Klepto

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.

This film ultimately fails, and its really a shame. About halfway through the scriptwriters appear to just walk off and leave and the rest of the film falls flat on its face.

As a movie in its own right, Klepto is a disaster, however as a directorial debut (is it??) it is actually not bad - some of the use of music and the editing reminded me of the film Primer.

If the plot and script clumsinesses could have been resolved, this would be a film I could recommend to others. As it was (I bought it cheap), I kept the blank translucent box spare but threw the cover insert and the disc in the rubbish bin.

To the actors, director and writer(?) - please don't give up, you failed this time but you showed enormous potential.

Klepto is a low budget movie about a compulsive young female shoplifter, and her relationship with a man working in department store security who sees her stealing, but chooses to befriend her rather than turn her in.

It's about as far away from a Hollywood blockbuster as you can imagine, having almost a home movie feel to it in places, and is all the more enjoyable for it. It's refreshingly short too, at a shade over 80 minutes - just right for the content on offer.

The story is relatively simple to follow, the characters easy to understand, and the acting is decent rather than brilliant. There's nothing too ambitious or challenging here, just a good story adequately told. A few plot twists keep the tale interesting, even though one or two of them are frankly a bit on the stupid side. You'll need to overlook those if you want to enjoy the film.

I enjoyed watching it, and hope you do too. Having realistic expectations and not expecting anything anything too polished or remarkable should help. It really is a simple and somewhat left field offering that makes a nice but unremarkable change from the often bloated, over-dramatised mainstream offerings.

The premise of the film is a good one...girl gets her jollies from stealing stuff, and she ends up in a bit of trouble when a security officer notices her. Unfortunately, the film drops the girl's journey at this point and focuses on a myriad of issues that it will drop later, leaving you asking "Why?" at the climax rather than caring about what is happening.

The film looks pretty good on-screen...I wish they had used some of their time in writing a decent script, and not just in the editing bay. Little of the dialouge is believable, and instances that bring people together are better written in soap operas than they were here. The film invests in characters it throws to the wolves later, making you wonder why you even watched the life of this person. Silly tricks start subplots, and dialouge rather than action end them. The big moment in the film is something you figure out as soon as the crisis is introduced.

I saw the trailer after I saw this film, and it reinforced my thought that the idea behind the film is intriguing. The log line on this film is a good one...but the film itself doesn't stick with it. If you're going to make a film about a girl who is addicted to stealing, make it about that girl. Don't use the middle of the film to take me five other places and then later come back to this girl and expect me to care. And if you're going to write a film with a female protagonist, give us a character that is written as a person and not as a guy's idea of what a girl is/should be.

I've only seen Meredith Bishop in this, had never heard of her, or of Klepto before. But I have to say, she is cute here. It's a well acted movie, quite ambient in feel, with a mostly sunny disposition. I own Klepto, mainly because I like the atmosphere, and partly for Meredith's character, which is played realistically, and is pretty down to earth.

A nice and quite simple indie. Happy to have discovered it.