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The Thief Collector

A brazen mid-day heist of Willem de Kooning’s iconic painting Woman-Ochre sets the stage for this quirky true crime documentary. It explores the complicated dynamics of family, the contours of criminality, and just how far people are willing to go for their own grandiose narratives.

Director Allison Otto interweaves fascinating interviews with delightful reenactments starring Glenn Howerton and Sarah Minnich.

What's the story?

The thief collector is a new documentary that explores the art of swindling. Think of Inventing Anna, The Tinder Swindler or Bad Vegan – a movie that focuses on people who present themselves as normal while doing nefarious things. This film, The Thief Collector, takes a look at a couple who did just that in 1985.

The film, directed by Allison Otto (Love Bugs), is an interesting addition to the genre of swindling films. It combines narration, reenactments, and talking-head interviews to tell this story in a way that doesn't feel too heavy or too slow. It also features a good cast and some of the best dramatic reenactments I've seen in a true crime movie.

One of the most fascinating aspects about this movie is that it's not just about the heist itself, but who the thieves were and why they did it in the first place. It's a very complex story, and Otto does a great job bringing it to life. She uses different voices to tell the tale — family members, friends, acquaintances and the film's protagonists themselves.

Those who've seen Otto's other films know she likes to dig deeper than the average documentary, and her approach isn't without merit. She takes the time to find out what was going on in their lives and how they ended up with so much money and property – including this painting.

She also interviews de Kooning biographer Mark Stevens, agents from the FBI's art theft task force and their families, and other friends and acquaintances who knew Jerry and Rita Alter. These are the ones who give the most insight into the couple's lives.

There's a lot to learn about the Alters, and a good deal of them aren't quite what you might expect. They're not just a mild-mannered couple, but a pair of world travelers who lived a double life while evading capture or suspicion.

When we learn that Jerry and Rita stole this painting, it's a shocking revelation. The fact that they did it in the middle of the day, in broad daylight, makes them seem even more insane.

What's the point?

The story of an elderly couple who stole a priceless painting from a museum and hung it in their home is fascinating, and it's the focus of director Allison Otto's debut feature documentary. But like any good true crime story, it's not as clear-cut as it appears.

As the film unfolds, it becomes clear that both Jerry and Rita Alter were incredibly eccentric people who committed a host of crimes - including murdering Mexican laborers - in their sleep. These crimes were reflected in a series of short stories written by Jerry, which are interpreted as confessions to his own sins.

Otto assembles interviews, home movies, and slides to tell the tale of these two weirdos. She also uses spoof-style reenactments, starring Glenn Howerton (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as Jerry and Sarah Minnich (Army of the Dead) as Rita.

These reenactments are the highlight of the film. They're done in a surprisingly cinematic style, and the performances are very well done. They're also a great way to get us interested in the Alters' strangeness.

The first few scenes are fun and lighthearted, with playful narration by Glenn Howerton and a couple of funny reenactments that depict a few of Jerry's zany stories. But the film quickly takes a darker turn, as it examines what may have led to these stories in the first place.

At the heart of this question is an elusive piece of evidence. That evidence is a book written by Jerry, called "The Cup and the Lip." The book contains many bizarre stories about murder, robbery, and other depravities.

This is the central premise of Otto's film, which she premiered at SXSW '22. But her investigation into the Alters' possible crimes is too superficial and hollow, and she doesn't do much to tamp down on her assumptions. She does have some entertaining reenactments, though, as her cast of characters narrate choice passages from Jerry's short stories.

The point of a story, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, should be to teach something. That might be empathy, morality, or lessons about life, science, history, or the human condition. But it should be told in a way that's entertaining, so that more people will pay attention and learn from it.

What's the climax?

In most movies, the climax is the point where the main character completes a major goal or problem. Often this is a dramatic and exciting moment, but sometimes it's just an average ending.

The thief collector is one of those rare movies that grabs your attention from the start, and then keeps you on edge until it's over. It's a film that's filled with twists and turns, exceptional storytelling, and will appeal to art lovers in particular.

There are so many things to like about this movie, including its incredibly entertaining performances from Glenn Howerton (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Sarah Minnich (Briarpatch). But there are also a few things that could be improved.

One of the things that bogs this film down is its insistence on making The Collector a trap-themed killer. This is a very simple idea, and if the filmmakers had used it less clumsily I think it would have worked far better. It's not hard to imagine a mutilated Robocop 3 running around a house and getting himself killed, but it takes about six hours to turn a whole house into a rigged trap set that's meant to take out the family that lives there.

It's a terribly ineffective way to kill someone, but it works for The Collector. He's not a smart man, but he's a very good at killing people in the most ruthless ways possible. He's a murderer, and it's clear that he's a serial killer. He's even able to sneak into the victim's home and knock out their entire family before they realize they're being murdered.

Another thing to complain about is the movie's decision to give The Collector a pet dog. This is a very strange choice, since dogs are known for their keen ability to sense danger and avoid it. The dog, however, is not very good at hiding in plain sight. It yelps at the sound of a door opening, and then starts pawing at it in a manner that would lead a normal person to believe that the dog is trying to get out of the house.

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