Best Thief In The Wold

Year: 2004

Grade: B-

Country: USA

Director: Kornbluth

Review

from the writer/director of office space clone Haiku Tunnel comes an urban drama following a young white boy who is trying to find his limits. it’s not at all a comedy, which is what i was expecting because of his work on haiku tunnel. i’m not sure about the title – the kid goes around his apartment building sneaking into apartments through the fire escape. he gets caught once and generally doesn’t take much so i think the title is more a catch title than a description. so far as i can tell it doesn’t add depth to the experience as it does in a film like “saw.” in that film the title refers to a hacksaw which plays heavily into the film and it turns out to be an indicator that the perpetrator of all the events sees everything unfold – as in “he saw it all.”

it’s more a coming of age film than anything else. his father has a stroke and his mother is forced to take care of the entire family by herself. meanwhile the boy is a minority in his neighborhood and is trying to find his place. he’s good at mischievous things and so that’s what he does. parker, who plays his mom, turns in a good performance with an unconventional character.

kornbluth uses video of two unrelated kids on the street rapping and posturing to the camera as chapter stops. it reminded me of the old man dancing with the mannequin shot that schaeffer uses in “mind the gap.”

a good little film overall. prince paul does the music.