TV Review: Street Thief

Movies like The Thomas Crown Affair and Ocean’s Eleven make thievery look glamorous. They involve witty, exceptionally good-looking people stealing millions of dollars or priceless works of art and getting away with it. The film, Street Thief is pretty much the opposite of that. This documentary-style film, which premieres on A&E next week, is a much grittier look at the life of a career criminal.

Directed by Malik Bader, Street Thief first premiered last year at a number of film festivals, including Tribeca. In addition to directing the film, Bader was also the star. The faux documentary focuses on Kaspar Carr (Bader), a professional burglar who is being filmed by two filmmakers looking to document the life and work of a career criminal. Kaspar comes across as a regular guy when he’s not planning his next job. For the most part, he’s completely open with the filmmakers, talking about his life, how he got into his “profession.”

Kaspar is the type of guy who is always on the lookout for the next big job, often casing more than one potential job at a time. He taps people’s phones, sits outside stores and other potential jobs for hours keeping track of the staff’s comings and goings and sifts through trash to find information on how much cash a place brings in on a daily basis. After extensive hours casing a place, Kaspar decides whether or not the score outweighs the risk of getting caught.

He invites the filmmakers to join him on a couple of jobs and it is then that we get to see whether or not Kaspar’s hard work will really pay off.

The rawness of the film is both intriguing and disturbing. The candidness of Kaspar as he talks almost casually about his work is part of what makes the film so fascinating. When you watch the Ocean’s movies, you get a lot of George Clooney’s smooth-talking monologues. Danny Ocean always seems cool, calm and collected. Kaspar Carr is no Danny Ocean. Kaspar talks constantly and swears a lot. He keeps to himself for the most part, doesn’t date and doesn’t bring other people in on jobs (with the exception of the filmmakers). In a sense, he’s a lot more like how you’d think a real career criminal would be.

Street Thief doesn’t really tell much of a story. The film is really just a glimpse into the life of a man who steals for a living. What makes the movie worth watching is the fact that while it may be a work of fiction, it feels real from beginning to end.

Street Thief premieres on A&E on June 21st at 10:00 pm.