The Subversion Agency (2003)

• 83%
• 2003
• Mark Boswell

Nine years in the making and shot on location in Miami, Florida and Havana, Cuba, The Subversion Agency relates the exploits of an American arms dealer (Pierre Kozlov) who is invited to the K-Zone - "a communist country somewhere in the Caribbean" - to participate in a one-on-one golf match for one million dollars (winner take all). A self-confirmed nihilist, Kozlov becomes embedded in the morass of international politics when he discovers the prize in store for the loser, which he appears destined to become. Threatening the narrative of the film, a Brechtian blitzkrieg of missives take form through experimental montage, double jump cuts, over edits, and aural asides that crackle with political satire and hard-boiled sarcasm. Combined with Boswell's on location footage, the film's re-contextualized archival images of Miami and Cuba work to create a fictional netherworld reminiscent of the Twilight Zone.