Stephen K. Bannon in Venice, as seen in The Brink (Magnolia Pictures)

The Brink is the most intimate contribution among a trilogy of recent films about the continuing evolution of Stephen K. Bannon, the political consultant Time, Saturday Night Live, and much of the media portray as an “evil genius.”

Michael Kirk’s Bannon’s War, broadcast on PBS as a 2017 episode of Frontline, charted his rise from the Navy to Goldman Sachs to Reaganaut filmmaker (with extensive clips of his flamboyantly conservative oeuvre) to Breitbart media provocateur to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and onto chief strategist in the White House.

In early 2018, soon after he was out of the administration (now tagged “Sloppy Steve” in a presidential tweet) and eager for his next role, Bannon talked populist philosophical circles around director Errol Morris in the undistributed documentary American Dharma, shown at the 2018 New York Film Festival.

The Brink’s producer, Therese Guirgis, had known Bannon back in his film investment days and persuaded him to allow director Alison Klayman (Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry) observe him with her camera as he enthusiastically sought a wider international impact by guiding far-right parties to win seats in the May 2019 European Parliamentary elections.

When Klayman begins as a fly on his wall, Bannon is still in the “Breitbart Embassy” in his DC townhouse. He chortles how effective radio is for delivering his populist message to his target audience angry at globalism and immigrants, while he briefly admits that in his days at Goldman Sachs, he helped facilitate deals where corporations maximized profits by moving jobs out of the United States. Then the wealthy underwriter Rebekah Mercer cuts him out of Breitbart’s outlets.

With his nephew sticking around as his assistant, Bannon soon wings off to England, where Raheem Kassam, editor of Breitbart’s London office, helps set up meetings with European rightists, usefully labeled on screen, to form “The Movement.” In Europe, he meets with the likes of Nigel Farage , ex-leader of the UK Independence Party and the Brexit campaign; Jérôme Rivière and Louis Aliot, leaders of France’s National Rally, formerly known as LePen’s National Front; and Matteo Salvini, Italy’s Minister of Interior with the Northern League. When Bannon goes off on economic populist rhetoric, they seem to tune out. The only topic they all unite around is his anti-immigrant position (he was reported to be behind Trump’s first Muslim travel ban); here he tries to tie that in more broadly to nationalistic points.

Klayman also films his interviews with unsympathetic journalists, from such outlets as The Guardian, Politico, The Telegraph, and The New York Times, that he is expert at finessing. But more tantalizing are the glimpses of possible financial backers, the likes of John Thornton, former president of Goldman Sachs, and especially Erik Prince, founder of the notorious military security contractor Blackwater and younger brother of Secretary of Education Betsy Devos. Prince, who has been reported to have been a foreign policy liaison for Bannon to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia during the Trump campaign, insists that Klayman leave their meeting room.

Back in the States, Bannon turns his attention to the 2018 mid-term elections, from approving of a Michigan Trumpist candidate to a whirlwind of speaking engagements with large and and ever smaller audiences of mostly older voters. (It’s not clear if the private plane for his cross-country travels is self-financed.) He seems unaware of the substantial grassroots organizing and fund-raising of the Blue Wave until a few days before the election, when he hears about polls that point to the House of Representatives turning over to a Democratic majority, even with the GOP gaining two seats in the Senate. (There are several upcoming documentaries about these Democratic candidates.)

In general, Bannon seems surprisingly Old Media–oriented, which is not where a potent audience of rightists are now. The Integrity First America lawyers have documented that the extremists who organized Charlottesville’s “Unite the Right” rally in August 2017 were sophisticated users of a variety of web sites (Facebook), social media platforms (Twitter), and chat rooms, including Discord and 4chan, and the online message board 8chan, to coordinate and disseminate how-to videos and podcasts in advance. Maybe the backing Bannon is seen securing from a Chinese businessman, who is resisting his government’s charges of corruption, will enable him to hire younger staffers who know the ins and outs of this dark side of the internet.

Bannon is impressed by the director’s fluency in Mandarin when she corrects his pronunciation. But I doubt he can recruit her for his staff. Klayman continues to shine at filming and editing observational documentaries.