The East Review

Still no direction---Brit Marling and Shiloh Fernandez as a reporter and a part of  her newest topic in The East

                   The East is like one of those thrillers you would watch at 2 AM if you couldn't fall asleep and there was nothing else on. It is not a film so much as a test for just how much boredom one can take before walking out of the theater. I myself passed the test...staying in the theater for the whole two hours...a decision I thoroughly regret now.

                    The film stars the usually reliable Brit Marling (who also co-wrote the film with director Zal Batmanglij) as Sarah...a reporter who has been asked to take on a new topic of interest. That topic is an environmental activist group called The East. They kill people who have done bad things to the environment such as poison drinking water, dump stuff in lakes and rivers, ETC. This group is led by Benji (Alexander Skarsgard) and Izzy (Ellen Page.) Sarah is brought in by Luca (Shiloh Fernandez) and soon starts investigating this strange cult. The only problem is that they know when people are spying on them and lying to their faces and they will do it right back.

                      The talented cast including Patricia Clarkson as Sarah's boss can't seem to rise beyond the level of amateurish. These are all very good actors but the script gives them absolutely nothing to work with. In fact---the whole idea behind the film is just an environmentally themed version of Marling and Batmanglij's last film---the excellent Sound Of My Voice in which two investigative journalists join a cult. Marling is a terrific actress and writer but she can't just keep making the same film over and over. Skarsgaard is so good in another film out right now---What Maisie Knew that there's no reason to see him in this garbage.

                       The film is terrible throughout but really falls apart at the end as The East tries to give us messages about religion, trust, friendship and the environment. The film also flies completely off the handle every time it tries to build up some suspense with a "what's going to happen next" moment. It just becomes laughable as those moments become more and more predictable.

                         I urge you not to see The East. There's another terrific thriller out with Brit Marling called The Company You Keep. If it's playing near you....go catch that one. If it's not...it would still be very smart to avoid the melodrama disguised as a thriller that is The East.
(1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violence, some disturbing images, sexual content and partial nudity)