Whether or not you like "The Good Thief," the new film from Irish director Neil Jordan ("The Crying Game"), depends on how you look at it. Compared to most Hollywood crime flicks, the film -- in which Nick Nolte stars as an aging, heroin-addicted, but good-hearted, crook -- is a little smarter, a little more subtle.
But, despite the fact that it's well-plotted, sometimes funny and sometimes interesting, "The Good Thief" doesn't wield the same kind of power as something like "Nine Queens," for example.
Born in France to a French mother and an American G.I. who disappeared, remarried and reappeared to take his young son to a new life in America, Bob Montagnet, is a gambler and addict. He meets the newly-arrived Anne (Nino Kukhanidze), a sweet-faced young girl just arriving in Marseilles tough underbelly.
Bob takes a liking to her, in a platonic way, and becomes her protector. He remains tender to her even when she becomes a deadly thorn in his plans for a big heist to get himself out of his financial woes. For this inside job, he assembles a gang of cohorts and they hatch a seemingly foolproof plan to bust a vault in Monte Carlo.
{INSERT_REALTED}At the same time, Bob's arch enemy Remi (Marc Lavoine) and his drug-dealing sidekick Said (Ouassini Embarek) are trying to figure out Bob's plan and have decided that Anne is the weakest link. They set out to get the info from her.
Meanwhile, Bob must navigate his relationship with local police honcho Roger (Tcheky Karyo), who keeps pretty good tabs on Bob and the two spend much of the film playing an apparently good-natured game of cat and mouse.
Can they pull of the heist? Can they get away with it? Will Anne sell Bob out? Far be it from me to tell you. You can find out for yourself.
But, be warned, a fair portion of the dialogue is pretty hackeneyed heist-film chat and at times Nolte and Kukhanidze seem overly self-conscious.
"The Good Thief" opens at Landmark's Oriental Theatre on Fri., April 18.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
