everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The East (2013) is a great film filled with great actors and actresses with a story-line that needs a whole lot more exposure. The East shows a little bit of both sides of the argument versus how the real world news makes everyone out there that is trying to correct or fix something the bad people while the bad in this world run it all.The East shows how they're good and bad people in everything, those that stand up for the right things yet in a group with some who have the wrong intentions; whilst at the same time the media showing these groups to be harmful while covering up for the companies who are causing the issues to have such groups. The East shows how the biggest concern with stopping groups like this is only to financially gain from it as everything in this world revolves around. The East is a great movie and everyone needs to see it.

The story is quite nice for this rarely covered theme of eco-terrorism. I really like the small details that the story shows to emphasize on group like the dumpster diving, the 'your own poison' schemes, and the kinky rituals they do. But it feels rather strange towards the end due to the story incorporates so much of the personal relationship between the group members and the target individuals. The finale of having to split between the two identities feel almost awkward if not helped by the closing montage. The acting overall is just a decent work for me. Brit Marling did a good job co-writing the story but her acting didn't serve well enough for this movie. Ellen Page acted out her usual hateful reluctant character very nicely to immerse with the story. Alexander Skarsgard only serve as a completion to the added romance dilemma angle, but his acting as the group's leader is quite nice.

The East is another sleeper hit by the Marling/Batmanglij duo. What drives this story is the conflict within the mind of Sara Moss, a private investigator and FBI consultant. Throughout the film, you will question the motives of her targeted group of terrorists and find yourself wondering what you would do if you were in Sara's shoes. Brit Marling is an absolute genius of an actor/writer. An academy award for screen writing and/or acting is surely in her cards, but only if she wants it. I can only wonder what motivates this brilliant woman. Brit and Zal's politically/spiritually driven stories are a rare thing in Hollywood today and The East really stays with you after watching. I kept telling myself just how powerful this film would've been if it were a true story but even though its not a true story, the themes covered in the film are very real, and they require much attention. Brit Marling aside, I thought Ellen Page absolutely stole every scene she was in. She was so brilliant in this film, and I kept wondering whether or not Ellen truly is an environmentalist in real life because she was just so convincing as a tormented woman with a grudge. I love the Skaarsgard family and Alexander as usual, delivers as a even voiced cult leader.My only complaint is the heroes/villains dynamic in this story, in that the victims in this film were not major components of the story because you never get to know them. Therefore, I never felt any urgency, and never really rooted for or against anyone in an extreme sort of way.7/10. A smart, well directed/acted/written drama.

As a big fan of Sound of my Voice, I'm interested in this director. The reviews for this really made it seem like a really by-the-numbers, formulaic, but decent spy thriller. It's definitely following a formula, but it's not as thin as the reviews made it out to be. It's not Sound of my Voice, by virtue of it just not being as interesting thematically and plot-wise as that film, and not as atmospheric and all around more creepy in its vibe. But it's better than the Hollywood dreck that we'd be sure to see, so in that regard it succeeds. Brit Marling is very good, as usual and unsurprisingly. I recommend this, yeah, and hope the director continues to make interesting, well-rounded films