For Reel

Director: Denis Villeneuve

In a telling line from Sicario, a Colombian mercenary (Benicio Del Toro) insists to his newly enlisted colleague (Emily Blunt) that, “Nothing will make sense to your American ears, and you will doubt everything that we do, but in the end you will understand.” Fittingly, director Denis Villeneuve’s latest is very much about confusion. Both Blunt’s FBI agent and the audience are kept from knowing exactly what is going on, whether that be what organization a laid back supervisor (Josh Brolin) is affiliated with or what exactly Del Toro’s relationship is with them. Blunt’s character starts with a desire to do “the right thing” by bringing down the cartels before being mentally beaten down from her place of a moral high ground and compromising for something murkier, more dubious. In this way, Sicario continues Villeneuve’s obsession with confused identities–characters in his films are placed in situations that challenge their beliefs, what they know about themselves, and even how they perceive the world. Roger Deakins beautifully captures Sicario’s interest in disorientation in a climax that cuts between two different kinds of night vision technology, all but obscuring identities and confusing one’s sense of the space. Once these devices are removed, the resulting chaos through a cartel’s tunnels plays like the horrific climax of Them!, with danger lurking at the end of every long, winding tunnel.