OUR KIND OF TRAITOR (Susanna White). Some subtitles. 107 minutes. Opens Friday (July 1). See listing. Rating: NNN
Our Kind Of Traitor is a proficient if not especially distinguished John le Carré adaptation. In hitting all the required notes, it accidentally reveals the underlying sameness of the author’s formula.
Once again, an unassuming citizen is pulled into a dangerous world of intrigue. This time it’s Ewan McGregor’s good-hearted poetry professor, befriended by a Russian mobster (Stellan Skarsgård) who wants him to pass dangerous secrets to MI6.
TV-trained director Susanna White ups the tension with extreme close-ups of keyboards and laptop screens, but her film is most effective when it tells its story through Skarsgård’s world-weary player. The actor’s expertly fluctuating levels of bonhomie say more than any of the characters’ familiar speeches about doing the right thing and risking one’s personal comfort for greater geopolitical stability.
Every time they’d go into one of those, I found myself thinking how much I’d like to re-watch A Most Wanted Man, which did so much more with late-period le Carré, and made it look effortless.
normw@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner
