Reality is the true story of Reality Winner, the former intelligence agent and US Air Force linguist who was found to have leaked classified information from the NSA to the general media. It is the true story and inspiration behind the upcoming HBO film. It hails from director Tina Satter, who dramatizes the real-life FBI transcripts from the day of Reality’s arrest. Satter makes a refined directorial debut depicting Winner’s initial arrest, it’s a fine line between the ordinary and the surreal.
Sydney Sweeney stars as Reality Winner, and Josh Hamilton and Marchant Davis feature as the primary FBI agents who interrogate Winner and execute the arrest. While the story and visuals are quite simple, the film making and concept it’s self is technically crafted. Satter and the rest of the team give a committed effort. During the movie, we see glimpses of dialogue from the original papers filed by the FBI. Even the slightest of pauses or stammering is reproduced on the screen. A lot of what was unsaid by Reality is translated to perfection by Sweeney. The film as a whole is impossible without Sweeney’s game-changing performance.
For people looking for a blockbuster in terms of movie making, you won’t get that here, instead this style of storytelling is jarring, confrontational, and full of substance. Reality excels in portraying how the most simple of human exchanges can also be the most thrilling.
Reality hits theatres June 29.
Email: neill@outloudculture.com
