Our Kind of Traitor (2016)

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  Barneyonmovies

  8 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: 'Our Kind of Traitor,' is a very unusual espionage thriller - a film that doesn't obey any of the genre's usual rules as it builds its picture very slowly and extremely visually as Susanna White and infamous cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle both use their obvious handles on cinematic craft to expert effect. Yes this movie's approach really is a far cry from the usual Bonds and Mission: Impossibles of today's world and in fact even a far cry from most other Le Carré adaptations, and in large part that's because the audience are treated with respect and crucially watch from the outside to build their own picture of the story and its characters. There's very little dialogue and the characters and story are unraveled slowly, and all of that enables the story of its troubled central couple coincidentally finding themselves wrapped up in the scary world of espionage to translate wonderfully as we're little more in the know than they are and we begin to slowly understand them and the surrounding characters without being able to attach our immediate judgements to them.
  That unusual approach to the filmmaking frankly makes this a must watch already, but it's also important to note that it's particularly appropriate in this case as the original book is also a rather unusual read from this legendary author. Indeed whilst it is about the unusual places where one finds loyalty, it also lends a particularly intense focus to the importance of family and loved ones - a theme that's particularly emphasised in this brilliant film adaptation. That all means that as everything slowly reveals itself in the final act, it becomes a thoroughly tense and surprisingly touching affair as we properly care about and understand the characters, are invested in the story that's been inched out to us so expertly, and - crucially - can relate to the central themes in a way that one may not usually in this kind of movie. Also of course, none of that would have worked without the brilliant performances (Stellan Skarsgard does a particularly brilliant job here) and perfect cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle has the ability to make even the most innanimate of objects intriguing and captivating), and in the end what you've got here is an unusual espionage thriller that unravels itself slowly and creatively to build into a story about love and loyalty in a surprisingly brilliant way that will no doubt catch you off guard as much as it did me.
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: That central theme about love and the importance of relationships may have translated slightly better if the troubled central relationship between Naomi Harris and Ewan McGregor was slightly more believable.
  VERDICT: A criminally overlooked espionage thriller that slowly and artfully paints its picture of loyalty and the importance of relationships, Susanna White's 'Our Kind of Traitor,' is an unusual film whose approach is intelligent and where the final product is undoubtedly very successful indeed.

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