User reviews

The Painter and the Thief is about both art and the art of being human. It's a brilliant, beautiful dogma-ish film presented as a documentary.

Just watch it. It's charming and utterly engaging and it doesn't matter whether or not it's a documentary- it just is and that's what matters.

This weekend, thanks to IDA (International Documentary Association), I was given the opportunity to watch Norwegian filmmaker Benjamin Ree's documentary, "The Painter and the Thief." The film follows the 3 year journey of Czech artist living in Norway, Barbora Kysilkova, and her attempt to locate several of her paintings stolen from an art gallery. Barbora connects at the trial with caught ringleader, Karl-Bertil Nordland, a career criminal fighting a heroin addiction and a (possibly)feigned memory loss of the theft, and offers to paint his self-portrait, in hopes this may help her find out the whereabouts of the stolen paintings. What follows this initial meeting between the two is an unexpected friendship and empathetic bond over the next 3 years. Without giving anything away, the documentary's ending is rather extraordinary.

When a struggling (is there any other kind?) visual artist has a chance to confront the thief of her precious paintings, she does so in a strange, friendly approach of curiosity. Soon the two are meeting for tea and deep conversation. A film so seemingly plot driven is actually a stark documentary, one of those crazy miracles where the filmmaker is in the right place at the right time, and an enthralling story develops before his lens. Benjamin Ree captures their tale in gorgeous shots, unfettered dialogue, and stealthiness. Hard to believe that there wasn't any staging involved, as there is total absence of camera intrusions, or director interference.

"The Painter and the Thief" works on so many levels, but it is the startling relationship that develops between artist and her new found muse that is the heart of this fire. Obviously upset at her loss, Barbora Kysilkova quickly moves her emotions to dig deep into the psyche of the troubled Karl-Bertil, offering branches of support and friendship. He returns the favour, but struggles to shed his bad boy lifestyle, and lapses. Whether Barbora is truly offering up a humanitarian hand, or using the danger boy as artistic inspiration, or both, is an interesting question that looms throughout.

Each are enthralling characters, with definitely wildly divergent career paths, that have become entangled like wild weeds of infatuation. Its an enlightening look at how humans interact with each other, who we choose to interact with, what we are looking for, and why do we look in the first place? Deep down inside: are we, or are we not, good?

How can this possibly end well? There's only one way to find out.

• hipCRANK

A film so different from anything I have ever seen and one that feels like you're watching a real life friendship develop on screen (which you technically are) and it's marvelous. From tragedy to triumphant moments, The Painter & the Thief is the most unique film you'll see in years. Oh, and that last shot is breathtaking.

10/10.

Not a dry eye in the theatre at its premiere last Friday morning at Sundance. At times, it almost seemed fictional because of the bizarre twists and turns you are taken on as the story unfolds. I sat mesmerized watching as it truly is a beautiful, inspiring story. The "Painter" and the "Thief" are both remarkable individuals. The cinematography was tight; amazing artwork, too. All in all a feel great experience, without being too cheesy. Have some Kleenex on hand. :)

A lost and inquisitive bohemian artisan befriends the thief and junkie that stole her art from a gallery in Oslo. As it transpires, an event that won't do future sales of her art any harm at all but does re-instill your faith in the generosity and kindness of people in a world that continually demonstrates the opposite.

Thank you all who worked on this movie for bringing us this beautiful experience. Even though it's documentary it's unrealistically filmy. I mean how would the documentary people would have committed to spend time money and effort without knowing how the story would unfold. That makes it a masterpiece of visual experience. Btw last scene showing Barbora's master piece leaves more questions than answers. It's a beautiful beautiful painting. Barbora you're a absolutely unrealistically beautiful and kind human being. I wish you all the best with your career. I hope and pray that you are a successful artist. Thank you all for this movie.

This is a strange story about an art theft that morphed into .... well, I'm not sure.

Two damaged people meet and ........... well, I'm not sure.

I have always watched a movie/film/doc and then immediately written a review. I couldn't do that with this extraordinary documentary. I had to sleep on it.

The people in this documentary utterly confused me, but I do know they both unsettled me and made me wonder what was really happening underneath.

It made me uncomfortable - and that can be a good thing. It made me observe and think - a lot. I went to bed not knowing what I watched and I woke up glad that I watched it.

Please - Do watch it - with an open mind. And watching the credits is a MUST.

I didn't expect to be so moved by this documentary. The first 20 min or so, I had doubts as to the depth of the film - but as it progresses, it builds suspense and substance. The twists and turns are interesting but the real insight is how life is more complicated than good vs bad, and how people can't be categorized this way, and if you can see that, it can change your life. Truly beautiful story about the power of understanding, and love.

Especially going into this movie without any idea what it might be about, you're in for a treat.

Not only the movie bounces around between the two main characters, but they themselves do to. The film does an awesome job showing that, with clever editing and use of time. Showing the artist being addicted in a way to her hobby/profession too makes you think about what can go wrong in life even when you try to live your life the best and kindest way possible. It's a great mirror on the other side of the more 'standard' bad youth>junkie>jail>recovery story.

Only downside might be that it feels the makers of the documentary didn't stay as much in the background as you would expect. At times it feels that they steer (influence might be too big of a word here) the whole story a certain way, which also results in the two protagonists seeming unnatural. I do believe that they are real and not actors, but some interactions seem weirdly forced...

A photo-realist painter asks to do a portrait of the thief who stole her masterpiece from an Oslo museum. He complies and some strange variation of Stockholm emerges, tats and all. The Painter and Thief is a documentary like none you have seen before-the crime is real, and the principles are the originals. Weird and complicated as the real crime was, this documentary beats it by a Louvre mile.

Barbora Kysilkova had been a minor Czech photo realism star now settled in Norway. When Karl Bertil-Nordland steals two of her paintings, he is distraught enough that to agree to the portrait. Why she needs to do it would confuse a convention of Freudians, why he does is inscrutable because he can't even remember why he committed it in the first place. Or rather, he doesn't offer his drug intake as excuse.

The Painter and the Thief eschews the usual documentary over- analysis of subjects because there is not an iota of chance that either understands their reasons. As far as the realism of a documentary, like Christopher Nolan, director Benjamin Ree skillfully upends the usual chronology and logic to play with their time together and ours to figure out the real reason this is happening.

Not that we ever get to that point. Bertil turns out to be much more than an addled addict obsessed with an artist, and in that resolution of character, the film takes off into the abstract world of artistic intent, inspiration, an truth. Bertil's untutored passion for artistic expression (try to take your eyes off his tats-you can't because like his disoriented life, there appears to be no reason for the designs until he starts to explain them). Same with the film, so keep reading good critics if you want to find Ree's labyrinth.

Perhaps this film is memorable because it looks like boilerplate docudrama and it isn't or because it looks like art and it is actually life not completely understood. If you are reading this review, you'll be happy to be seduced by the ineffability of art. This is not a documentary; it is art.

Really good and beautifully crafted. Almost like a love story

It starts with a crime, develops into a friendship and turns into a true bond. Benjamin Ree's documentary is the most searing, fascinating, beautiful, complex docs I have seen in years. A portrait of trauma, self destruction, that finally finds healing, potential and love. This is an unusual 'love story' of two fragile creatures, an artist and a thief, both aesthetes who escape past abuse in their own ways.

A must watch film. Amazing to believe that it was directed by a 30 year old.

It really left me just speechless staring at the credits. I don't know what I was expecting but I wasn't expecting this.

As an artist I have always known of the many healing powers of art... but this film shows the layers upon layers of healing all while keeping you on the edge of your seat... Absolutely phenomenal.

It was beautiful. I LOVED it. They are both so tortured and they're both junkies...doing what they love no matter the cost, as their worlds and the worlds of the ones who love them, deteriorate. Choosing their drug over everything! 2 people destined to meet, at least that's how I feel about it. To me, it was beautiful. And OMG her paintings!! Then OMG his carpentry. I don't know them, of course, but I found myself wanting peace and balance for them and their lives. It moved me to tears more than once. So happy I found it, hope many others find it too.

Raw is good, specially when it's told as masterfully as in this little gem. The 'choice' in snippets of conversations builds up to a contemporary portrait of the one and only truth that if we are to mend our brokenness only another human (and art) will make it happen.

An incredible film that show art, forgiveness, friendship, talent, regret and the power of an individuals past and how it reflects on the future, relationships and passions. Barboras passion for her art and how her past influence how she lives and how she reacts and work is shown in a beautiful way.

I probably would not have watched! It came from a friend's referral so I streamed it and was more than pleasantly surprised. I was totally hooked in 3 minutes. It has opened up my eyes to a whole different genre which I will now explore. The problem is that I don't have a name for this genre! This is magnificent! The art is incredible! The human emotions captured left me emotionally wide opened. BRAVO!

Firstly, Barbora Kysilkova is a truly remarkable artist. Her ability is profound, she has skills that Rembrandt would have admired. Her work echoes that by Caravaggio, both in its depiction of light, but also in her forensic exploration of the dark tones of human existence. That she can also construct the stretcher for her canvasses and prime them professionally is pretty rare these days (I am an artist).

Her humility and generosity throughout this film should be a lesson to all who profess altruism, empathy, and all the other charitable graces that are unjustifiably flaunted these days by the self-appointed social media personalities.

The makers of this film uphold the finest traditions of documentary film making, never intruding, allowing the silences to speak for themselves. Their film is an uplifting rarity in so-called 'art films' where the weirdness of the (so-called!) artists is the theme and not their art. I will not mention Tracy Emin or Damien Hirst.

I hope that it gives Barbora Kysilkova the recognition and sales that she deserves, to allow her to continue making images that elevate humanity as a whole. My one criticism is that the paintings themselves should have enjoyed more screen time. Congratulations, and every success to you, Barbora!