slow horses
Spy Thriller (2022)
Creator: Will Smith
Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas.

On the Apple TV platform, we’re picking out a very special UK spy series, the first two episodes of which have already aired. According to the scenario, in the famous MI5 there is a special department “Pit”, where they send agents and officers who have failed or made mistakes that cost their service. It is led by Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), who openly urges his subordinates to do absolutely nothing, but some of them disobey orders, and soon the entire department is embroiled in high-profile national security cases.

Drunk, foul-mouthed, cynical, yet a terrible genius, Oldman’s character – and acting – is a delightful reason in itself to watch a show that has plenty of other merit nonetheless. Initially delighted with his rival, the director of MI5, who was also beautifully embodied by Kristin Scott Thomas.

Balancing between an action-packed thriller and a perpetually playful mood, this ode to the “losers,” the underdogs of a fully competitive Western society, is a fresh offering in an otherwise saturated genre. He also manages to touch on the real problems of the modern world, such as the return of the far right, racism, inequality, etc. without a lack of imagination of wooden political correctness.

Holy Spider ★★★
Thriller (2022)
Directed by: Ali Abbasi
Interpretations: Zar Amir-Ebrahimi, Mehdi Bajestani

From the Cinobo platform, we choose a very wonderful film that we saw a few months ago in theaters. Iranian Ali Abbasi uses Danish production and shoots in Jordan, but only refers to his homeland, where his film would be impossible to shoot. In the holy city of Mahsad, Iran, a serial killer roams the streets at night, executing prostitutes.

The rest of the peaceful family man believes that this is how he cleanses the world of sin. Until an intrepid reporter arrives in town to cover the story, who ends up taking the bait to expose him.

Abbasi tackles the problem of misogyny in Iranian society in a harrowing thriller that features both a heroine journalist and a hardened killer. In fact, the attitude towards the latter on the part of the rest of society hides an even more irritating activator of the truth.