Top of the Heap

A Black cop struggles with his inner and outer demons in Christopher St John’s experimental debut feature.

Christopher St John’s Top of the Heap is the story of George Lattimer (played by the director himself), a tightly-wound Black cop struggling with his inner and outer demons. The film nods to Blaxploitation conventions, but it’s ultimately a more experimental, even existential work, focusing on Lattimer’s fears and fantasies – particularly his daydream of floating free from the mire and corruption of the everyday world as an astronaut.