STREET THIEF

One of Chicago's most elusive burglars comes out of the shadows for the first time, and Malik Bader and Miles Harrison are there to film him. Over the course of a year, the two documentarians follow the legendary burglar, who claimed his name was Kaspar Carr, as he taps phones, cases stores, and pulls off numerous burglaries. Carr certainly fits the profile. For starters, he is quick and unassuming, has a dirty mouth but an obsessively clean workspace, and he smokes constantly-even while breaking into a safe. But getting close to the real Carr proves to be more of a challenge than Bader and Harrison had anticipated. When the two directors innocently ask if he ever dreamt of another life, Carr shouts some colorful expletives before explaining, "You're here so people can see how things really go down, the two months before. You're not going to get a sob story from me." But as their relationship with the beguiling burglar deepens, so too does their involvement in the burglaries, and what started off as cinéma vérité quickly devolves into cinéma criminel. During his biggest score to date-a multiplex movie theater-Carr instructs the filmmakers to hide behind a sign for several hours before meeting him in front of a door with red tape on it. The robbery seemingly goes well, but Carr mysteriously disappears, and both the filmmakers and the audience struggle to put the pieces together and figure out what really went down. Borrowing from the traditions of film noir and cinéma vérité, Street Thief has created an exhilarating new genre.