind.

Copyright (c) 2015. Nathalia Aryani

Nathalia Aryani is a film columnist and has a movie blog, The MovieMaven(sdmoviemaven.blogspot.com). Twitter: @the_moviemaven. She can be reached at [email protected].