Masterpiece Contemporary: Page Eight

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Product Description ------------------- Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) is an MI5 officer whose life has just been turned inside out. When his boss and best friend (Michael Gambon) dies suddenly, Worricker is left to deal with a contentious Top Secret file that threatens the entire MI5 organization. Further complicating his life is a chance encounter with his beautiful neighbor (Rachel Weisz). The more duplicity he uncovers, the more desperate he becomes to find someone he can trust. .com ---- A volatile document falls into the hands of MI5, threatening to upend the entire government--but first it may destroy the life of Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy), a senior intelligence analyst. The head of the agency (and Worricker's best friend) Benedict Baron (Michael Gambon) abruptly dies, leaving a complex snarl of threads to untangle: Who's the source of the document? Who might benefit from it? And what does it have to do with the lovely woman (Rachel Weisz) who lives across the hall from Worricker, who seems to have a sudden romantic interest in him? Writer-director David Hare unspools the espionage with skill and delicacy, and the cast--lean and inscrutable Nighy, brittle and biting Judy Davis, a startlingly brutish Ralph Fiennes, and jumpy Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting) as a covert agent whose entire career may cease to exist with Baron's death--are all ideal for this cat-and-mouse game. Hare isn't as good with more tender emotions; the romance between Nighy and Weisz feels thin and there's not much tension to the mystery surrounding her. But the political machinations crackle, the cast is magnetic, and the production design is sleek and alluring. The Blu-ray edition brings out the shimmer in the glass and metal surfaces and the depth of the lush fabrics, enhancing the games considerably. (It also brings out the layer of makeup on Nighy's weathered face, but you stop noticing that after a while.) There are no extra features. --Bret Fetzer