A worker at a Russian nuclear facility gets exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. In order to provide for his family, he steals some plutonium and sets out to sell it on Moscow's black market with the help of an incompetent criminal.
Acting
Paddy Considine's quiet devastation vs Oscar Isaac's twitchy chaos.
Writing
Burns' script finds bleak humor in bureaucratic radiation poisoning.
Production
Moscow locations reek of authentic post-Soviet exhaustion.
Director
Scott Z. Burns
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Scott Z. Burns wrote this before becoming Soderbergh's go-to screenwriter (Contagion, The Report); the radiation procedural accuracy is signature.
Based on a Ken Kalfus short story inspired by real 1990s incidents of underpaid Russian nuclear workers stealing materials.
US
