Its the rather sensitive portrayals from each character that you will remember the most.

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 7, 2017

Marling and Batmanglij don't fear or resent entertainment: They make effective thrillers... If they reach a major studio and bigger budget, they could be the right kind of dangerous.

| Jan 6, 2014

The biggest issue with The East is that Batmanglij and Marling so thoroughly rig the script in the environmentalists' favor.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 11, 2013

It all adds up to an intelligent romp which keeps one eye on timely issues (activists or terrorists?) and the other on entertainment.

| Jul 3, 2013

A slick, grungy espionage thriller so in tune with the times it's almost uncanny.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 28, 2013

A zeitgeist-grabbing indie spy thriller exploring the rise of techno-savvy anti-authoritarian movements lurking in the darkest recesses of the internet.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 28, 2013

It becomes sanctimonious, makes you contrary. I left craving a Big Mac.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 27, 2013

Marling wrote it with Zal Batmanglij, her writer-director partner on Sound of My Voice. This is a kindred attention-catcher, good on the quiet madness of cults and creeds.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 27, 2013

When the movie's thriving on uncertainty, pinning Jane between two camps with equally sinister potential, it has a prickly ingenuity and promise. It's gripping, for at least an hour.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 27, 2013

Its morally ambiguous investigation of extreme left-wing politics is ... light years away from usual multiplex concerns.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 25, 2013

Well-acted and suspenseful, with a great deal of editorial content, this feels a little awkward and earnest, and perhaps not angry enough.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 24, 2013

The film, if you can temporarily suspend disbelief, is still the kind of rock-solid intelligent entertainment that has become all too rare.

| Jun 14, 2013

The images are sharp even when the film's ideas are not.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jun 14, 2013

"The East" leaves questions unanswered, but at least it asks those questions.

| Original Score: B | Jun 14, 2013

Marling and Batmanglij bring an evenhanded perspective to their portrayals of the characters and issues involved.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 13, 2013

A watchably confused eco-thriller that's never sure who its heroes are.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 13, 2013

It is a smart, well-acted drama, and another chance for Marling to exercise her unique talents, creating intriguing characters on the page and the screen.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 13, 2013

"The East" prizes an initial air of mystery over consistent drama, and as a result ends up squandering its intriguing premise.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 11, 2013

As is often the case with people who become major stars, [Marling] seems as if she has always been there. She's new and yet familiar, as if we've known her all along.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 10, 2013

The East is a didactic polemic couched in a mediocre thriller that takes itself far too seriously to be taken seriously...

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 10, 2013