The Good Thief | Review

Neil Jordan’s places the right bet with Nolte in this swanky low-brow feature.

Neil Jordan had the balls to make a film about balls–sort of speak with The Crying Game and now he has the balls to make a film with a talent whose best is perhaps a thing of the past. Jordan’s gamble was a successful one, as the film’s centerpiece is not only a Good Thief but, he also happens to be a good actor for the role.

Some people don’t have to turn back the clocks of time, just hold onto a Picasso painting for safe-keepings. Bob (Nolte Nolte-The Line Red Line) a.k.a Bob le Flambeur, plays an American in Paris, well actually France who is a con artist by profession, a thief by day and a drug addict, gambler and a potential pimp/immigrations officer in his spare time. His smorgasbord of talents makes him the ideal candidate to head the biggest heist in Monte Carlo since Princess Stephanie tried to invent herself as a singer. After being dealt a bad hand in life, he shakes off a couple of addictions in favor for some cold turkey and readies himself for the main event. The man, who looks as if he should have retired a decade before, puts everything on the table and helping him beat the odds is the presence of a runaway moscovite with a Milla Jovovich look (Nutsa Kukhianidze) who comes in handy as the young sidekick. Obviously, the catch here is that she is a woman, and women talk a lot, essentially one who’s hooked on nose candy. Man’s greatest downfall is not necessarily the opposite sex, it is the against all odds moment in life of when or when not to cash in his chips early or play it out?

The film smoothly paces on with little doses of intrigue, but it’s the film’s protagonist life style which intrigues and not the actual painting heist. Nolte delivers us a character that is as obscure as a Picasso painting, but his performance is far from being a royal flush. With a bunch of smart-aleck responses, an amusing cat (Tcheky Karyo-Kiss the Dragon) and mouse game takes form and Jordan’s cast of familiar film figures come out of the shadows. Ralph Fiennes (Spider) plays a pissed off art-dealer, Emir Kusterica (La Veuve de Saint-Pierre) plays a guitar-licking and alarm-system expert; where as the Polish (Twin Falls Idaho) twins play distractions rather than diversions.

Cinematographer Chris Menges provides a fine looking picture here; it’s nice to get away from the familiar heist flicks which have clogged up the drain in the past couple of years. This Euro feature with plenty of nice Monte Carlo nightlines and lush visuals is especially moody with a Leonard Cohen soundtrack, this makes for a nice picture to look at, and cigarette smoking has never looked any better. Unfortunately, the dialogue with Bogart flair is of little use for the cast of characters that come off looking like a bunch of cartoon characters. Jordan makes a heist movie which doesn’t make a deal about spending time on details, just drill a hole in the bottom floor is the most this film ever will ever give us. Instead, this simplified flick offers a basic, not too complicated narrative which is more interested in Nolte. I would have liked a little more work into his mindset, but the calculated tension matches his style and his attitude—slow, polite and smart. Jordan is far from the brilliance of The Butcher Boy, but as an in-between type of project, The Good Thief is worth the gamble.

Rating 3 stars