In a landscape of political strife on either side, the Democrats or the Republicans, of the aisle will use whatever information they can find to sabotage the other. Even if innocents get caught in the crossfire. That’s what happens in Reality, the new film streaming on Max, which used to be HBO Max. The new name is supposed to be to show how much content is on the new combined streaming service between Warner Brother/HBO and Discovery.

Reality Winner (Sydney Sweeney, Euphoria) is an intelligence specialist for the government who translates Farsee and Pashto into English for the department she works for. When she comes across a sensitive document she doesn’t know what to do about it. She is torn between her duty as a patriot and her job. This would be a hard decision for anybody let alone an ex-military officer. When the FBI shows up at her door with a search warrant things start to get bad for this woman.

Tina Sattwr directed this film based on her play Is This a Room which she wrote and directed. She sets it like a play where the cast is very small. Sweeney and mainly two others. Two FBI Agents interrogate her on what her job entailed and what happened on a certain day.  She goes through her day-to-day routine and her job duties. And how this all came to them showing up on her doorstep in Augusta, Georgia in 2017 following news reports of FBI Director James Comey being fired by then President Donald Trump.

Sweeney is famous for her role in the HBO drama series Euphoria and The White Lotus Season 1. She is not guilty of taking frivolous roles based on these choices. So the role of a leader of sensitive documents isn’t out of the norm for her. She doesn’t have to do much but what she does with the role is pretty amazing.  She uses all the facial emotions she can muster to create various reactions to the questions she is given. Her body movements match her facial tics in this regard. She tries to be very coy and acts like she doesn’t know what’s going on. It’s masterful acting by her.

Satter creates a claustrophobic atmosphere in this movie. Where it starts outside of her house with just one car and two agents it eventually progresses to more agents and goes inside to a room where she is there by herself with the agents pinned against a wall. The camera progressively closes in on her and the agents where it feels like they are on top of her. It’s classic filmmaking at its best. On a scale of 12 Angry Men from Sydney Lumet.

Reality is a film that does a lot with a little. It has a small cast and they do a great job going back and forth with Sweeney giving another emotionally charged performance in her career. Satter is a newer name in the game but she takes her own play and makes the most of it from a directing standpoint. She is one to look out for in the future.  People who don’t want to watch a true life political movie may not want to go down this road but it’s worth it to give this film a chance. I did and I’m glad. It’s fantastic!

Reality is Streaming on Max Right Now

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen