THE STORY – Isaac “Drift” Wright, an army veteran and self-taught photographer, seeks to heal his wounds by illegally climbing the world’s tallest buildings, while facing intense police persecution that puts his freedom at risk.
THE CAST – Isaac Wright
THE TEAM – Deon Taylor (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 104 Minutes
For many who are unfamiliar with one of the world’s most daring photographers, Issac “Drift” Wright, the opening minutes of “Drift” introduce us to the madness he finds peace in. Wright, who is an equal parts artist and thrill-seeker, is seen climbing hundreds of feet into the air off a skyscraper. The daring individual Wright has become is juxtaposed with home videos of him as a child, enthusiastic over receiving a Superman action figure on Christmas Day. It’s almost as if Wright was destined to be up in the sky. He’s exhilarated by one thing and one thing only: illegally climbing some of the world’s tallest buildings, even if that means putting himself in often precarious situations, mainly with federal law enforcement.
Deon Taylor’s latest feature, “Drift,” like the subject it follows, refuses to be pigeon-holed into a box. Is it a thrilling climbing documentary that will spike audiences’ cortisol levels? Is it an examination of biases within policing in the United States? The answer is both: while Taylor struck gold with a topic that is all but appealing to casual moviegoers, it adheres to a by-the-books documentary structure that never pushes itself to the extremes Wright does every time he attempts to create another snapshot, all the way up from these unfathomable heights. If anything, it’s that the film is far more entertaining when it focuses on Wright’s illegal escapades and the lengths he goes to in order to take each photo.
Nothing can beat one of the film’s most enthralling sequences, in which Taylor masterfully edits Wright’s attempt to evade authorities after breaking into the Great American Tower in Cincinnati. The showdown between Wright and the police is almost too good to be true, as audiences feel the tension as the film cuts between police body-cam footage and Wright’s GoPro footage. It’s a testament to how Taylor, alongside editors Martin Biehn and Kevin Hibbard, can craft a moment that feels so innately scripted yet turns reality into something inherently cinematic.
Yet the film never reaches that adrenaline high again, even as we watch the police’s outrageous attempts to stop Wright’s outings once and for all. “Drift” slowly shifts, becoming a courtroom drama focused on Wright’s legal squabbles and far more on the state of American policing at the time of Wright’s arrest. On paper, it makes sense with how Taylor ties it all to Wright’s tumultuous upbringing, trauma, and time in the military, all of which shaped him into the adrenaline junkee that he is. On one hand, the allure of discovering the absurd pursuit of our country’s police against a man whose illegal acts nowhere near warrant a lifetime in prison very much makes an eye-opening look at the judicial system that rarely does what it set out to do. The way the film opens with Wright’s endless supply of footage captured by drones and his helmet camera all but sets the stage for a film that loses some of its grandeur and, more so, its momentum as it dives deeper into Wright’s incarceration and fight for freedom.
Taylor is attempting to elicit an emotional response from audiences by showing Wright at his lowest, before he eventually achieves success, which would all but turn “Drift” into a rousing success story. Wright’s journey is one of self-discovery, finding the space to be the person he wants to be, especially after what he’s been through. Even when facing a life in prison, Wright’s dedication to his art and the thrill of the climb are worth sacrificing his freedom, something he so desperately yearns for. “Drift” is an entertaining enough outing to attract viewers, especially for this crowd at SXSW, where a documentary is more than engineered for. Its highs make it, more often than not, a thrilling documentary that mainly glides on exceptionally engineered set pieces that linger in the minds of audiences, especially when the experience as a whole slows down.
