The Drop

Two criminals and two cops head to the same location. The outcome is very dramatic.

It is Friday night and two police officers named Matt and Charlie (Devoti and Steel) are instructed to drive to an isolated location and investigate a suspicious activity. Simultaneously, two crooks named Ricky and Tommy (Andrian and Hodson) are driving to the same place in order to meet someone for illegitimate reasons. Once all have arrived, they confront each other and things will get tense and life-threatening.

A rather tense and dark short crime thriller that focuses on a fateful encounter. The narrative begins calmly, by alternating between the police officers and oulaws as they are in separate cars, driving towards the same destination. On the way, they chat about similar things. For instance, Charlie tells Matt that she wants to write a book, while Tommy explains to Ricky that he plans to open his own cocktail bar. Interestingly, this indicates that although they are quite different people on opposite sides of the law, they also have similarities such as ambitions and dreams of moving on to better things. It is when these four characters meet that things get out of hand and a Mexican standoff takes place. There is a great deal of shouting and profanity, people pointing guns at each other and as the feeling of dread rises, it becomes unlikely that things are going to be resolved peacefully.

Significant praise goes towards the way this film was shot. There are some terrific aerial shots, one of which includes clever use of split screen. The long take that ends the film deserves to be pointed out. The take was shot from the interior of a car, primarily through the windscreen and thanks to methodical camera movement, it captures the action effectively.

The lighting techniques are rather creative and the addition of Marcos Shephard's splendid cinematography makes the visuals look outstanding. Matthew Barghout does a great job with the editing, utilising split screen and parallel editing and commendations go to Javi Shephard for the sinister score.

Basically, this short is a cops-versus-criminals story and a rather dark one too. It is a story about a life-changing encounter and it pulls no punches when it comes to showing the consequences of turning to crime. With terrific acting, interesting characters and an intriguing plot, this film makes a memorable viewing.