Stealing Cars (2016)

Truly Dreadful Film

The greatest movie ever made..!

Admirable film.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I highly recommend this movie. It's one of those movies that worth watching. Good performances. The main character, a really clever and complex boy will make you more and more interested. The performance by Emory Cohen is very powerful. I have to say that this movie caught me since the beginning. If you feel a particular interest in independent films, you should watch this one.

Not the space it plays in, but the script that is. It's a really decent effort into crime territory, though mostly played in a "restricted" area (to put it mildly). If you know more about the story, than you know what I mean, otherwise be surprised if you want to, where this is going (with or without stolen cars).This is definitely not another Gone in 60 seconds, it's much more of a drama and the stellar cast gives it more than a bit of gravitas. I'd argue they were drawn into the project by a very neat script. If all translated onto the screen, is something you have to decide for yourself. Does it have faults and flaws? The answer is yes, so do the characters in it, but that's what could be described as the extra something that keeps this ... driving

The cinematography is a bit uninspired. However, it's nice to see heroism attached to intelligence rather than revenge for a change. How many films tackle the subject of human genius up against a world of mediocrity? How many films attempt to describe the need for and the requirements for- leadership? Basically humanity is obviously too stupid to solve its problems. That's why they are still with us after 10,000 years. Evidently we are slow learners. Part of the reason for this is that we have damned few cultural/media heroes who possess actual genius. And part of the reason for that state of affairs is Hollywood's reluctance to portray genius as desirable, effective or even romantic. The Dogme 95 film movement created a new standard of honesty in cinema. We now desperately need a film movement that wittingly makes us smarter...a Didactic Cinema. The need is certainly there.

Some sluggish direction and pacing rob Stealing Cars of being a really great film about juvenile crime and incarceration. Stealing Cars is in a tradition of films like this that go back to James Cagney's Mayor In Hell.Emory Cohen is our brilliant protagonist in the sense of one high IQ. Yet he's in the Bernwood Correctional Facility for a tragic mistake that has made him forgot to care about anything. His role model seems to be Paul Newman from Cool Hand Luke.Besides Cohen the acting honors go to John Leguizamo as the warden of the place. Is scene with Cohen where Cohen finally breaks down and we learn the reason for his cynicism is brilliant. But we also learn that Leguizamo has his own agenda and it's not a healthy one.I'm agreeing with another reviewer that the characters besides these two have no real depth as written and no great direction to make them come to life. Still Stealings Cars is a worthwhile film to watch.