One of Penkovsky’s contacts was a British civilian named Greville Wynne, who wrote an autobiography about his experiences. Photo by Liam Daniel / courtesy of Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions Merab Ninidze and Benedict Cumberbatch in The Courier . It was also done with the Felicity Jones character in “The Aeronauts” and the effect is often the opposite of empowering. Magazines, QAnon Candidates Are Winning Local Elections, Digital It … It certainly breaks up the monotony of such a male cast and it’s always a delight to see Brosnahan in 60s garb. Rachel Brosnahan, Jessie Buckley, and Angus Wright also star.. When Greville asks him where, if he were to defect, he might like to live, he says Montana—he’s seen pictures of it, and it reminds him of the countryside where he grew up. The Courier is about a British businessman named Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) who is enlisted to go undercover to get intelligence on a nuclear missile attack that's being plotted against Cuba. Greville Wynne was an engineer and a family man, recruited by MI6 in 1960 to connect with a member of Russian military intelligence named Oleg Penkovsky—here played by the superb Georgian actor Merab Ninidze—who, alarmed by escalating tensions between the U.S.S.R. and the West, had offered secret information about his country’s nuclear capabilities. He exudes compassion and likability. They tell us what it means to love a place that has betrayed you, a place on the map you can no longer call home, even as your wishes for what it ought to be throb in your heart. As played by Benedict Cumberbatch, he’s slightly oily and slightly anxious, with a fuzzy-caterpillar mustache that emphasizes a waxy pallor. He doesn’t suspect he’s dining with spies when his government friend Dickie (Angus Wright) and an American CIA agent, Emily (Rachel Brosnahan), sit down with him to recruit him into service. This is your last free article. The film has an almost ebullient tone for much of the first half as Wynne and Penkovsky get to know and like each other over caviar lunches, big drunken nights out and tearful evenings at the ballet. You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. He’s discretion personified, with a dash of savoir faire. |. As it examines facets of betrayal and loyalty, The Courier speaks most directly through Ninidze’s eyes. Plus, she gets to be the more persuasive agent. Just don’t use it as the text for any history reports. You have 1 free article left. Running time: 111 minutes. Friday, April 16th, 2021. He reacts with a boyish giddiness as though it was Ian Fleming himself sitting across the table. Interestingly, the film’s two leads, Wynne essayed by the English actor Benedict Cumberbatch and Penkovsky portrayed by the Georgian actor Merab Ninidze, have both gained prominence from their association with BBC shows, Sherlock and McMafia, respectively. Greville and Sheila have a young son, and Alex has a family, too, a wife and a daughter. That won’t come to pass: Greville is sworn to secrecy, though his mission at first only involves traveling to Russia to meet with a group of businessmen and make contact with Penkovsky, whom he’ll come to know as Alex. Overall, for casting purposes it appears that he’s a reliable go-to when you need a serious-looking Russian guy (as if there were any other kind). A British businessman (Benedict Cumberbatch, right) is smuggling top-secret documents provided by a rogue Russian intelligence officer (Merab Ninidze) in “The Courier.” If there’s such a thing as a Cold War Comfort Movie and let’s say there is, “The Courier” fits the bill perfectly, ticking off many of the familiar boxes of the genre: Thank you for reading TIME. The spy-thriller “ The Courier ” will release on select digital platforms, as well as on-demand platforms, on April 16th. That’s part of the movie’s edgily engaging artistry; what begins as a shadowy spy adventure ends in a place of mournful resignation. Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, and Rachel Brosnahan star in a British suspense drama, based on true events; directed by Dominic Cooke. Please attempt to sign up again. They decide a civilian who might do business in the Soviet Union is the best bet and somewhat casually land on Wynne. The mission seems harmless enough, until he’s pressed into service for further trips, bringing top-secret information back with him. But in real life, a spy has to merge into his or her surroundings like a whisper. It’s simply to say that it is more historical fiction than it is history. Benedict Cumberbatch, Angus Wright and Rachel Brosnahan in 'The Courier'. You couldn’t cast a more convincing spy than Benedict Cumberbatch, a star whose chief attribute is an aura of charming anonymity. The Courier is a 2020 historical drama film directed by Dominic Cooke.The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Greville Wynne, a British businessman who was recruited by the Secret Intelligence Service to deliver messages to secret agent Oleg Penkovsky (played by Merab Ninidze) in the 1960s. He jumps on the opportunity and starts taking extended trips abroad, leaving his wife (Jessie Buckley) and young son at home. The Courier. Under the leadership of Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) and Dickie Franks (Angus Wright), he forms an alliance with Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze). Until that point, The Courier has a jaunty, larkish quality: when Greville is first approached by a CIA and an MI6 agent working in tandem—played by Rachel Brosnahan and Angus Wright—he’s more amused than bemused by their poker-faced professionalism, their aims disguised by almost comically vague language. The trappings of spycraft we see in the movies—the tiny cameras, the furtive code words uttered into pay phones, the trench-coated figures darting about in the shadows—are now so familiar that they come across as anything but secretive. Even the reliability of that account has been questioned. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Benedict Cumberbatch plays a businessman recruited to play spy for MI6 and the CIA in the taut, entertaining Cold War thriller Ironbank. (Liam Daniel/Roadside Attractions via AP) Subscribe for just 99¢. The real star, however, is Merab Ninidze who plays the double agent. That’s what happened to the two spies who are at the center of this story: Greville Wynne (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) from the United Kingdom and Oleg Penkovsky (played by Merab Ninidze) from the Soviet Union. From music and movies, to dining and nightlife; if it's happening in the area you can be sure to find it here. Merab Ninidze, left, and Benedict Cumberbatch in a scene from “The Courier.” (Liam Daniel/Roadside Attractions via AP). Two and a half stars out of four. As Alex Penkovsky he carries infinite gradations of feeling in his eyes: We see his anxiety for his family, his sense of responsibility about preventing nuclear destruction, but also his tangled love for his country. Subscribe for just 99¢. When he’s told he’s no longer needed—a withdrawal that would leave Alex dangling, with no way to defect to the West with his family, an escape the CIA and MI6 have promised to effect—he begs his handlers to let him return to Russia one last time, a trip that twists the story into more somber corners. Movie Review: In ‘The Courier,’ Cumberbatch is an everyman spy. Over several visits—and one in which Alex comes to England—the two men get to know one another and become friends. What we know is that there was indeed a Soviet official named Oleg Penkovsky, played in the film by Georgian actor Merab Ninidze, who was an essential source for the Americans during the Cold War and the leadup to the Cuban Missile Crisis. That’s not to criticize the film written by Tom O’Connor (“The Hitman’s Bodyguard”) and directed by Dominic Cooke (“On Chesil Beach”). Contents of this site are © Copyright 2021 The Verde Independent and Western News & Info®, Inc. All rights reserved. 19 March 2021 Todd Jorgenson. In a pivotal scene, Alex brings Greville to a performance of Swan Lake in Moscow; cinematographer Sean Bobbit pits the expressive brightness of the dancers onstage against the tension wound tight in Greville’s heart, which shows on his face in a few discreet but fervent tears—an Englishman’s tears, which are either a cliché or one of the deepest expressions of human feeling, depending, perhaps, on who’s doing the crying. Availability. Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan and Jessie Buckley star in the surprising Cold War thriller "The Courier." The movie is honest about the decidedly unglamorous side of spying: chiefly, that it’s a line of work in which human beings are often treated as easily discarded pawns. Originally Published: March 30, 2021 8:35 a.m. Subscribe for just 99¢. Posts Tagged ‘Merab Ninidze’ CFRA IN OTTAWA: THE BILL CARROLL MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS! The Courier is a 2021 historical drama film directed by Dominic Cooke. Oleg (Merab Ninidze, left) and Greville (Benedict Cumberbatch) enjoy a … But it also feels a little insincere to just insert women in specific historical settings where they weren’t. Magazines, Benedict Cumberbatch Is a Spy With Soul in. ... (Merab Ninidze) to aid MI6 in bringing the Cuban Missile Crisis to an end. Kudos is the premier source for all your entertainment related news. In this true-life Cold War spy thriller, unassuming British businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) becomes entangled in one of the greatest international conflicts in history. The star turns in his most convincing performance for years in … Please try again later. Mel Valentin Contributing Writer While it might not be on the same level as “Bridge of Spies,” it’s solid, well-acted and enjoyable nonetheless. Merab Ninidze and Benedict Cumberbatch star in THE COURIER. You have 3 free articles left. It’s not that he’s drably unnoticeable; it’s simply that his charisma is less bright gold than burnished bronze. Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel Brosnahan star in the true story of a middling salesman who is enlisted by British Intelligence to engage in what would become the most consequential spy operation of the 1960s. Merab Ninidze, left, and Benedict Cumberbatch star in “The Courier.” (Courtesy Liam Daniel/Roadside Attractions) Cumberbatch, powerful story make ‘Courier’ worth seeing But … The whole truth of this extraordinary chapter has likely died with the principal characters and/or been obscured and distorted by the people who write these things down. All Rights Reserved. “I can’t believe I’m actually having lunch with…spies!” he says, looking from one to the other as if he’s already weaving a story to tell his wife, Sheila (a marvelously wry and subtle Jessie Buckley), at the dinner table. Still, it provided an intriguing jumping off point for O’Connor to write a classic espionage thriller that opens in select theaters and on demand Friday. From the start, the actor conveys he's not like his Soviet counterparts. Benedict Cumberbatch is the unassuming salesman sent to infiltrate Russia's KGB during The Cold War in new trailer for spy thriller The Courier ... 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