Seen at the Viennale 2019: A handheld camera cannot get closer to acting people. Always in the face it is near impossible to get a helping overview for the espionage story. Who is for the Chinese, who for the Japanese, who for the Germans, the French, the US? Nearly impossible to understand why somebody is doing something. The b/w-pictures do not help to distinguish between all the unfamiliar faces. Since digital cameras can record even without proper lighting the pictures are not b/w like in the old movies, but grey in grey - that does not help to recognize the faces in every situation either. At the end of the movie it is somehow clear who was on which side. Looking at the picture a second time to understand all the details of the story? Nay.. but the movie is rescued sensationally by a hundred percent believable acting of all the cast. Not for one second there is any weakness in dragging you in. For the regular Cineast a must-see.
