‘Plainclothes’ Trailer: Tom Blyth’s Undercover Cop Battles Desire and Duty in Carmen Emmi’s Sundance Winner
Magnolia Pictures
A taut and emotionally charged queer psychodrama that blends undercover intrigue with a rare note of hope
Tom Blyth — best known for his breakout in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes — takes on one of his most challenging roles yet in Carmen Emmi’s Plainclothes, a film set in the suffocating climate of 1990s Syracuse. Blyth plays Lucas, a plainclothes officer tasked with seducing and arresting gay men as part of a police entrapment operation. But Lucas is keeping a secret of his own — one that threatens not just his career, but his very sense of self.
The film’s logline hints at its claustrophobic and morally thorny premise: during a tense New Year’s Eve family gathering, Lucas misplaces a letter that was never meant to be read. The search for it unlocks memories of his undercover work months earlier, when a supposed sting operation turned into something far more intimate after he met Andrew (Russell Tovey). What begins as a manipulative setup transforms into a connection charged with danger, vulnerability, and forbidden desire. As their relationship deepens, Lucas faces mounting pressure from his superiors, forcing him to confront his loyalties and identity before the clock runs out.
Visually, the trailer offers sharp cuts between Lucas’ guarded family life and the shadowy, surveilled spaces of his police work. Emmi’s direction refuses to glamorize or sensationalize the history he’s portraying, instead grounding the story in the textures of secrecy and surveillance. The result is an atmosphere thick with tension, where every glance and pause holds weight.
Magnolia Pictures
In The Cinema Group’s Sundance review, Chief Critic Jonathan P. Moustakas praised Plainclothes for its haunting performances, fragmented yet effective structure, and striking visual language. Blyth’s work here is transformative, revealing a layered vulnerability beneath his steely exterior, while Tovey delivers one of his most compelling screen turns to date — a richly observed and deeply human portrayal of a man navigating the razor’s edge between attraction and danger. Their on-screen chemistry crackles with unspoken tension, giving the film its emotional pulse. While the climax’s emotional beats feel slightly rushed, Emmi’s meticulous control of tone and refusal to sensationalize the subject matter ensure the film resonates long after its final frame.
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Other critics have echoed the praise. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter noted that the film “remains riveting despite its fussy directorial flourishes,” singling out Emmi’s ability to sustain suspense without tipping into melodrama and for capturing the oppressive social climate without resorting to didacticism. Variety’s Peter Debruge called it a “steamy ’90s-set psychodrama,” highlighting the magnetic chemistry between Blyth and Tovey and commending Emmi’s use of noir-tinged tension to frame a deeply personal love story that defies the tragic tropes often associated with queer narratives of the era.
Taken together, these reactions position Plainclothes as a bold, confident debut that threads the needle between political urgency and emotional intimacy. Its visual precision, textured performances, and refusal to compromise on its thematic intent mark it as one of the year’s most compelling indie dramas — a film whose impact is as much about what it dares to say as how it chooses to say it.
Plainclothes hits theaters on September 19, 2025
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures
Watch The Trailer Below:
