Sleekly shot and solidly acted, Sydney Pollack’s The Interpreter is a well-crafted throwback to the paranoid political thrillers of the ‘70s such as The Parallex View, All The President’s Men and Pollack’s own Three Days of the Condor. Where those films were informed by the hysteria surrounding the Watergate scandal, The Interpreter’s timely political backbone concerns our world’s current terrorist-fearing climate as well as issues of ethnic cleansing. The film benefits from being the first to be allowed access to the interiors of the UN building for shooting. This lends the proceedings an on-location authenticity, even when certain moments challenge credibility (notably the climax). Kidman is riveting in the titular role, cleverly toying with our sympathies (her South African accent is fairly convincing too), while Penn is his usual solemn self as the secret service agent assigned to investigate her claims. It’s occasionally dreary, but on the whole a taut assassination suspenser strengthened by its strongly developed characters and intriguing political discourse.