DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
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Reality Check
MARIA DUARTE recommends a startling and original drama derived entirely from FBI transcripts
COERCION: Sydney Sweeney in Reality
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STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
MIK SABIERS revels in a band that ploughs an idiosyncratic furrow of expletive laden, guitar-driven alt rock
ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
The bard invites readers to a gig, raps for Clacton, and lays out the Burnham-Hurzeler conundrum
RON JACOBS recommends an important book that enhances the oppositional theories put forth by Fanon and, in doing so, remakes psychology itself
Reality (12A)
Directed by Tina Satter
ON June 3 2017, 25-year-old former member of the US Air Force and NSA contractor Reality Winner (real name) returned home to be confronted by two FBI agents wanting to question her about the leaking of a classified document to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 US elections.
With all the dialogue taken directly from the FBI transcript, what transpires is a tense and chilling docu-drama, anchored by a virtuoso performance from Sydney Sweeney (The White Lotus, Euphoria) as Reality.
Adapted from her 2019 stage play Is This A Room, co-writer directer Tina Satter’s powerful debut feature is a gripping depiction of the gruelling interrogation Reality underwent at the hands of Agent Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Agent Taylor (Marchant Davis). The three leads enact every stutter, um and cough outlined in the transcript, while every redacted sentence is portrayed by visual jump cuts or a character suddenly disappearing.
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