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Inside Man (2006)
On paper, the plot of Inside Man reads like standard heist fare, albeit with more than a few tricks up its sleeve.
A mastermind robber (Clive Owen) sticks up a bank in New York City’s Financial District and watches the world rush toward him. NYPD detectives (Denzel Washington and Chiwetel Ejiofor) attempt a hostage negotiation, while the bank’s president (Christopher Plummer) wedges his own fixer (Jodie Foster) into the standoff.
Texturally, though, Inside Man finds iconic Brooklyn bard Spike Lee (Do The Right Thing, Clockers) in a distinctly Manhattan mood.
Criminals, cops, onlookers, politicians, the arc of Western history—all forces are magnetized to this seat of financial power, flanked musically by a small army of composer Terence Blanchard’s trombones and euphoniums.
Meanwhile, Lee abandons the vivid palettes of his outer-borough classics for glossy blues and granite grays to create the atmosphere of powerful institutions flexing through a crisis. Clinton, Feb. 4.
ALSO PLAYING:
5th Avenue: Free Angela and All Political Prisoners (2012), Feb. 2-4. Academy: Galaxy Quest (1999), Feb. 1 and 2. Groundhog Day (1993), Feb. 2-8. The Fog (1980), Feb. 2-8. Cinema 21: Rocky (1976), Feb. 3. Cinemagic: Shakma (1990), Feb. 2. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995), Feb. 3. Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996), Feb. 3. Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999), Feb. 3. Clinton: Passing Through (1977), Feb. 2. Quilombo (1984), Feb. 6. Hollywood: Of Human Bondage (1934), Feb. 1. Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), Feb. 3-4. Jurassic Park (1993), Feb. 3-4. 9 to 5 (1982), Feb. 3. Top Secret! (1984), Feb. 4. And Then We Danced (2019), Feb. 5. U.S.A. Ninja (1985), Feb. 6. Tomorrow Theater: Tron (1982), with the Rainbow Dance Theatre’s “iLUMiDance” showcase, Feb. 2. The Sparks Brothers (2021), Feb. 4.