Zal Batmanglij’s “The East” premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in January. Its positioning this summer has me interested in giving it another look amid the surrounding blockbuster noise. The film is about an operative for a private intelligence firm embedded in a corporation-focused anarchist group who sees her priorities tested. It is the follow-up to Batmanglij’s debut, “Sound of my Voice.”
Patricia Clarkson and Brit Marling are featured in the clip above, the former reminding of how she can lift a character right off the page. Alexander Skarsgård, Ellen Page and Toby Kebbell also star. As with “Sound of my Voice,” Marling served as both co-writer and co-producer on the film.
“The East” hits theaters on May 31.