South Korea’s Park Chan-wook co-directed spy caper The Sympathizer set in Vietnam in the ’70s, during what the locals call “the American War”.
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.
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 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.
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 , or the BBC troika of McAlister, Maitlis, and head producer Esme Wren .
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