Stolen (2009 American film)

Stolen
Promotional poster
Directed by	Anders Anderson
Written by	Glenn Taranto
Produced by	Anders Anderson Al Corley Josh Lucas Devin Maurer Bart Rosenblatt Andy Steinman
Starring	Josh Lucas Jon Hamm Rhona Mitra James Van Der Beek
Cinematography	Andy Steinmann
Edited by	Anders Anderson
Music by	Trevor Morris
Production companies	2 Bridges Productions A2 Entertainment Group Boy in the Box Code Entertainment
Distributed by	IFC Films
Release dates	October 10, 2009 (2009-10-10) (Pusan Film Festival) March 12, 2010 (2010-03-12) (United States)
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$7,943 (United States)[1]

Stolen is a 2009 American mystery film^[2] directed by Anders Anderson and starring Josh Lucas, Jon Hamm and Rhona Mitra.

Plot[]

Tom Adkins Sr. (Jon Hamm) is a police officer. He's married to Barbara (Rhona Mitra) and they have a son who disappears. While trying to find their own son, they also meddle with the past. The body of an unidentified child appears at a construction site buried within a suitcase. Some years ago, three children seemed to disappear, their bodies never found, never a clue about their whereabouts or what happened to them. There is no even clear evidence of being connected cases.

Matthew Wakefield (Josh Lucas) has lost his son, John (Jimmy Bennett), who happened to have cognitive disabilities. He was passing by a sleepy town, and stopped at a downridden countryhouse. The farmer is jealous of his beautiful wife called Rose Montgomery (Morena Baccarin) and threatens Mathew because the wife seems to be making a pass at him. Later on, Mathew stops by at a bar and takes John with him - with the promise that the child would not drink any alcohol or cause any trouble. Suddenly, the sexy wife appears and Mathew lost sight of his son - at the bar's back yard, the wife and Mathew are about to have a sexual relationship. When Mathew returns to the bar, his fun somehow spoiled, he cannot find John anywhere.

Matthew's loss happened 50 years ago, and was never able to get over that loss. His wife, Mrs Sally Ann Wakefield (Jessica Chastain) tells Tom Adkins that he could never get rid of his own guilt. John's disappearance may have something to do with Roggiani - sometimes nicknamed Diploma (James Van Der Beek), the only person who helped Mathew to look for his son. The police chief (Jude Ciccolella) thought that Mathew was exaggerating. In fact, he threatens Mathew with telling the jealous husband that he was with his wife. Diploma helps Mathew to search the town, but there's something fishy about him. In a moment, he looks like taking out the rubbish, but when the camera approaches him, we can see that he is putting nails onto an old suitcase. Mathew goes to the sexy wife's home, and threatens the stupid husband, who calls the boy "retarded" three times. It's implied that John never appeared alive again.

Later, when the body of a boy enclosed on a suitcase appears, it's very difficult to identify him. Tom Adkins tries to forget about his problems by immersing himself in that investigation. Mrs Wakefield shows him an old photograph of Mathew, John and Diploma, which immediately puts Tom after the trail. Tom questions Diploma about what happened in the spring of 1958. Diploma used to worked at the building site of a company called Beans, and there he used to work with Mathew as bricklayers. Diploma admits to having done it, because the body was retarded and was destroying Mathew's life. Diploma says that that boy should have never been born at all. Tom punches Diploma when he tells of the only time when he really enjoyed killing the boy: he was disguised as a clown at a fairground and took away that boy, who innocent way took him to his favourite place - somewhere under a tree. It's implied that that particular boy was Tom and Barbara's son. Diploma says that he broke his neck while the fireworks were exploding around them.

Tom and Barbara's marriage did not survive Tom's guilt. They find the body of their lost son - it had been Diploma who killed him and buried his body under his trailer park mobile home. At the funeral, it looks like there may be hope for the marriage, as Tom finally allows himself to break down and cry.

Cast[]

Production[]

The film was conceived as The Boy in the Box and was later renamed Stolen Lives. In January 2010, IFC Films acquired the rights of the theatrical release and renamed the film Stolen.^[3]

Release[]

Stolen was released on March 3, 2010 as Video on Demand and in a limited theatrical release on March 12.^[4]

Reception[]

Upon release, the film was universally panned by critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with 20 reviews, the film has a rare approval rating of 0% – meaning no favorable reviews whatsoever – receiving an average rating of 3.6/10.^[5]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Stolen at AllMovie
• Stolen at Box Office Mojo
• Stolen at IMDb
• Stolen at Metacritic
• Stolen at Rotten Tomatoes