Le petit voleur

Great movie, go with the emotions a a petty thief and criminal, seeing him going from excitement to dispair. Crime doesn't pay, and what a harsh and upclose way of showing this. Typical French 'feel' to it, and added some realism.

Nicolas D. currently acting in Levis commercial.

First film I've seen for 2000 Singapore International Film Festival. A short film at only 65 minutes but effectively delivered. It does not comment, preach nor interpret any of the protagonist's actions. All that is left to the audience as the character goes through the ascension and spiraling descent of a thug at odds with society, his partner in crime & inevitably, the underworld itself. One can't help but sympathise with him at certain points but one cannot shake the doubtful feeling that he's not that hapless but actually cold blooded and ruthless too. Interesting film - definitely fodder for thought.

This is a terrific little drama about young punks. Everything here is so close to the true life, accurate, realistic and pulled by outstanding performances. The young Nicolas Duvauchelle is awesome and so promising for his career. Joe Prestia is also unforgettable, as he will be several years later in IRREVERSIBLE. Brutal, disturbing, not for everyone, not for Grandma nor Grandpa. This kind of movie reminds me COMME UN AIMANT, the intimate life of the young punks in the cities. But the last minutes are just lousy, rubbish. That's my own opinion.

This movie tells in one hour more then other movies tell in two hours. This movie shows us the story of a young drop-out who becomes a member of a gang in Marseille. As in the movie 'la vie rêvée des anges', Zonca is rather deterministic. Once a drop-out, you'll always be a drop-out...

`Stories of childhood have often been tempered with the melancholic yearning of lost innocence (as in Louis Malle's Au Revoir Les Enfants) or the profound weight of human misery (as in Robert Bresson's Mouchette).' -- An opinion in a filme web --

This filme has a twin called `Alone'about a young girl trying to survive.In LE PETIT VOLEUR the protagonist is a boy in a similar circumstance.Here we follow Esse (Nicolas Duvauchelle)after losing his job he tells his girlfriend, Sandrine, he doesn't intend to be anyone's slave.but after he made love to her,Esse steals her money, then he decided to move to another city only to begin a career as a rough boy who belongs to nobody. He is now apprentice in a Marseille gang that specializes in burglary, prostitution . We see Esse in a boxing gym pretending to be a fighter,there's a humorous scene where Esse is at the bathroom doing boxer' movements' with his fists, knocking everything he has in front of him, suddenly he accidentally knocked his eyes to the door,as a fighter, he is that bad. The most interesting scene of the filme is when Esse has to lookout to an ailing elderly woman who turns out to be the mother of his boss and we witness his desperate bad action.-who got to do with this old woman ( also disturbing as' his punishment.'). -I won't tell no more-. Erick Zonca after the success of La Vie Rêvée des anges,returns with intensity to tell a story about youth desperation in a gray environment.some compared his filmes with the great ROBERT BRESSON,I think that is a right remark Little thief and La vie. has similar endings both protagonists return to a work place why?maybe to Esse is because life on the streets was to tough for him and this work place seem a `safe' one BUT that doesn't mean they are `saved'. Zonca likes to show the misfits, trying to adapt themselves in a tricky system . Nicolas as Esse is a natural actor, he looks like LEO DI CAPRIO but at times reminded me to Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud),that confused young boy of Francois Truffaut masterpiece ' The 400 Blows', that is the biggest compliment I can say.

8/10