Klepto

"Emily" (Meredith Bishop) is a young woman who suffers from a mental illness known as kleptomania which causes her to steal merchandise from stores on a regular basis. Having been caught previously, she is forced to perform community service as her punishment. She also sees a psychologist to help her try to overcome her condition. Then, as luck would have it, she is observed preparing for a heist by a department store security guard named "Nick" (Jsu Garcia), who becomes quite intrigued with her. Unfortunately, Nick has his own problems, and it soon appears that any relationship between them is fraught with difficulties. Now, rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this turned out to be a satisfactory film by and large. Having said that, I have to say that even though this movie is billed as a comedy, I personally didn't see much humor in it. If anything, I would probably consider it to be more of a crime-drama than anything else. In any case, I liked the movie and I rate it as slightly above average.

Thomas Trail's "Klepto" was a pleasant surprise. It is a fast- paced, tightly plotted character piece that never takes the

conventional path. Meredith Bishop gives a great performance

and constructs a sympathetic character that is always fascinating

to watch. The camera work is frenetic, yet controlled. There is

clearly a vision behind this film. The story kept me guessing until

the end, and did not disappoint. I especially like the fact that every

character in the piece is both dark and sympathetic, which

demonstrates a maturity in the writing and conception of the film. I

recommend this to anyone.

I had no idea what to expect going into "Klepto" --- it's one of gillions of low-fi indie films that can be seen for the cost of a Netflix membership and a Web-ready device.

I knew it involved a shoplifter and a disgruntled security guard, so the permutations were going from the start.

I didn't expect the shoplifter, played with a marvelously wizened-sense of "been-there-done-that" by Meredith Bishop, to also be an OCD head case with abandonment issues. I didn't expect her mother to be played by the superb Leigh Taylor-Young, whose specialty seems to be making otherwise small character roles jump from the screen.

In short, the characterizations and acting are what really drives this film. No one is really as simple as you expect them to be...it's not a "this is the good guy and this is the bad guy" type of film. And even though the story kind of went down the alley I thought it would, it still threw me in a very nice way.

If you like well-thought out indie pics, give Klepto a watch. It's 82 minute run-time will fly by.

Klepto is a low budget movie about a compulsive young female shoplifter, and her relationship with a man working in department store security who sees her stealing, but chooses to befriend her rather than turn her in.

It's about as far away from a Hollywood blockbuster as you can imagine, having almost a home movie feel to it in places, and is all the more enjoyable for it. It's refreshingly short too, at a shade over 80 minutes - just right for the content on offer.

The story is relatively simple to follow, the characters easy to understand, and the acting is decent rather than brilliant. There's nothing too ambitious or challenging here, just a good story adequately told. A few plot twists keep the tale interesting, even though one or two of them are frankly a bit on the stupid side. You'll need to overlook those if you want to enjoy the film.

I enjoyed watching it, and hope you do too. Having realistic expectations and not expecting anything anything too polished or remarkable should help. It really is a simple and somewhat left field offering that makes a nice but unremarkable change from the often bloated, over-dramatised mainstream offerings.

In Los Angeles, Emily Brown (Meredith Bishop) is a kleptomaniac and addicted in pills that misses her father and is having therapy sessions trying to resolve her compulsion. She has a record in the police for shoplifting, and her mother Teresa (Leigh Taylor-Young) is a compulsive shopper. The security guard Nick (Jsu Garcia) of the Bernstein's department store sees Emily through a camera and becomes fascinated for her. When Nick gets in trouble dealing ecstasy, he presses Emily to help him in a robber of Bernstein.

"Klepto" is a low budget movie, with an attractive story and good performances. Emily Brown is a shoplifter but the viewer feels sympathy for her nice character. Even the small time crook Nick is a sympathetic character. The conclusion is not romantic but fits perfectly to the story. In the end, "Klepto" is a good entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Clepto"