This was better than I was expecting, carried for the most part by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner who is fantastic, even if it was weird to hear him with a North American accent. Its a low budget (Canadian) film and looks it, but despite some dubious acting from others, the script is excellent, the story powerful and by the end I was thinking why isn't this movie better known? For the most part its a character study, following two brothers who have grown up rough. 'Leonard' (Bremner) started stealing out of necessity to provide for his brother after "they had to leave home for a while" but grew to love it. I would say even be addicted to it.
As the movie opens 'Patrick' (David Richmond-Peck) is writing a book, a biography about his life which is soon interrupted after Leonard leaves some stolen loot in the trunk of his car which gets him arrested.
The remainder of the movie involves Leonard and his life of crime, now with a purpose as he has to raise money to get Patrick out of jail. He is planning a big heist from the restaurant he works at and mugging a lot of people. Somehow he makes a connection with one of his victims (Sarah Strange) and I'm not sure that he feels guilty exactly but we get to see what that encounter did to her, the psychological damage. He falls in love with 'Leah', who is an editor and before long is passing off his brothers book as his own. Claiming the thief in the story is actually Patrick.
A very clever story although I felt that the ending could have been expanded, its just a flash of what happened and for the most part leaves it up to the viewer to decide. 5/19/15
