The Painter and the Thief is a documentary released on May 22nd of this year and available on Hulu. When two expensive paintings are stolen from an art gallery in Oslo, Norway, the artist privately reaches out to one the convicted thieves to try and locate her paintings. But the thief does not remember anything about his crime.
It was surprising to watch this film and remind myself it was a documentary, because it took me into so many odd, unexpected, and emotionally frail places. This documentary is not about the value of visual art or how it's stolen. Instead, it's about friendship. How two damaged people can randomly intersect each other's lives and become permanently changed.....for the better or for the worse. The Painter and the Thief felt somewhat related to other privately-focused documentaries The Wolfpack (2015), Finding Vivian Maier (2013), and The Imposter (2012).
The people in this documentary felt so open with their hopes as well as their struggles, it almost felt like a fictional story. The overlapping, interconnected, yet linear storyline also helped keep it interesting. Many scenes were shown through snug, cozy, still, interior views matching the film's inward exploration of two people's hearts (both full of questions). Small-scale intimate documentaries like this are modest, but not insignificant, reminders of the importance of human kindness and understanding. Kindness and understanding for neighbors, friends, and strangers (that's often far too easy for people to forget).
First premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2020, and spoken half in Norwegian half in English, The Painter and the Thief will give viewers a delicate uplift during this challenging, and charged, time. Something as unique or unusual as this is surely to be remembered.
