Klepto (2003)

Excellent but underrated film

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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.

Here's a tip for all aspiring screenwriters out there. If the middle part of your script really has nothing to do with the beginning or ending, that means you've written a bad movie and need to start over. The people behind Klepto never learned that lesson, so they wasted their time and mine making this dog of a film.It starts out as the story of Emily Brown (Meredith Bishop). She's a young woman of average attractiveness who also happens to be a compulsive shoplifter. She doesn't steal for money, she just takes things to make herself feel better. Emily is seeing a therapist and taking an enormous amount of medication to deal with her OCD, but her need to steal is getting worse and she's becoming more reckless. When we find out her mother is coming for a visit and witness a couple of flashbacks to Emily's childhood with a man who's face we never see, it seems like Klepto is going to be a family drama about the secrets of the past and how they've shaped a young woman in unfortunate ways.However, the movie largely ignores all of that after the first 20 or so minutes and instead focuses on the story of Nick Diaz (Jsu Garcia, whose first name appears to be missing at least one vowel). Nick is a store security guard who sees Emily stealing and lets her get away with it because he's inexplicably captivated by her, even though he's actually prettier than she is. Nick is a former criminal with a very bitter ex-wife. He's trying to go straight and start his own security agency, when he's not trying to get into Emily's pants. Nick can't get a bank loan, so he lets his degenerate friend Marco (Michael Irby) talk him into doing a drug deal. The plan is that Nick will get the money from an Armenian gangster he knows named Ivan (Henry Czerny), buy 20 thousand pills of ecstasy from one of Marco's contacts, give Ivan the pills and keep a cut of the money for themselves. Things go wrong, a couple of things happen solely because the story needs them to happen, and Nick ends up asking Emily to steal something for him.At this point, the movie seems to suddenly remember it was supposed to be about Emily, her compulsive shopper of a mother, Theresa (Leigh Taylor-Young), and the supposed secret of their family. The utterly underwhelming secret is revealed, Nick demonstrates for the audience that most career criminals are immensely stupid and then the story ends without ever coming close to justifying the hour-and-a-half of my life I threw away watching it.With the director also being a co-writer and the two leads also serving as producers, I think it's fair to say that Klepto is one of those movies that gets made so the filmmakers can enter it into festivals in the hope of getting noticed by some studio executive. But no studio executive, no matter how high on cocaine or distracted by hookers, could ever look at this movie and think the people who made it are worth a minute of his time.This story has absolutely nothing intelligent to say about compulsive shoplifting, compulsive shopping or childhood memories. Nick Diaz' story is nothing but a string of clichés interrupted only by moments when the Almighty Plot Hammer blatantly pushes the story along. The acting is perfectly fine, but the only character who does anything even remotely interesting is a drug dealer played by Michael E. Rodgers. When the best role in your film is a bit part that's barely on screen for 5 minutes, that's another sign you've written a bad screenplay.The direction of Klepto is professional-looking but never more than ordinary, except for one long tracking shot that's clearly in the movie just because the director wanted to show he could pull off a long tracking shot. The effect is a bit like making macaroni and cheese out of the box and throwing a hot pepper in the mix, just for the heck of it.Klepto is one of those movies that make you shake your head and shrug your shoulders. It doesn't have anything to say, yet also fails to say nothing in an intriguing or provocative way. Given the time, energy and money that goes into even a low-budget film like this, it's a mystery why any of the people involved ever thought THIS was the movie to which they wanted to devote themselves.

Thomas Trail's "Klepto" was a pleasant surprise. It is a fast- paced, tightly plotted character piece that never takes theconventional path. Meredith Bishop gives a great performanceand constructs a sympathetic character that is always fascinatingto watch. The camera work is frenetic, yet controlled. There isclearly a vision behind this film. The story kept me guessing untilthe end, and did not disappoint. I especially like the fact that everycharacter in the piece is both dark and sympathetic, whichdemonstrates a maturity in the writing and conception of the film. Irecommend this to anyone.

I too have seen KLEPTO and consider the listed review from Austin to be wildly inaccurate. KLEPTO is a self-assured directing debut by a director that has a bright future. So what if he chooses to tell a story through multiple angles? Must every film review of every film begin with the Hollywood formula, specifically that a film must follow a singular protagonist through a specific set of paces that we have all become so sensitive to that we can predict them in our sleep?!Tom Trail has the good sense to take the O.C.D. psychological disorder and frame it in a real life situation, make it feel as though it could be the basis for those noises you hear coming through your own apartment wall, the life experience of a neighboring stranger you've never seen...His "Emily" as played by the juicy Meredith Bishop with conviction, despite her having to remain frail and unhinged, falls prey to the wiles and incliniations and ultimate scheme of the devious Security Specialist (watch for Jsu Garcia to become the next Latin male superstar in the Benicio Del Toro mold!). It's not at all "heavy handed" as one reviewer previously reported. It's a dance of sorts, the way "Nick" inserts himself into Emily's life right as her neurotic mother comes to stay for an unwanted visit.For me it was the fascinating and visually strategic lines of two people paths coming together, becoming inextricably intertwined, that was so fun, so involving. This succint (the flick is a brisk 84 minutes) and astute character study breaks out of the gate at race horse's pace and never lets up! The photography, the smaller supporting roles, the music (some of it performed on a classical piano even!), and one of the best single take "long shots" of the year (eat your heart out Scorsese!) all approximate the material to the perfect degree. This film is like a complicated meal, one with many ingredients, all vital to its final finish as a dish...nothing is peppered in here with the "heavy hand" suggested by the previous reviewer and the result? Delicious and full of depth.Find this film, whatever it