Out of Sight

 

Director Steven Soderbergh

Soderbergh with Jennifer Lopez

George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez

OUT OF SIGHT         A-                                                                                                             USA  (123 mi)  1998  d: Steven Soderbergh     

I'm just gonna sit here, take it easy and wait for you to screw up.                                                   —Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez)

This foursome of films from 1998 to 2000, OUT OF SIGHT (1998), The Limey (1999), ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000), and Traffic (2000) represent Soderbergh working at the peak of his creative powers.  This is one of his finest efforts, named Entertainment Weekly’s Sexiest Movie Ever (50 Sexiest Movies Ever - Nick Kaufmann - LiveJournal) in a 2008 poll, a smooth, sophisticated and very sexy Hollywood thriller that features early performances in the budding careers of George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, not yet stars, yet both sizzling onscreen and romantically involved in the most unorthodox fashion, as he is the handsome and charming Jack Foley, a career bank robber incarcerated at Glades Penitentiary in Florida, while she is Karen Sisco, a smooth-as-ice, intoxicatingly beautiful FBI Federal Marshal.  They meet while locked in the trunk of a getaway car as she’s kidnapped during a prison breakout when he is covered with mud, where the two have time on their hands to chat with one another and break the ice, actually discovering they have a mutual interest in classic Hollywood movies, talking about Faye Dunaway movies of all things, including the bad end of the otherwise likeable Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Clooney misstating the famous line from Network (1976), also wondering whether Robert Redford hooked up romantically with Dunaway a little too easily in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975), while he continues to stroke her thighs, “But in a nice way,” he insists.  Capturing the best of his directorial ideas, with an emphasis on stylish editing, sound, camerawork, frame compositions, and color, while still managing to maintain an independent director’s control over his films, Soderbergh has imported into Hollywood some of the formal preoccupations of experimental filmmaking, such as challenges to character identification and narrative structure, where his visionary style and his habit of playing with the timeline of events gave a new impetus to American cinema, though this inexplicably didn’t do well at the box office.  Adapted by screenwriter Scott Frank from a 1996 Elmore Leonard crime novel, best known for character-driven stories, the ongoing dialogue is exquisite, exuding razor-sharp wit, making excellent use of secondary roles, so much so that the directors could just as easily have been the smart-mouthed and wise-assed Coen Brothers, who perfectly recaptured Clooney’s acerbic criminal persona a few years later in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), while also generating a short-lived TV series appropriately named Karen Sisco, starring Carla Gugino as Sisco.  Casting is one of the more imaginative aspects of the film, as character development through the introduction of new faces continues to surprise the viewer from the first to the last shot, including Catherine Keener as Adele Delisi, Foley’s eccentric ex-wife, also brief appearances by Michael Keaton as FBI agent Ray Nicolette (Sisco’s husband) reprising his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1997), while lifelong criminal Samuel L. Jackson from that film also plays a similar role, beautifully photographed by Elliot Davis, typically using a handheld camera, featuring interior hotel scenes with a warm and memorable glow, and a jazzy score by Irish composer David Holmes.  Despite the passage of time, this film has lost none of its sophisticated elegance and charm.    

Seemingly brought together by fate, Foley, with a dubious reputation of more than 200 bank robberies while never using a weapon, fortuitously acknowledges the moment, “It’s like seeing someone for the first time, like you can be passing on the street, and you look at each other for a few seconds, and there’s this kind of a recognition like you both know something.  Next moment the person’s gone, and it’s too late to do anything about it.  And you always remember it because it was there, and you let it go, and you think to yourself, ‘What if I had stopped?  What if I had said something?’  What if, what if... it may only happen a few times in your life.”  Or maybe just once, she adds.  While the relationship is the pulsating heart of the film, like a throwback to the golden age of Bogart and Bacall, both displaying the self-assurance and sexiness that makes them naturally irresistible both to each other and to audiences, there is a novelistic structure onscreen, with more than enough subplots involving a host of vividly drawn characters.  Foley and Sisco don’t really acknowledge their interest in one another, yet in their minds they do, and in an oddly embarrassing moment where neither one is supposed to be where they are, he gives her a short little wave from an elevator as she’s sitting in a hotel lobby, eyes fixed on his before he disappears from view with his fellow partner in crime, Buddy Bragg (Ving Rhames), who helped break him out of prison.  While Foley exercises the buddy system, working professionally in public, or being surrounded by hordes of prison inmates, or ex-cons once he escapes, it’s as if he’s never alone and one wonders if he’s capable of private, reflective thought.  Lopez, on the other hand, sexy and determined, has a smart-mouthed, over-protective, yet adoring father, a now retired marshal (Dennis Farina) who worries about his daughter’s dating habits and thoughtfully gives her a gun for her birthday, but for the most part she exhibits a loner policy, as she doesn’t trust the current misogyny and system of male favoritism in place that represents the state of mind in the ranks of the FBI.  So she’s used to going her own way and taking care of herself, irrespective of what they may think of her.  When she goes looking for a career criminal named Maurice (Don Cheadle), aka Snoopy, a murderous ex-prizefighter, but instead finds Mosella (Viola Davis) as his embittered, long forgotten wife, Sisco does a number on Maurice’s brother, Kenneth (Isaiah Washington), an over-controlling serial rapist and male thug, who instantly senses a hot-blooded woman with a taste for violence, exhibiting a sensual lust for getting down and dirty on the floor with her, so she zaps him with a collapsible baton that leaves him otherwise immobile, saying “You wanted to tussle.  We tussled,” as she calmly walks out the door unscathed.

Following another Elmore Leonard novel brought to the screen, Barry Sonnenfeld’s GET SHORTY (1995), both adapted by Scott Frank and produced by Danny DeVito, this is a collective mosaic of genre pieces from past decades, including shootouts, a jewelry robbery, and prison breaks, full of zooms, jump cuts, flashbacks, flash-forwards, close-ups, freeze frames, and grainy images, as if to remind viewers we are watching a movie, with a heated romance at the center, bathed in the warmth of a retro design, with a deep respect for the classical forms, where much of the beauty of this film is the dazzling interplay between characters, which in the world of criminals is all about exuding an air of confidence, refusing to be defeated or brought down by anybody.  Oddly enough, this is also the same method for initiating romance, which is beautifully done here, one of the highlights of the film, a clever mix of image and dialogue and music, preceded by Sisco sitting alone in a near empty hotel bar being hit on by a bunch of out of town male imbeciles before Foley walks in and they have a serious conversation, where their thoughts jump ahead out of sequence and we see what they are about to do before they actually do it, a co-mingling of the sexual imagination and the real, gorgeously understated, memorably jazzy and intoxicating.  Fascinated by his carefree behavior, in the mold of Clark Gable, even their post-coital conversation has an air of authenticity not shared anywhere else in the film, where Sisco is allowed to have doubts creep in, and Foley, of course, ever vigilant, puts her mind at ease.  They call this little interlude a “timeout” before they resume back to their normal lives, where Foley and Maurice are in competition for finding the big score, the teaser in all film noirs, which in this case is the robbery of $5 million dollars worth of uncut diamonds hidden somewhere in the giant estate of fellow white collar criminal Ripley (Albert Brooks), a Wall Street billionaire who did time in Lompoc for insider trading, where he met Maurice, amusingly paying his accounts in prison by checkbook.  While the first half of the film is set in sunny Miami with those south Florida vibrant colors, where there is a perceived lack of real menace, the second half moves to Detroit in winter, viewed as a dangerous, oppressive place, rendered in darker tones, dominated by nighttime scenes in tightly enclosed spaces.  It’s a snowy night in Detroit filled with sinister possibilities where anything can happen, with an elevated level of suspense galvanized by the unfocused impulses of sadistic black criminal gangsters, yet the film is really about the sexual swagger of Karen Cisco, one badass woman who’s sitting on the outside waiting to bust them.  Generally regarded as one of the most overlooked gems of the 90’s, the film is smart, tense, stylish, well-directed, character driven, atmospheric, and moves at a fast clip, like a screwball comedy, beautifully edited by legendary British editor Anne V. Coates, but the believable chemistry between the unconventional connection between Clooney and Lopez makes all the difference.   

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Black Bag

 

Director Steven Soderbergh

Soderbergh behind the camera

Soderbergh on the set with Michael Fassbender

Soderbergh with screenwriter David Koepp

screenwriter David Koepp

musical composer David Holmes

BLACK BAG             B+                                                                                                             USA  (93 mi)  2025  d: Steven Soderbergh

Whatever you may say about the films of Steven Soderbergh, one thing you can count on is that they will be stylishly entertaining, in this case like being immersed in the middle of a John Le Carré spy novel.  The maker of SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE (1989), one of the most influential catalysts of the 1990’s independent film movement, leading to Out of Sight (1998), The Limey (1999), and Traffic (2000), which remain among Soderbergh’s best films, all made at the height of his creative peak, yet this feels more along the lines of Haywire (2011), moving invisibly through a world of espionage, double agents, government cover ups, and secret identities, where the one certainty is never trusting anyone.  Soderbergh indicated he wanted this film to feel like the espionage version of Mike Nichols’ Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), but it doesn’t have that kind of verbal pyrotechnics, as it’s much too sublimated for that, avoiding the high-octane action sequences typical of spy thrillers, instead there’s a unique focus on the interior psychology of the characters, where it actually feels more like an Agatha Christie novel, a spy thriller that’s also an interpersonal relationship movie, with a terrific ensemble cast that continuously plays mind games with each other, where Soderbergh’s bag of tricks is in stark contrast to Tomas Alfredson’s much more somber and subdued Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011).  Given the state of the world at the moment, where lying and disinformation have become the new normal, with nations sabotaging and undermining their own people to prevent the truth from ever coming out, we are living by new rules of engagement, where we suddenly find ourselves mired in a labyrinthian sci-fi dystopia, where we may never see the light of day, as the odds are continually stacked against us, with Soderbergh having a little fun at our expense, poking holes in our perceived covers, twisting the knife in what was once conceived as an open democracy.  Nowadays all bets are off, with this film demonstrating just how convoluted and confusing it has become, with the power brokers dangling the strings, making us believe whatever the hell they want us to believe, closing off all avenues of the real truth, while wrapping it all up in a mirage of freedom and democracy.  Having written three of the director’s last four movies, including his minimalist ghost story PRESENCE (2024), released just two months ago, the ridiculously talented and successful screenwriter David Koepp has written more than thirty feature films, including a wide variety of genres, with U.S. box office receipts grossing over $2.6 billion, making him the fourth most successful American screenwriter of all time (Top Grossing Screenwriter at the Domestic Box Office), though evaluating who is “best” is another story (The 100 Best Screenwriters of All Time), consulting with actual spies to write this movie, which is simply immersed in the culture of keeping secrets, which extends into personal relationships, including marriage, where confidential things that are off-limits for discussion are kept in a “black bag.”  That’s the amusing premise for the film, with Soderbergh having fun subverting genre expectations, becoming a puzzle piece that turns into fun and games, where if you can lie about everything, then how do you tell the truth about anything?  Perhaps unintentionally, that’s the real dilemma of living in America at the moment, where it’s like living under the Russian KGB, as everything is filtered through a wall of authoritative threats and manipulated disinformation.  Lies and cover-ups, along with a blatantly racist disregard for even the barest trace of historical diversity, are the cultural cornerstones that have literally replaced truth and honesty in American politics, the exact opposite of the Watergate era of the 1970’s, which opened a new door of ethics reform along with journalistic integrity and transparency.          

Using chapter headings counting down the days, one by one, this moody, atmospheric film is driven by a remarkable soundtrack written by Irish musician David Holmes, who has written the music for dozens of films going back to Soderbergh’s Out of Sight working with the director on and off for decades, Black Bag 2025 Soundtrack | Black Bag - David Holmes ... YouTube (1:09).  The super-modern, stylish look of the film is captured by none other than the director as cinematographer, working under a lifelong pseudonym Peter Andrews, while also editing the film under the pseudonym Mary Ann Bernard, where the sterile rooms and office spaces of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are void of color or personality, much of it mimicking the sepia tones of David Fincher’s Se7en (1995), swamped by an uneasiness that persists throughout, like an underlying gloom that permeates through every character.  In a superbly constructed opening sequence filled with suspense, the camera follows British intelligence office George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) in a Scorsese-like, single-take opening shot through the underground walkways of an upscale, carefully guarded London nightclub, leading to a private VIP vaping room, with darkness saturating every frame, as his superior, Mr. Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård), contends “There’s a stranger in our house,” ordering him to investigate a leak in the intelligence service, specifically the theft of a top secret cyberweapon code-named Severus, a biological weapon capable of killing thousands, where one of the five suspects who have access to it is his wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett), given one week to find the culprit before it activates.  Adding to the intrigue, Meacham is poisoned and killed by morning, made to look like a heart attack, with a covert murder operation suddenly infiltrating the picture, where clearly there is trouble in the ranks.  Something of a twisty cat and mouse tale, perhaps the oddest juxtaposition is an early scene of the Woodhouse’s hosting a dinner party inviting all the suspects to their swanky townhouse, including a smug intelligence analyst Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke) and his sharp and savvy girlfriend Clarrisa Dubose (Marisa Abela), a junior agent and cyber technology expert, also the ever-observant, in-house psychiatrist Dr. Zoe Vaughn (Naomie Harris) and her dapperly dressed, recently promoted, second-in-command boyfriend Col. James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page).  This social gathering with fellow spies allows George to secretly place a psychotropic drug in the curry, lowering their inhibitions, creating an opportunity to observe their reactions, as interactions among the group frequently spark subtle shifts in the mood, where a brief glance, a subtle change in tone, or a hesitant remark speaks volumes, enriching the overall fabric of the narrative.  This opportunity allows secrets to be revealed, most of a private nature, exposing cracks and infidelities in each relationship, where a culture trained to deceive simply makes cheating too easy, growing very testy with one another, often driven by their own personal ambitions, featuring stellar dialogue that is delivered at a crisp pace, almost like a screwball comedy, Black Bag Movie Clip - Nothing I Couldn't Handle (2025) YouTube (1:04), recalling the infamous dinner parties hosted by married couple Nick and Nora Charles, a romantically involved detective duo known for their witty banter in W.S. Van Dyke’s THE THIN MAN (1934), where the dinner invite was a glamorous way to flush out the decisive clues to solve a case.  Outing Freddie as a serial cheater, George meticulously details his predictable sexual promiscuity, a provocation that prompts Clarissa to furiously retaliate by stabbing him on his hand with a steak knife.  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.  While it’s a brilliantly conceived scene, allowing deeply repressed emotions to suddenly erupt to the surface, it also sets the stage for what follows, exposing what has to be the ultimate in workplace romances with the potential for dire consequences, as we’re dealing with clandestine operations that rarely see the light of day, so the film literally toys with the possibilities, poking fun of the somber nature of the business, but also cleverly finding humor at every turn with witty insinuations and quick retorts.       

The sanctity of marriage is broken when George finds a theater ticket stub in his wife’s trash, contradicting her version of events, so he breaks into her office and learns she’s secretly traveling to Zurich without telling him, testing the loyalty to his wife or his country.  His response, completely reflective of their power dynamic, is one of the more ingeniously conceived, diabolically clever scenes of the film, requiring the expertise of Clarissa to redirect a spy satellite while deceiving the agency’s satellite video screens, watched like a hawk by the man in charge, a silver-haired Pierce Brosnan (a playful take on his late 90’s version of 007 himself!) as Arthur Steiglitz, going offscreen for a mere minute or so to allow George to spy on his wife in Zurich meeting someone of interest, a hilarious example of the extent marital partners are willing to go to find out what they want about the other, Black Bag Movie Clip - It's the Only Way - video Dailymotion YouTube (45 seconds), where the wrinkle is a split-second glitch exposing their shenanigans, a subliminal moment and potentially disastrous occurrence that could expose his dirty tricks.  This marital relationship is at the heart of the picture, as it thrives on secrets and lies, yet relies upon trust, a kind of marriage that is unique to cinema, held together by a mutual understanding of the lies they live in, where the wheels of power are forever changing, as both are deliberate, smooth, rarely cracking a smile, where a certain frostiness and cold precision is required in their profession.  George is a cold and clinical character, robotic, seemingly inhuman, like an A.I. invention, never revealing an inner life, yet super intelligent, as his views are rarely challenged, while Kathryn is more socially amenable, a master of disguise moving about with an icy calmness, with a wardrobe right out of Todd Haynes’ 2015 Top Ten List #6 Carol, where her natural disposition tends to put people at ease, allowing her to more easily gain people’s trust, including her husband, but the open question is whether there’s been a breach in their marriage, and whether she’s undermined official state secrets, becoming that mole in their midst.  This see-saw affair of shifting perspectives is the engine that generates the understated power of the picture, where everyone’s a suspect, yet the more George investigates, the more all the clues lead to his wife, delving into moral complications, yet what’s a spy thriller without the spies spying on each other?  When George and Kathryn compare notes and suspect they’re being set up, using each against the other, George shrewdly conducts polygraphs tests that mix the personal with the professional, anything to make each suspect feel precariously offguard, yet his interview with Clarissa, with Abela stealing every scene she’s in, is drop dead hilarious, as she’s devised bizarre methods to beat the test, which truly impresses the usually unflappable George, who is supposedly unparalleled in the art of psychological manipulation, taking this into unfamiliar territory while adding a bit of spice to the mix, Black Bag Exclusive Movie Clip - Polygraph Tests (2025) YouTube (59 seconds).  This sequence is cleverly edited, moving rapidly between agents, merging the personalities of everyone involved, like a musical crescendo, leading to yet another classic dinner sequence designed to catch the culprit, with Kathryn remarking, “It’s been a while since we’ve had a traitor to dinner, at least knowingly,” Black Bag | Official Clip | Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender YouTube (1:06), a wonderful return to form for Soderbergh, whose cinematic sophistication really shines.  Something of a throwback to those paranoid conspiracy flicks of the 1970’s, deliciously entertaining at every turn, this is masterful filmmaking, immersing viewers in a sordid universe that we are typically excluded from, yet here we’re given a front row seat in what is easily one of Soderbergh’s best films in years.