Entertainment
‘Red Sparrow’: An entertaining espionage drama (IANS Review, Rating: ***1/2)
By Troy Ribeiro
Film: “Red Sparrow”; Director: Francis Lawrence; Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons, Mary-Louise Parker, Charlotte Rampling, Ciaran Hinds; Rating: ***1/2
Based on the similarly titled novel penned by former CIA operative Jason Matthews, director Francis Lawrence’s espionage thriller is an icy, controlled, provocative and at times a deliberately problematic piece of work.
Set in an interesting period that suggests the existence of the Cold War between the US and Russia, the film lurks in the shadows where trust is a commodity that no one can afford to lose for the fear of sparking a huge international embarrassment or a full-scale war.
The narrative follows a Russian Ballerina Dominika Egorova, who is forced by her uncle Ivan Egorva (Matthias Schoenaerts) to enter SVR – the Russian Intelligence Service. She is enrolled in a secret school for spies where she is trained to become a “Sparrow”.
The core of the programme is solely to be trained in the ways of seduction in order to extract information from the opponents. After a humiliating and gruelling training that strips Dominika to her core while broadening her understanding of her own abilities, she is sent to Budapest to set upon CIA agent Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) in the hope of exposing a high-ranking mole in the Russian government.
The star attraction of this film is Jennifer Lawrence. As Dominika Egorova, she literally strips herself of any inhibition present. Her interpretation of the character elevates the material in hand at all times. From dancing ballet to being tortured, Lawrence does a fantastic job of showing us the strongest and weakest moments of her character.
Joel Edgerton as the CIA man who had to flee Russia after he was nearly caught meeting a high-level Russian intelligence officer feeding the Americans secrets, slips into his role effortlessly. His onscreen chemistry with Lawrence is palpable.
Apart from the duo, the incredible cast that supports them includes Mary-Louise Parker as Stephanie Boucher, the American traitor, Jeremy Irons as General Korchnoi and Ciaran Hinds as Colonel Zyuganor, Charlotte Rampling as the Matron of the secret school and Matthias Schoenaerts as Dominika’s shrewd and manipulative Uncle Ivan Egorov. They are all secondary characters, yet they all excel.
Those expecting the film to be a high-voltage action-packed thriller would be disappointed. The film contains almost no action, generally relying on dialogues, exposure and constant interaction between key figures within the complicated narrative. In other words, at its centre, the film is more drama than action, focusing more on the dehumanisation of training that creates spies and the tangled relationships between agents. There are a few bursts of violence, mostly around intense scenes of torture.
And one of the biggest attractions of the film is the relevant topic that it touches. The abuse of power, manipulation, corruption, rape and torture are some of them.
The pacing of the film is an issue. There are moments that roll on a really slow burner, but then that’s how the film was designed.
Technically with ace production values, the film is aesthetically mounted. Overall, the film is entertaining and is a brilliant character study of an efficient spy.
–IANS
troy/nn/vm
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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