Next to Pi I loved R.T. Herwig's THE GOOD THIEF

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 2002)

I live in Philadelphia and had the opportunity to see a cut of R.T. Herwig's film THE GOOD THIEF which I think will be released soon on a wider scale.
What a cool little film. Very honest and truthful. I loved the vision of the film and the subtext. It has a very old school feel to it.Herwig likes long takes and a static camera and its very refreshing to see this now a days. Would compare R.T. to a young John Ford or John Sayles. I love John Ford and guess that's why I loved THE GOOD THIEF. I just stumbled upon it.
I was also talking to some people afterwards and found out that he shot it in 14-days. It was amazing that this piece of art I just saw was shot in 14-days. I can only imagine what RT will do next with a larger budget and a more time. He has such great vision as a filmmaker.
Basically the film stars Christopher Kadish who was in Acts of Worship, The Believer at Sundance, and some other films. Well he plays a man who returns home from priosn to put his life back together. As he does, he relizes that his past, present and future are all connected with those around him inlcuding a daughter and the old crime guy he used to work for. But deep inside the film its about the father son relationship. Herwig adds some religious elements to the film, but not in a real heavy handed way. I guess to just show the guilt of his main character and what he is thinking.
I get the impression while watching that RT left the interpretation of the film up to me to decide. It's like he shot it with three or four POV's in a single scene and it was up to me to decide what I was watching. Was it a dream of some kind? It could have been a foreshadow? Or it could have been a flashback? Or it was reality? I didn't know and that was what was so fun about this movie. I love to think at a film and Herwig made me think.
Without giving away the ending it was such a great little film. Very moving and artistically sound. I loved how RT shot the end. Just so simple, yet so expressionistic. It's like he took a single second of one man's life and exagerated its length so show what was going on internally and externally at the same time.
I'm gonna see it again when it at The County Theater in Doylestown, PA on Aug. 8th. Heard there will be a party afterwards. Maybe I'll meet R.T.
What a great start by this new American director. I can't wait to see what he does next on a larger scale. Like what Aaronofski did after Pi. After seeing The Good Thief. I'd have tosay that DA and Pi and R.T. Herwig and The Good Thief are my two favorite debuts by a director.