Film Review: A Superior “Lift”

Lift explores so many divergent issues that it would have been easy for the filmmakers to only give lip service to problems it raises. Thankfully, that is not the case.

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A scene from "Lift"

A scene with Kerry Washington in “Lift.”

By Paul Dervis

The Roxbury International Film Festival ends tomorrow on a positive note with its final screening. Khari Streeter and DeMane Davis’s Lift, which was first released in 2001, focuses on the plight of a high-end shoplifter. The movie combines crime drama and human interest story, and it succeeds at serving both genres very well.

Niecy works at an upscale department store in Boston called Kennedy’s. She is pretty, pert, and popular, and from the look of it one of the few African-Americans working the store. She manages to hobnob with Boston Braman customers as well as old Yankee clerks. When she is off of work she slips into the hip culture of Boston’s black community. She is a very in demand young lady as well as an expert shoplifter.

Niecy seems to know all the tricks. She cuts the wires that secure expensive clothing, cases security cameras so she’s won’t be detected when stealing, and is savvy enough to cause a diversion when escape is called for. There is a very funny scene where she slips a security tag into another customer’s handbag and waits for her victim to leave. The security guard follows that customer out of the store while Niecy slips out undetected.

It seems as if everyone in her community knows what she’s doing. She brings her loot to local stores and sells her merchandise to the workers at a nice discount.

But this is not who Niecy is.

She comes from a tightknit yet dysfunctional family. Her grandmother, the matriarch of the clan, wields power with a gentle touch. Her aunt, decidedly middle class, exudes a strong moral fiber. Her mother, whom Niecy is desperate to please, is detached from her daughter and her sister. Ironically, mom works for a law firm and dresses for work in Niecy’s hot designer clothing.

Niecy’s boyfriend Angelo used to work for her strongest competitors, a gang run by a man named Christian. Christian would like Niecy to work for him. Maybe do more than work. Angelo is no fan of his former boss. But there’s not much he can do about Christian’s advances because he’s pretty busy smoking crack while trying to keep it from his girlfriend.

As the film progresses we realize that Niecy is spinning out of control. The police are closing in on her, she needs her boyfriend to be more responsible, and her family dynamic is quickly breaking down.

This fast-paced movie explores so many divergent issues that it would have been easy for the filmmakers to only give lip service to problems it raises. But thankfully, that’s not the case here: with equal aplomb Lift examines the challenges raised by pregnancy, abandonment, and the lack of male figures in the household. Our protagonist, seemingly self-assured, turns out to be a mass of insecurities. Despite desiring her mother’s approval and being keenly aware of her grandfather’s brutality both to his wife and two daughters, Niecy gravitates towards a man with no future and a destructive present.

Feeling the heat, Niecy decides to team with Christian’s crew for one last big heist. The results bring on some unexpected twists that drive the film to its inevitable conclusion.

The cast of Lift is universally strong. Kerry Washington as Niecy gives a finely nuanced performance, portraying the character as both powerful and vulnerable. Sometimes she seems amazingly perceptive, but then she turns a blind eye on the chaos swirling around her. Eugene Byrd, as her boyfriend Angelo, manages to be soft and sweet even as he is drugged out and hopelessly lost. And Lonette McKee as the mother is so coolly subtle that her performance demands that the audience work assiduously to figure out what makes her tick.

Both Streeter and Davis have created an intense, multi-levelled film that keeps the audience thinking and feeling. What’s more, just when the viewer believes he or she has it all worked out, these filmmakers say “not so fast.” Life is complicated and so are these characters.


Paul Dervis has been teaching drama in Canada at Algonquin College as well as the theatre conservatory Ottawa School of Speech & Drama for the past 15 years. Previously he ran theatre companies in Boston, New York, and Montreal. He has directed over 150 stage productions, receiving two dozen awards for hs work. Paul has also directed six films, the most recent being 2011’s The Righteous Tithe.

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