Paul Greengrass is the master of the moment, of a muscular and immersive style of filmmaking that plunges us into the thick of the action. But “22 July,” the Greengrass film that premiered at the Venice Film Festival last month, is a movie not about the moment, but about the aftermath.
Make no mistake, “22 July” is also immersive and visceral. But in its slow move from action to consequences, from terror to something close to healing, it feels new from the veteran British director.
This might be the first Greengrass movie that doesn’t just make you flinch, it makes you cry.