Instead, Ejiofor opts for a syrupy lens, banal dialogue filled with platitudes, and cardboard characters. It’s especially disappointing that Peace’s mom, Jackie (a profound Mary J. Blige), disappears for long stretches: “Rob Peace” lacks a personal pulse away from Peace’s relationship with Skeet, being all too willing to slumber in the sadness of Peace’s story. It’s the kind of low-hanging fruit that Ejiofor, on his second film, should be avoiding.
After watching Tina Satter’s “Reality,” a film that uniquely approached NSA translator Reality Winner’s arrest for leaking classified documents, it’s off putting coming to Susanna Fogel’s conventional take on the same story. As opposed to “Reality,” which focused solely on the moment when agents arrived at Winner’s home, a framing that invited tense, claustrophobic set pieces, Forgel’s “Winner” predictably spans much of the translator’s life. The result is the kind of accessible, crowd-pleasing dramedy that has become a dreaded Sundance calling card.
Fogel unnecessarily uses voiceover, allowing Winner (Emilia Jones) to tell her story. Winner was raised in Texas by Billie (Connie Britton) and Ron Winner (Zach Galifianakis). It’s the latter who instilled in her a subversive personality, inspiring her to become fluent in Persian, Dari, and Pashto following September 11th. An Air Force recruit would eventually compel her to join, on the promise that she’d be saving lives by traveling to far flung locales to de-escalate crises. Years pass before Winner realizes she’ll never live her dreams in the Air Force, so like any sensible person, she begins working for the NSA. There, following the 2016 election, she became further disillusioned as the government and Donald Trump denied any Russian interference in the presidential election. You probably know the rest.
I can’t say “Winner” is wholly ineffective; it certainly guides viewers through Winner’s life with dark comedic flair. But the loud editing is pandering; the voiceover is repetitive; Jones plays Winner as a caricature; the interpersonal relationships between Winner and her family and boyfriend are one note. “Winner” is purely composed of punchlines, causing the narrative to drag in the second half. By the end of Fogel’s film, we’re left cold and distant from a story we should be angered with.