Fort York
Sunday, june 23, 2024

Out of Sight

With the short film The Drop In

Criminally overlooked in its release year, Steven Soderbergh’s greatest film – in our humble opinion – is his adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Out of Sight, a screwball comedy-meets-cops ‘n robbers heist flick. Coming out just two years before Soderbergh’s Traffic and Erin Brockovich earned him duelling Best Director Oscar nominations, Out of Sight is the film in which he honed his signature style. Exhibiting the striking colour-saturated cinematography and nonlinear narrative for which he became known, and a deft touch with actors that brings out career-best performances from silver screen legends Don Cheadle, Ving Rhames, Luis Guzmán, Steve Zahn, and of course co-stars George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. The sexual tension is electric between Clooney’s escaped convict pulling “one last heist” and Lopez’s US Marshal hot on the trail (and tail). Featuring razor sharp dialogue, a cast of idiosyncratic professionals doing their jobs very badly, and a jazzy soundtrack, this is a true gem of American indie cinema. If you’ve slept on Out of Sight until now, don’t miss one of our most anticipated screenings of the summer.

Naledi Jackson’s short action drama The Drop In is a favourite among TOPS programmers, having screened in multiple past programmes across the city. Singular in both style and themes, The Drop In draws on Afrofuturist and blockbuster genre aesthetics in a cat ‘n mouse thriller about two secret agents. Joelle (Mouna Traoré) seems to be an ordinary hairstylist at a Black salon in Scarborough, but an unexpected drop-in client (Olunike Adeliyi, who also stars in Backspot in this summer’s TOPS programme) reveals a long-buried secret: Joelle is trying to escape a sinister past in an unnamed African republic, and she has a very particular set of skills. Immaculately lit, shot, and choreographed, Jackson’s neon-tinged thriller artfully builds tension before exploding into a hyperkinetic martial arts action sequence that will leave one woman standing.