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Movies & TV

06th Aug 2021

Irish actress heads up mysterious new thriller Profile in cinemas today

Rory Cashin

Brought to you by Universal Pictures

It’s the new movie from the director of the hit Angelina Jolie action movie Wanted.

If there’s one thing Ireland loves to do, it is single out and then focus support on any Irish talent that have become so good at their skill it has elevated them to the world stage.

Just look at literally any single Olympics event with an Irish athlete involved, the entire country is glued to the TV cheering them on!

The same goes for acting and Hollywood, so it is great to see that fantastic Irish talent Valene Kane is fronting new mystery thriller Profile, which arrives in Irish cinemas from today (Friday, 6 August).

Coming from director/co-writer Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), it is based on the true story of an undercover journalist (Kane), who is trying to infiltrate the online propaganda channels of the so-called Islamic State, making direct, regular contact with a potential recruiter (Shazah Latif).

Filmed entirely from her devices, much like those great recent tech-based thrillers like Unfriended and Searching, the trailer alone looks like a proper edge-of-your-seat, claustrophobic, and incredibly topical movie.

Both Kane and the movie itself have received some rave reviews when it screened in the States earlier this year:

The Film Stage – “While the gloss of studio thrillers allow enough distance that we can sit back and be entertained by what’s on screen, Profile’s desktop setting makes Amy’s situation all the more immediate, because it feels so authentic. The film is proof that ScreenLife isn’t just a gimmick, but a cinematic tool we ought to be taking seriously.”

Screen Daily – “The story is told entirely on a computer screen, through Skype, social media and editing programs. And despite the restrictions of this device, the film crackles with tension.”

The Playlist – “The relationship between ‘Melody’ and ‘Bilel’ (also an assumed name) shows the slippery nature of performed online identities, the leveraging of personal grievances into political/terrorist action, and how the immense scale of social media can essentially collectivise and weaponise alienation and anger from around the world into real world terror.”

Indiewire – “[The] movie is chilled by an ominous and ever-present feeling that the world has become smaller than we ever thought possible, and that real nightmares are waiting for us on the other side of every window.”

Check out the trailer below…

Clip via Universal Pictures Ireland

Brought to you by Universal Pictures

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