Netflix

New On Netflix: The Good Thief

posted January 12, 2012 by
The Good Thief
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Neil Jordan's moody film noir features Nick Nolte giving one of the best performances of his career as Bob Montagnet, a heroin addict, semi-retired thief and gambler on a losing streak who kicks the drugs and gets his act together for one last big score, aided by a gorgeous femme fatale in training (Nutsa Kukhianidze). The target is a casino in the South of France, a job that ends up being harder than originally planned due to the savvy detective work of Roger (Tcheky Karyo), an incorruptible lawman with whom Bob has an uneasy friendship. A remake of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1955 film, Bob le flambeur, The Good Thief is an unpredictable, twisty-turner thriller that eases along on its groovy beat thanks to Jordan's razor-sharp screenplay and Nolte's disarmingly charming performance; it's a companion piece of sorts to Jordan's other underworld fairy tale, Mona Lisa, which until The Good Thief was really little more than just a test run for The Crying Game. Jordan's The End of the Affair star, Ralph Fiennes, appears uncredited as ruthless crime boss Tony Angel, a kind of a saner brother to his In Bruges character, Harry.