Paul Elliott’s review published on Letterboxd:
It’s a little too easy to be dubious of this unusual documentary from director Benjamin Ree. It gives an account of an evolving friendship being established after artist Barbora Kysilkova has her paintings stolen by Karl Bertil-Nordland, and it sketches a sincerely humane and forgiving tale.
Ree interviews the pair while they are interacting together as well as separately and gently surveys the forgathering dynamics. The footage is often emotional as they begin to open up to one another, but there's an underlying notion that they are consciously aware of the cameras on them. It's difficult not to wonder how their behaviours would have unfolded if the cameras weren't present. However, what it does do, and does it rather well, is give a curious glance at an incredibly talented artist, possessing a somewhat shortsightedness for inspiration.
The filmmaker scrutinises this characteristic of the film, and Kysilkova reveals a layered complexity and transpires into revealing, comparable to Bertil-Nordland, that she's not entirely who she comes across as being. It's a deliberately toned down documentary, and its strengths lay when they both are vulnerable and commence to reflect on their backgrounds and circumstances. The Painter and the Thief is an examination of forgiveness and empathy as well as investigating the artistic disposition.
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