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Ryan and I watched "The street thief" as our independent for the week. It was immediately engaging and I felt like I was watching footage from a surveillance tape. I was intrigued. "The Street Thief" is a 'fictional' documentary, I did not know this at the time, since we stumbled upon it while going through our Netflix collection(how great is the direct streaming on Roku!?!) It kept feeling as if someone was trying to fool me, this made me pay attention though. I wonder if the struggle to believe came from the actors improvisation, something that is much harder when there is a camera around. The camera never lies which means we have to be very clear, accurate and authentic if doing improv for camera. Anyway the film was very good and had wonderful cinematography and action.
How interesting that documentary has now become a style of storytelling, you can't assume any more that when someone says documentary, its a life event or person being documented. Nothing is necessarily true anymore.
I remember very early on in my acting career, when I was definitely still a novice surrounded by great mentors, one of those mentors mentioned in passing how actors are some of the most truthful people you will ever encounter. This statement off course contradict what most people's perception is of an actor. Hmmm... did he mean we're truth seekers, or that we're believers, because when you speak with complete faith and belief in the moment, its not a lie, at least it doesn't seem so.
So telling a story as if its the truth is fictional documentary? I'm confused now.
Basically; I enjoyed "The Street Thief" and even the though the actors were not absolutely convincing and their performances made me aware of the fiction/lie. The film in its entirety was engaging enough and I will look up Malik Bader's other work.
And that is my 2 cents about this film. I also watched "Up", that same night and I loved the storytelling and animation, it took me on a journey, I was very sad when it was over. It was a really satisfying experience and inspired me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEC0NmiTuSY
(Street Thief is a 2006 documentary-style fictional film that follows the life of putative Chicago burglar Kaspar Karr (alternatively Kaspar Carr), played by Malik Bader. The movie was directed by Malik Bader, Miles Harrison and Ishai Setton.
The movie was met with favorable reception at the Tribeca Film Festival. Although filmed as though it were a documentary, the movie and story line are fictional.)
