“ Black Bag ,” an elegant, quick-witted new thriller that finds Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender playing married spies, isn’t the pair’s first time together on screen. That honor goes to 2017’s “Song to Song,” one of Terrence Malick’s most intangible and head-scratching offerings — though the two stars can barely recall that experience.

Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender have both worked with director Steven Soderbergh before and craved a return to his speedy, efficient playfulness with 'Black Bag.'

There is no director currently working who’s quite like Steven Soderbergh. He bounces back and forth between mainstream fare and artsy stories. He’ll occasionally dip his toe into big-budget filmmaking,