Robert Downey is a shape-shifting troublemaker in this juicy black comedy (2024)

The Sympathizer ★★★½
Binge

Deception is the currency in this juicy 1970s black comedy about a subterranean spy left bewildered and betwixt by his unending mission: characters think one thing and say another, personal desires meddle with ideological missions, and the storytelling style of lead director and co-creator Park Chan-wook literally rewinds vintage celluloid to insert new scenes and amend the plot. The final gambit to push the difficulty level – and macabre pleasure – of this limited series over the top? Irony man Robert Downey Jr in a handful of different roles.

Adapted by Park and Canadian filmmaker Don McKellar from Viet Thanh Nguyen’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, The Sympathizer follows the Captain (Hoa Xuande), an unnamed mole for communist North Vietnam who is serving as the aide of The General (Toan Le), the buffoonish but brutal head of South Vietnam’s secret police. When the North conquers the South in 1975 the Captain is elated, until he’s ordered to continue his mission and accompany the General into American exile.

With a game face of attentive concern that feels like it’s about to fracture, Captain is never sure of where he stands and what’s to come. It doesn’t take long for the audience to feel likewise. The narrative is twisty but not dense, yet the tone changes with puzzle-box perversity as the story is told in flashback by Captain from a Vietnamese re-education camp where his years in America require a written confession that doesn’t always – surprise! – match up with what’s happening on the screen.

The Sympathizer is a show to slowly savour. Park, the South Korean master who broke through internationally with 2003’s brutal Oldboy and most recently won best director at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for his impeccable neo-noir romance Decision to Leave, shoots the first three episodes at a rarefied level. He turns street chaos into psychological unease and breaks down the barriers between the everyday and underlying netherworlds; the camera moves are exquisite, the risk of discovery menacing.

The Vietnamese call the bloody conflict the American War, and that reverse viewpoint illustrates Captain’s increasingly wayward journey. The story is steeped in the Vietnamese perspective, which is accentuated for Captain by a cavalier Downey playing multiple key interlopers. These white guys really do lookalike, whether it’s slippery CIA agent Claude or blowhard Hollywood filmmaker Nick Damianos. Each has a use for Captain, and none understands him. That Captain is so dedicated to this notion is the true prison Xuande’s mole finds himself in. Finding the key that lets Captain out is an eccentric, fascinating quest.

Scoop ★★★½
Netflix

Power subtly ferments throughout this tightly executed film, which documents how the horrendous 2019 interview Prince Andrew gave to the BBC about his relationship to the financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein came to be. It’s everywhere, but never equal: beginning with gung-ho producer Sam McAlister (Billie Piper) and her doubting BBC colleagues, taking in Buckingham’s Palace’s institutional might, and ultimately reflecting back on Epstein’s vulnerable teenage victims.

Smartly observed by director Philip Martin (The Crown), Scoop is a tick-tock narrative where the outcome already made global headlines. The swift public condemnation of Andrew’s interview with Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson), where he denied claims by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, that she was trafficked to Andrew as a minor and displayed no empathy for anyone but himself, ended his public life. The drama is in the struggle and the telling detail.

Sewell’s Prince is a jowly man-child, constantly referring to “Mummy” and annoyed that his reputation has been damaged, but it’s the women who set the narrative in motion, whether it’s Andrew’s adoring private secretary, Amanda Thirsk (Keeley Hawes), or the BBC troika of McAlister, Maitlis, and head producer Esme Wren (Romola Garai). Key exchanges from Andrew’s interview are recreated, and it’s testimony to Scoop’s build-up that you immediately understand how shocking his answers are. That’s the film’s welcome power.

Renegade Nell
Disney+

As with volcano movies in the late 1990s, there are currently two series about unconventional highwaymen in 18th century England on release. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (Apple TV+) leans into the idiosyncrasies of star Noel Fielding, but I prefer this fantasy adventure where Louisa Harland (Derry Girls) plays the title character, a fugitive who robs from the rich with the assistance of a supernatural sprite Billy Blind (Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed). Created by Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley), it’s a rollicking mix of folk magic and superhero set-pieces for tween through adult audiences.

American Rust (season 2)
Amazon Prime

To be frank, I did not foresee a second season of this grim, and sometimes clunky, crime drama focused on a police chief in a fraying Pennsylvanian town; the show never distinguished itself in a crowded field. The always watchable Jeff Daniels returns as lawman Del Harris, who has several new murders to deal with as well as the political and personal fallout from the show’s first season. There are a lot of balls being juggled in this narrative, which allows for a mechanical rhythm in part, but the performance of Maura Tierney (E.R.) continues to compel.

Windcatcher
Stan

A cheery, charming addition to the undersized canon of worthy Australian children’s movies, this adolescent adventure tries to keep up with Percy Boy (Lennox Monaghan), an Indigenous primary school student trying to win a big race at an athletics carnival and see off his bully of a rival. Written by Boyd Quakawoot and directed by Tanith Glynn-Maloney, the film is a brisk mix of money-making shenanigans, true friendship, an unconventional but loving working-class family – Jessica Mauboy is warm and just a touch worn as an aunt – and some spiritual reflections. Big tick for the family audience.

Vanderpump Villa
Disney+

Lisa Vanderpump has played the roulette wheel of reality television extremely well, priming the pump of Vanderpump Rules with her imperious presence. But this spin-off, where a new crop of hook-up hopefuls is purportedly hired to work at a luxury French holiday villa she’s opening, is predictable and facile. The “staff” are so keen for camera time that they sprint from one misstep, romantic or professional, to the next while playing to the camera. You could call it fluff, but that would be insulting to clumps of stray fibres.

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