GOMA’s heist cinema program is bringing the bad guys to Brisbane’s big screen
Jailbirds, master manipulators and safe-cracking sinners – these are are the usual suspects you’ll find filling the screen in a heist movie. We don’t usually root for the bad guy, but when we find ourselves engrossed in a film where a line-up of less-than-trustworthy career criminals are matched with complex schemes and an all-encompassing shared mission – otherwise known as ‘the job’ – we can’t help championing these rag-tag teams of thieves. If you’re keen to catch a bad guy (on the big screen, at least) then GOMA’s upcoming heist cinema program will steal your heart – but hopefully not your prized possessions.
GOMA’s The Art of the Heist cinema program is set to shine a spotlight on one of cinema’s most beloved crime subgenres – the heist – at the gallery’s Australian Cinémathèque from April 29 to June 26. More than 30 features will be rolling film, traversing an exhilarating journey across diverse cinematic styles – think cracking capers, explosive action and heart-stopping film noir. There will be everything from cult classics like Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs to beloved international cinema like Jean-Luc Godard’s Bande à part (Band of Outsiders). The program’s unmissable line-up opens with two genre touchstones – Jules Dassin’s twist-filled 1955 masterpiece Rififi, about four criminals plotting one last job, and Stanley Kubrick’s 1956 noir classic The Killing, a suspenseful tale of a race-track robbery.
The criminally good roster also includes the hilarious British caper The Italian Job starring Michael Caine, the dazzling game of cat-and-mouse that is the The Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, and the iconic standoff between Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Michael Mann’s LA-based crime-drama Heat. The final days of the program will cap(er) off with must-see movies like Tom Cruise’s spy-focused pièce de résistance Mission Impossible, Steven Soderbergh’s star-filled heist-comedy Oceans Eleven, Alfred Hitchcock’s thrilling classic To Catch a Thief, and The Asphalt Jungle, a must-see film noir starring Marilyn Monroe.
The Art of the Heist screenings take place Wednesday and Friday nights, and Saturday and Sunday matinees at GOMA’s Australian Cinémathèque. To check out the complete program and to nab tickets, head over to the QAGOMA website.
This article was written in partnership with our friends at QAGOMA.
Image one: Production still from Reservoir Dogs 1992 / Dir: Quentin Tarantino / Image courtesy: Roadshow Entertainment.
Image two: Production still from The Thomas Crown Affair 1968 / Dir: Norman Jewison / Image courtesy: Park Circus.
Image three: Production still from Bottle Rocket 1996 / Dir: Wes Anderson / Image courtesy: Park Circus.
Image four: Production still from To Catch a Thief 1955 / Director: Alfred Hitchcock / Image courtesy: Paramount Pictures.
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