Little by little, the rhythm of cinematographic premieres of Amazon Prime Video it’s growing up. Let’s remember that on March 18 both the fiery ‘Aguas profoundes’ and the disturbing ‘Master’ arrived, while on the 25th of that same month they released ‘La granny’ exclusively on streaming.
This April 8 is the turn of ‘A date with the past’an espionage thriller led by Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton. Surely it will say much less to the public that it is directed by Janus-Metz, but beware, he is the filmmaker who surprised us a few years ago with ‘Borg McEnroe’, one of the best sports movies in history. Here he is again quite inspired to give us a remarkable work that prioritizes the exciting over the vibrant.
A Different Approach
‘An Appointment with the Past’ tells the story of a veteran spy (Pine) who is commissioned to investigate what happened years ago in a mission in which he participated that went fatal. That will cause him to meet again with a colleague of his (Newton) whom he has not seen since then and with whom he had a romantic relationship that was also abruptly interrupted.
Just as one expects from this premise, one of the great axes of the film is that bond that unites the characters played by Pine and Newton, since the film is revealing in parallel their personal relationship and the investigation around the betrayal that took place years ago.
Therefore, ‘An appointment with the past’ habitually uses flashbacks, a fairly effective resource both to move the story forward and to add a dose of tension that the film does not seem to be too interested in in the present tense. There, human relationships come to the fore and a certain halo of sadness hovers at all times.
This aspect may bother some viewers who look for a vehicle of suspense in ‘An Appointment with the Past’ in which their main interest is to find the mole, but the truth is that here the vulnerability of its two protagonists is further enhanced.
Throughout the emotional journey of both, there are several scripts that are well integrated into the plot., but there the film would probably have appreciated a little more footage or even become a miniseries of three or four episodes. And it is that this way it could have given a little more background to other aspects or characters -minimum Jonathan Price could have given more of himself, not to mention a Laurence Fishburne which is almost a seen and not seen-, since at the moment of truth the function is completely dominated by Pine and Newton.
The human over the professional
However, that seems like a considered decision on the part of olen steinhauer, who writes the script from the novel written by himself. Or at least that feeling remains by betting on a more relaxed cadence, where the vibrant barely has room to focus more on the more human dimension of what he is telling us.
This finds great support in the precise staging work of Metz, who seems to seek a balance between the enigmatic and the calm, achieving images of a certain unusual beauty in a film of these characteristics. Perhaps the most curious thing is that he does it without any scene standing out in particular, but looking for a visual harmony that is essential to establish that dramatic tone that dominates the show at all times, both when he seems to get carried away by a cross between the nostalgic and the melancholic as when other feelings are enhanced.
However, it is Pine and Newton who really elevate the function and turn ‘A date with the past’ into a spy movie well above average. They are the ones who fill that lack of depth that he shows off in narrative aspects, and they do so by showing themselves to be close and vulnerable. At all times we perceive that love that united them and also how this reunion affects them several years later.
Probably for this reason, when the film really seduces us, it is when it focuses on that conversation that begins aimed at clarifying what happened on that mission that went wrong but soon acquires more personal nuances. Both perfectly convey that security inherent in the work they do, but they also show a growing fragility as everything becomes clearerbeing there where it is determined if ‘An appointment with the past’ is going to conquer the viewer or not, because I have no doubt that there will be those who find it somewhat lukewarm.
In short
‘A date with the past’ is a remarkable spy movie that enhances the human component over suspense. Constantly jumping between past and “present” -the story is set in 2020-, Pedersen manages to create the ideal climate for his two protagonists to catch the public’s attention. Well, as long as you don’t come expecting a different approach from the one chosen by those responsible for it.