Steven Soderbergh Archives

Review: ‘Black Bag’ (2025), starring Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page and Pierce Brosnan

March 6, 2025

by Carla Hay

Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender in “Black Bag” (Photo by Claudette Barius/Focus Features)

“Black Bag” (2025)

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Culture Representation: Taking place in London, the dramatic film “Black Bag” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some black people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Six agents who work for the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) find themselves involved in an undercover investigation to expose a mole/traitor in the group.

Culture Audience: “Black Bag” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and well-made spy movies.

Pictured clockwise, from left to right: Regé-Jean Page, Naomie Harris, Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, and Marisa Abela in “Black Bag” (Photo by Claudette Barius/Focus Features)

“Black Bag” is a sleek and stylish spy caper that invites viewers to indulge in the fantasy that so many spies look like movie stars. Their whip-smart and sarcastic conversations are just as entertaining as some of the action scenes. “Black Bag” might get some comparisons to the 2005 action film “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (about two married spies who go to war with each other), but “Black Bag” has a darker tone and is more of an intriguing mystery rather than a comedy.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp, “Black Bag” has two married spies at the center of the story, but they don’t really get into the type of knock-down, drag-out fights with each other like the couple at the center of the “Mrs. & Mrs. Smith” movie. The spouses in “Black Bag” have a relationship that is steeped in devotion as well as distrust, thereby keeping their romance steady but also on edge. The movie’s title is based on a black bag where the two spouses keep their biggest spy secrets.

The marriage becomes fraught with more tension when the husband gets an assignment to find out which person on a list of five suspects is a mole/traitor. His wife is on the list. The husband and the five suspects all work for National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), a United Kingdom espionage agency whose specialty is technology. The mole is involved in a conspiracy regarding Severus, a type of malware that can destabilize a nuclear facility.

These are six people who are directly involved in the investigation to expose the mole:

George Woodhouse (played by Michael Fassbender) has a stoic personality that masks a lot of past trauma. (His father committed suicide.) Although George often appears to be cold in the way that he treats people, he is actually a loving and monogamous husband. George has been given the assignment to secretly investigate the other five people.
Kathryn St. Jean (played by Cate Blanchett) is George’s wife, who lives and looks like a Hollywood glamour queen. Unlike George, who keeps a lot of his feelings bottled inside, Kathryn doesn’t hesitate to express her opinions. Kathryn and George have been longtime spies. They do not have any children together.
Col. James Stokes (played by Regé-Jean Page) is considered to be a star on the rise at NCSC. He has recently gotten a promotion. And the person who thinks he deserved the promotion the most is James, who is intelligent but very arrogant. James is also very stubborn and unlikely to want to consider other people’s points of as being more valid than his.
Dr. Zoe Vaughn (played by Naomie Harris), a staff psychiatrist for NCSC, is in a volatile romance with James. Kathryn is one of her patients. Zoe is the one in this group of six is most likely offer help or advice to someone who is going through personal diffculties. But in a story where people don’t trust each other, does Zoe have ulterior motives when she offers counseling and finds out people’s secrets?
Freddie Smalls (played by Tom Burke) is a deeply insecure substance abuser, who appears to be addicted to alcohol, pills and sex. Freddie is jealous of James (who is younger and has less experience) because James got the promotion that Freddie wanted. Freddie knows his self-destructive ways have made him a risk for NCSC. However, Freddie thinks his blunt (in other words: rude) communication style is an asset.
Clarissa Dubose (played by Marisa Abela) is the youngest person in this group of six. She has recently begun dating Freddie, who’s about 20 years older than Clarissa. She’s found out the hard way what Freddie can’t stay faithful to one person, so she has a love/hate relationship with him. Clarissa is in awe of Kathryn, whom Clarissa considered to be a role model in espionage.

Everything in “Black Bag” is intended to make the ugly business of espionage look as alluring and glamorous as possible. When George gets the assignment to find the mole, it’s not in some drab office. He goes to an exclusive nightclub where trendy-looking young people are dancing and partying. Inside the nightclub, he meets up with Philip Meacham (played by Gustaf Skarsgård), a troubled agent supervisor who gives him the assignment and a list of suspects. “Good luck finding the rat,” Philip tells George.

George is in a profession where lying is a requirement of the job, so it’s ironic that George repeatedly tells anyone who listens that he hates dishonesty. Monogamous spies are rare, according to what this movie repeats in conversations and actions. Philip commends George for being a faithful husband, which Philip confesses is something he could never be. Pierce Brosnan has a supporting role as dapper Arthur Stieglitz, the leader of the NCSC.

George and Kathryn aren’t the types of spies who blend in so they won’t be noticed. They’re the type of spies who want to stand out, as they glide around in designer clothing and invite guests into their posh home. Speaking of George and Kathryn hosting visitors in their home, some of the best scenes in the movie are the dinner party scenes, where tensions run high, and insults are thrown like daggers across a room.

In their home, George isn’t subservient to Kathryn, but he’s not completely dominant either. George likes to think of himself as the smartest person in any room he’s in, but he isn’t stuck in a macho mindset of thinking that men and women should have “traditional” roles in a marriage. For example, when George and Kathryn invite James, Zoe, Freddie and Clarissa to a dinner party, George is the one who does all the cooking. Kathryn is more likely than George to initiating sexual intimacy and demand what she wants.

George and Kathryn consider themselves to be the “alpha couple” of these three couples because George and Kathryn have the most experience and apparently the most connections in the spy world. However, Kathryn tells Zoe in a therapy that Kathryn has been having ongoing nightmares that aren’t going away anytime soon. Kathryn is required to be in therapy, and she despises it.

Unmarried couple James and Zoe seem to be in a constant battle with each other to prove who’s smarter than the other in their relationship. Neither of them is faithful to each other. In a therapy session, Kathryn makes a personal dig at Zoe when Kathryn comments that Zoe’s current infidelity lover is riff raff who is beneath Zoe’s social status.

Freddie and Clarissa are simply a disaster together. And it’s not because of their age gap, although Freddie cruelly tells Clarissa during an argument that she’s got daddy issues because Clarissa’s father abandoned her as a child. Freddie and Clarissa are no good for each other because they seem to be hooked on their toxic and abusive relationship, which includes physical violence.

All of the principal cast members handle their roles well. However, there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about their performances because they’ve all played these types of personalities in other movies. What makes “Black Bag” stand out the most from other spy movies is Koepp’s snappy screenplay with this unique concept of three spy couples under scrutiny.

Amid all of the drama between these couples, “Black Bag” has a wickedly sly touch in showing that these “know-it-alls” actually don’t know a lot of things about each other. Sure, there are car chases, shootouts and bomb explosions to raise the “life or death” stakes in the story. But the most dangerous threats to the movie’s characters are the mind games that they play with each other.

Focus Features will release “Black Bag” in U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025, with a sneak preview on March 12, 2025.

Review: ‘Presence’ (2025), starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland and Julia Fox

January 20, 2025

by Carla Hay

Callina Liang, Chris Sullivan, Eddie Maday and Lucy Liu in “Presence” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“Presence” (2025)

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the horror film “Presence” features an Asian and white cast of characters (with one Latin person and one African American) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A married couple and their two teenage children move into a house, where the couple’s daughter senses that the house is haunted by a ghost.

Culture Audience: “Presence” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of director Steven Soderbergh and don’t mind watching a haunted house movie that is more of a psychological mystery than a typical supernatural horror film.

Callina Liang, Chris Sullivan, Eddy Maday, Lucy Liu and Julia Fox in “Presence” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

The horror film Presence is told from the point of view of a silent ghost in a haunted house, so the foreboding tone is more subtle than most other supernatural movies. Viewers need patience for the buildup to the movie’s impactful ending. Anyone expecting more action and constant jump scares might be bored with “Presence,” which is a unique and competently made film, but it’s not particularly outstanding.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp, “Presence” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and its Canadian premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie takes place in an unnamed U.S. suburban city. (“Presence” was actually filmed in Cranford, New Jersey.) Almost every scene in the movie is at the house where the haunting takes place.

“Presence” begins by showing a real-estate agent named Cece (played by Julia Fox) doing a quick walking inspection of various rooms inside an empty Cape Cod-style, three-story house that could be bought on a middle-class income. Cece is taking one last look before some prosepective buyers come over to see this house, which has recently been put up for sale. In fact, the people coming over the see the house will be the first since the house when on the market again. (Even though Fox shares headline billing, she’s only in the movie for less than 10 minutes.)

The people looking at the house are a family of four: Rebecca Payne (played by Lucy Liu), Christopher “Chris” Payne (played by Chris Sullivan) and their two teenage children: Tyler “Ty” Payne (played by Eddy Maday) and Chloe Payne (played by Callina Liang), who both attend Crawford High School. Tyler is about 17 years old. Chloe is about 16 years old.

Within a few minutes of the family’s arrival, it becomes obvious that Rebecca is the most dominant person in the family. The job occupations of Rebecca and Chris are not stated in the movie, but Rebecca works as some type of high-powered position at an unnamed company, and she has a higher income than Chris. After a tour of the house, Rebecca announces that she wants to buy the house, and she’s sure that whoever sees the house next will want to buy it too.

Whatever Rebecca wants, Rebecca gets. The Paynes buy the house and don’t take long to move into their new home. After they settle in, the family dynamics start to be seen. Tyler is Rebecca’s favorite child, while Chloe is Chris’ favorite child. Rebecca has an overly close and somewhat creepy relationship with Tyler. By contrast, Chris and Chloe have a healthy father-daughter relationship with the appropriate boundaries.

In a private conversation between Rebecca and Tyler in the kitchen, she tells Tyler how she feels about him: “I’ve never felt so close to anyone,” she says in a tone that’s more like how someone would talk to a lover than to a child. Tyler asks Rebecca: “What abut Chloe?” Rebecca answers dismissively, “That’s just different.”

Although Tyler and Chloe are never seen at school in this movie, it’s easy to see that Tyler is the more popular and more outgoing sibling among their peers. Chloe is more introverted and more sensitive than Tyler. Chloe is image-conscious but not as much a Tyler, who places a lot of importance on being perceived as one of the “cool kids” at school.

Tyler and Chloe don’t really get along with each other and have a tendency to argue and insult each other. It could be just normal friction between two teenage siblings. But conversations in the movie later reveal that Chloe is in a fragile mental state.

Part of it has to do with her grieving over the death of her best friend Nadia, who died in her sleep. It’s implied that her death was drug-related because Tyler insensitively calls Nadia a “drug addict” in one of his arguments with Chloe. Nadia’s death was recent and happened not long after another death of a teenage girl in the community, who died in a similar way.

At first, the ghost seems to observe the family and doesn’t want its presence to be known. But then, the ghost makes its presence known to Chloe. In one incident, while Chloe is taking a shower in the bathroom next to her bedroom, the ghost moves some books from Chloe’s bed to a dresser in the same room. When Chloe gets out of the shower, she immediately notices that the books were moved.

Chloe sees other signs that the house might be haunted. She confides in her parents about this fear. Predictably, Chris is more understanding than Rebecca. When the parents discuss Chloe’s troubled mental state, Chris says that Chloe should see a therapist. Rebecca disagrees and says, “Time is what we need.”

There’s another problem in the family that is hinted at throughout the movie. Chris is seen making secretive phone calls, asking advice from someone named Howard (who is presumably an attorney) about how much a spouse can get in trouble for knowing about the other spouse being involved in something illegal. Chris seems very conflicted about whatever is bothering him.

Meanwhile, Tyler has gotten closer to a new friend at school named Ryan (played by West Mulholland), who comes from an affluent and prominent family. Ryan comes over to the Payne family home with Tyler one day after school. Tyler introduces Ryan to Chloe. Ryan and Chloe have an immediate and growing attraction to each other.

The rest of “Presence” shows how certain relationships change and how the ghost reacts to those changes. Although some of the movie’s scenes are nothing but the ghost observing mundane activities in the house, “Presence” always has an underlying tension that doesn’t really let up, because this is a horror movie, and you know something bad is bound to happen.

As for the ghost, certain actions show that the ghost is not there to scare but to protect. But who needs protecting and why? Some viewers might figure out the answer long before it’s revealed in the movie. The ghostly activities become a big-enough concern to the Payne family that a psychic medium named Lisa (played by Natalie Woolams-Torres), who is Cece’s sister-in-law, eventually does a reading of the house. Lisa arrives at the house with her husband Carl (played by Lucas Papaelias), who does not have psychic abilities.

“Presence” is very dependent on its cinematography to make the movie be effective. And on that level, Soderbergh’s cinematography (he’s also the film’s editor) mostly succeeds, as the camera bobs and weaves like a silent observer who can float through space. At the same time, the camera from the ghost’s point of view can also make viewers feel slightly claustrophobic when the ghost is spying in a small room with a closed door.

Liu is convincing as steely Rebecca, who seems to care more about her job than her marriage. Chris is in love with Rebecca and tells her that he knows that she’s too good for him, which is a sad commentary on his self-esteem, because he doesn’t see his worth as the kind and loving spouse that Rebecca fails to be. Some of the acting performances from the younger cast members are little stiff and awkward, but Liang does an overall very good job of conveying Chloe’s vulnerability and insecurities.

“Presence” has touches of social commentary about how people can project a certain image that could be very different from their real selves behind closed doors in private situations. This is not a ghost story where viewers can expect to see demonic characters with ghoulish appearances. Rather, “Presence” is a chilling observation of monstrous danger that’s much more insidious because it looks harmless on the surface.

Neon will release “Presence” in U.S. cinemas on January 24, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on February 25, 2025.

Review: ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ starring Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek Pinault

February 7, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance”

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Some language in Spanish and French with no subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in London (and briefly in Miami), the comedy/drama film “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people, black people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Exotic dancer Mike Lane returns to the stage when he is invited by a wealthy socialite to choreograph, direct, and dance in an exotic dance show at the London theater that she owns.

Culture Audience: “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of stars Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek Pinault; the “Magic Mike” franchise; director Steven Soderbergh; and unapologetically predictable but charming movies featuring dancing and romance.

Salma Hayek Pinault, Ayub Khan Din and Jemelia George in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (Photo by Claudette Barius/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” is funny, sexy and the most emotionally layered “Magic Mike” movie, as it focuses more on the title character’s love life. The film stumbles with a contrived “race against time” plot development, but the performances are entertaining overall. People who are expecting the male friendship bonding that defined the first two “Magic Mike” movies will be disappointed in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (the third movie in the series), which admirably took a risk by not trying to copy the previous “Magic Mike” movies. The romance in the story centers on a wealthy middle-aged woman and a working-class younger man, which is the type of coupling that makes certain people very uncomfortable and might affect how they view this movie.

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” reunites director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Reid Carolin, who directed and wrote 2012’s “Magic Mike,” which is loosely based on star Channing Tatum’s experiences of being a stripper before Tatum was famous. Carolin wrote the 2015 sequel “Magic Mike XXL,” directed by Gregory Jacobs. The “Magic Mike” dancers tap into the concept originated by the Chippendales dancers, by creating sexy on-stage personas that encourage interaction with and participation from audience members.

The “Magic Mike” movie series has also spawned a real-life Las Vegas show and a touring production called “Magic Mike Live,” created and directed by Tatum. There was also a 2021 reality series on HBO Max called “Finding Magic Mike,” a contest where the winner would get to be a dancer in “Magic Mike Live.” Tatum, Soderbergh and Carolin were among the executive producers of “Finding Magic Mike.”

In the “Magic Mike” movie series, Tatum portrays Mike Lane, an exotic dancer doing all-male revue shows for audiences consisting mostly of women. In the first two “Magic Mike” movies, Mike was planning to retire from stripping by having his own furniture-making business. The end of “Magic Mike XXL” shows Mike following through with those plans.

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” begins in Miami, with Mike bartending in the backyard of upscale party held at a mansion. His furniture business has failed, and he’s financially struggling because he’s taking jobs that are low-paying, temporary gigs. At the party, Mike serves drinks to an attorney named Kim (played by Caitlin Gerard), who is with her husband (played by Christopher Bencomo). Kim thinks Mike looks familiar.

And then, Kim remembers that Mike gave her a lap dance at a party, where Mike was hired as a stripper, and he showed up dressed as a cop. Kim and Mike coyly trade banter about the last time time they saw each other, while Kim’s husband has no clue that they are talking about a stripping encounter. “I know you,” Kim says to Mike. “You were a cop, right?” Mike smirks and says, “I let you off with a warning, right?”

Kim apparently thinks that Mike is still in the business of stripping, because the next thing Mike knows, the party host who owns the house has invited him inside for a private meeting. The host of the party is Maxandra “Max” Mendoza (played by Salma Hayek Pinault, also known as Salma Hayek), an assertive and outspoken socialite who knows what she wants and how to get it. Max introduces herself and tells Mike she heard from Kim about Mike’s special talents, and she asks what his price is.

Max balks when Mike says his fee is $60,000. She then makes it clear that she only wants a dance, with no sex, and offers $6,000 for the performance. Mike accepts the offer and gives her the type of erotic dance that people expect to see in a “Magic Mike” movie. Max is so turned on, she and Mike end up spending the night together. “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” has a rating that indicates it’s not recommended for children, but that’s mostly because of the erotic dance moves and the adult language in the movie.

People might be surprised that for a movie that’s selling sex and eroticism, there’s no nudity in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.” All of the sex in the movie is suggested or implied. That restraint might be too tame for some viewers, while other viewers won’t have a problem with it and might find it refreshing that the movie isn’t exploiting sex in a gratuitous way. If people are only interested in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” for the possibility of seeing any of the stars naked, then they’re seeing the movie for the wrong reasons.

Max is so electrified and inspired by her night with Mike, she tells him, “If I had known what this night would’ve been like, I would’ve gladly paid you $60,000.” Mike tells her that he won’t charge her for the lap dance after all. Max invites Mike to London for a job that will pay $60,000, but she doesn’t divulge the details of the job until Mike is in London, where Max has her main home. (She pays for the entire trip, of course.)

Max tells Mike that although their night of passion was meaningful to her, she wants their relationship from now on to be strictly business. Still, it’s obvious she doesn’t really want a “business only” relationship, because she invites Mike to stay in her home instead of having him stay in a hotel. Mike eventually finds out that Max’s personal life is kind of messy and complicated. The job she has for him is something he’s never done before, and the stakes are very high.

Max is separated from her rich husband Roger Rattigan (played by Alan Cox), and they are in the process of divorcing (after 18 years of marriage), in a very contentious legal battle. Roger comes from “old money” and has a domineering mother (who’s never seen in the movie) who is ultra-conscious of having the family’s name as a prestigious brand, which is in the business of entertainment and media. The Rattigan family owns the Rattigan Theatre, which currently does productions of stuffy plays. Max currently owns the theatre, because she’s still technically married to Roger, but her impending divorce might change that ownership.

Max wants to shake up the crusty old establishment at the Rattigan Theatre by bringing to the theater an erotic dance show featuring mostly male dancers. And she wants Mike to be the show’s director and choreographer. This new dance show is expected to be put together in just one month. The initial plan is to stage the show as a one-night-only special event. But will the show continue beyond that night?

Why does Max want to do this show? It’s partly to feel empowered and partly to get revenge on Roger, who cheated on her with his assistant. Max tells Mike that the Rattigan Theatre is where Roger first saw Max, when she was an actress with a small supporting role in a play. Doing this dance show would be Max’s way to make a statement about how much control she has over her own life and to come full circle regarding her personal history with the Rattigan Theatre.

At first, Mike is overwhelmed by the offer and feels it might be out of his league to direct this type of show for the first time. (Mike never mentions that $60,000 is way too low of a salary for this type of job, but the movie makes it obvious that Mike isn’t very smart when it comes to money.) Eventually, Mike becomes excited about doing this show and approaches the job with a lot of ideas and enthusiasm. He gets assistance from of a no-nonsense producer named Renata (played by Suzanne Bertish), who helps cast the show, while Mike and Max do some recruiting of street dancers in London.

Max and Roger have a highly intelligent and perceptive adopted daughter named Zadie Rattigan (played by Jemelia George, a scene stealer in her feature-film debut), who’s about 14 or 15 years old. During the divorce proceedings, Max has primary custody of Zadie. Zadie also acts as the movie’s intermittent narrator, which is an interesting creative choice that’s another indication that “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” isn’t a typical “Magic Mike” movie. Max has a butler/chauffeur named Victor (played by Ayub Khan Din), who is at first very frosty with Mike. Some other people in Max’s social circle perceive Mike as Max’s temporary boy toy.

Zadie also warns Mike that Max has a tendency to be fickle. Zadie tells Mike that their family therapist has a nickname for Max: Queen of the First Act. That’s because Max has a pattern of throwing herself into a shiny new project—whether the project is thing or a person—and whenever there’s a big obstacle, Max abandons the project and doesn’t finish it. In other words, Max doesn’t stick with a project through the final act. And you know what that means: There’s going to be a major obstacle to this show getting staged.

The stage show that Mike is directing is replacing a regency play called “Isabel Ascendant,” where a woman has to choose between two suitors: one who’s rich and unlikable, and the other who is poor and lovable. Max is offended by the play’s outdated premise that a woman’s happiness is dependent on being married to man, and that these types of stories tend to make a woman choose between love or money in a marriage. “Magic Mike’s Last Act” gets a little repetitive with Max’s “female empowerment” speeches, but unless she says these things out loud, it might not sink in with some viewers.

Max fires the “Isabel Ascendant” director named Matthew (played by Gavin Spokes) for being rude to Max, but she tells the “Isabel Ascendant” people that their salaries will still be paid while the production is on hiatus. An actress named Hannah (played by Juliette Motamed) has the role of demure Isabel in the play that will be replaced by Mike’s stage show and the show’s rehearsals. However, Hannah (who wears a nose ring and is sassy in real life) doesn’t want to go away quietly.

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” hits a lot of expected beats when it comes to the overall story arc. The way that Max and Mike navigate their relationship in an uncertain manner is at the heart of the movie. Fans of the first two “Magic Mike” movie will be pleased to see cameos from four of the other stars from the first two “Magic Mike” films, but these cameos don’t involve dancing onstage. Mike is seen in a video conference call with his former dance buddies Ken (played by Matt Bomer), Tito (played by Adam Rodriguez), Big Dick Richie (played by Joe Manganiello) and Tarzan (played by Kevin Nash), who all have varying reactions to Mike’s new job and living situation.

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” for better or worse, is really about Mike and Max. Tatum and Hayek Pinault have convincing chemistry together as would-be lovers who are living in the moment and don’t want to be stuck in the past. It’s a story of personal reinvention and taking a risky chance on love that could turn out to be a heartbreaking disaster. The way the story is told is a lot like Max and Mike’s relationship: It doesn’t always run smoothly, it has sex appeal (even if it’s in choreographed dance moves), it’s refreshingly honest about its imperfections, and it can offer a good time for viewers who want to see this type of escapist entertainment.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” in U.S. cinemas on February 10, 2023.