An unusually thoughtful documentary about one of the modern era's most audacious art thefts.
Comment
03/01/07
Stolen (2006)
67 %
Reviews Counted: 27 Fresh: 18 Rotten:9 Average Rating: 6.2/10
Consensus:
A real-life whodunit with colorful characters, especially art detective Harold Smith, this documentary is a fascinating peek into the world of art collecting.
Runtime: 90 mins
Synopsis: In March of 1990, two thieves dressed as Boston police officers gained entrance to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston Massachusetts and successfully executed the largest art heist in modern history. Among the thirteen priceless works stolen was Vermeer's "The Concert" one of... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Starring: Blythe Danner, Campbell Scott, Harold J. Smith
Director: Rebecca Dreyfus
Reviews
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11/04/06
Top Critic
The film is a bit rough around the edges, but it found an unforgettable character in a dogged 75-year-old art robbery sleuth named Harold Smith.
11/02/06
An entertaining, scattershot affair that promises more than it can deliver.
11/02/06
Stolen is ultimately too lightweight and indecisive -- ironic, for a film ostensibly about people in thrall to an all-consuming passion.
11/02/06
Even though there's no neat resolution, the entire ride is a pleasure.
11/02/06
In telling the story of an unsolved crime, they use every trick available to awaken and prolong suspense before a payoff that never comes.
09/01/06
Composer Peter Golub adds swooning suspense, while cinematographer Albert Maysles, who has documented many Christo projects, frames rendezvous with tipsters tempted by the $5 million reward.
07/14/06
Top Critic
Captures a great yearning among many different people across time, all affected by Gardner and her legacy, especially those parts now missing.
06/30/06
That it never quite reaches an 'Aha!' moment is the movie's chief flaw, as we have been set up to expect answers.
06/30/06
... a meandering survey of dead ends and colorful theories, interspersed with a dry history lesson that serves as little more than tasteful padding.
06/29/06
In the end, we're treated to an overture of possibilities rather than a satisfying film.
06/22/06
A spooky new documentary that you'll see for its central mystery (who stole those paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 16 years ago?), but you'll stay for the ghost story.
05/12/06
Whatever the outcome of all this hugger-mugger, as yet unresolved, Stolen gives us hints about a special sort of muscle.
05/08/06
What [Dreyfus] loses in modern day intrigue, she makes up for with history, art lessons and a detective straight out of Agatha Christie.
05/06/06
The meat of the film is [Dreyfus'] dauntless gumshoe, who plays his role to such eccentric perfection, he would have to have been invented had he not existed prior to that fateful March morning.
05/06/06
In the end, the question remains: who the heck did the theft and where are the paintings now?
05/04/06
[The film] spearheaded a new investigation that turned up an astonishing array of fiction-ready characters.
04/21/06
Rebecca Dreyfus's middling documentary recounts the efforts to retrieve masterpieces stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
04/21/06
Top Critic
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