Sicario

Fresh from Cannes where it screened to rave reviews, Denis Villeneuve’s (Incendies, Enemy) brutish, confident Sicario stars Emily Blunt as an FBI agent working around the US / Mexico border.

Making an unpleasant discovery, she is subsequently called on by her superior Matt (Josh Brolin) and his enigmatic associate Alejandro (Benicio del Toro’) to investigate the powerful cartels channelling drugs into the States.

Blunt is excellent, managing to essay both determined strength and a quaking vulnerability as Agent Kate Macer, pulled out of procedural ops into the ambiguous workings of the drugs war on a grand scale. Profoundly concerned by Matt and Alejandro’s propensity for violence and amorality in their battle with Mexican druglords, she only gradually begins to understand their true motivations, and just how far they will go.

Beautifully shot by Roger Deakins, with bleak desert landscapes, cityscapes of Ciudad Juarez and militaristic overhead sequences, the film also has a superb soundtrack – propulsive and malevolent – lending an uneasy depth to this Michael Mann-esque thriller.