Chariddy Shop Cinema #1 - Out Of Sight

Chariddy Shop Cinema #1 : Out Of Sight It’s great that all the up to date hipsters are now downloading or streaming their fillums ‘cos that means that hordes of unbelievable stuff on DVD turns up in charity shops which make up around half of Britain’s high streets, the other half being coffee shops or restaurants. Of course it’s a bit of a lottery, you can’t really go out shopping for anything specific, but you never know... I first became interested in seeing Steven Soderbergh’s Out Of Sight when I was reading up about Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, and there’s a little bit of trivia that tells you Michael Keaton plays a character called Ray Nicolet in both films. Both films are based upon novels by Elmore Leonard. I first came across Leonard’s writing when pal at school lent me a paperback copy of Valdez Is Coming, a western. Later I obtained Mr Majestyk. I’ve always believed in the power of imagination, and I’ve seen both film versions (once) and they came up short compared to the books. When I used to go out, I always read Time Out as I was less than an hour from London, and that seemed to be the place to be. Their book section used to rave about Leonard, and I ended up reading quite a few of his novels. They were excellent entertainment, but I never could figure out just why some people thought they were something more. Most of the reviews would rave about how cinematic his writing was and why oh why would no-one film his stories? Or if they did, why did they get it wrong? The only film I can remember from after his 70s film screenplay heyday was a Burt Reynolds vehicle called Stick which I enjoyed but the intelligentsia was not happy with. Anyways, it seems the late 90s proved fertile for decent Leonard adaptations with Barry Sonnenfeld’s Get Shorty proving successful, and then Quent following up Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction with Jackie Brown. Soderbergh had, after boffo indie success with sex, lies & videotape, retreated to low budget experimental stuff, and surprisingly got the call to do Out Of Sight. (Sonnenfeld and Danny De Vito from Get Shorty were involved in the producing) Soderbergh got gorgeous George Clooney who, despite ER popularity, was not making the best big screen choices (Batman & Robin - oh dear). They would go on to work several times together. George always seems a good guy (even when playing a villain) and can segue effortlessly between suave and tough. The rest of the cast are spot on too. J-Lo as the cop, Dennis Farina as her dad, the brilliant brilliant Ving Rhames - my grandfather used to cheer every time he saw Trevor Howard in a film as he swore that TH meant he knew the film would be good - I feel the same way about Ving. Sure the film is full of coincidences (what are the odds of a bank robber and an FBI agent falling in love, eh?) but it’s so much fun - and it’s not just brainless entertainment either - there’s a strange twisting of time, which means you have to concentrate. The actors bring out the quirky believability of Elmore’s odd characters, and there’s a lot of laughs thrown in too.