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 |
|
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.
The police officer Tom Adkins Sr. loses his son while briefly leaving him in a diner. Eight years later, he is still struggling with the loss when he and his wife, Barbara get a call that a child’s body has been discovered buried within a suitcase at a construction yard. They assume that their son has been found, but the police forensics unit determines the remains are 50 years old. Seeking redemption from his own son’s disappearance, Tom takes on trying to solve the death of this unidentified child.
In 1958, Matthew Wakefield finds that his wife has committed suicide. Unemployed and with three young boys to raise, he leaves his elder sons with his sister Cora, and her husband Jonas. Cora's husband won’t take care of Matthew's youngest son, John, because of his cognitive disabilities and so Matthew takes him with him as he goes out to look for work.
Matthew finds work at a construction site in a small town, where he finds friends among the fellow laborers, The Swede and Diploma. While out at the bar one night with his friends and son, Matthew meets Rose Montgomery, the wife of a local gas-station owner. Rose seduces Matthew and takes him out behind the bar while John disappears from the car where Matthew had left him sleeping.
Back in the present, Tom is attempting to piece together the details about what happened 50 years ago, despite few surviving witnesses. Matthew's wife, Sally Ann Wakefield, tells Tom that Matthew could never get rid of his own guilt and that John's disappearance may have something to do with Roggiani, the only person who helped Matthew to look for his son.
In 1958, the police chief thinks that Matthew is exaggerating and threatens to expose his affair with Rose to her husband. Diploma seemingly helps Matthew search the town, but his behavior is unusual and when Matthew is away, Diploma is seen putting nails into an old suitcase. Meanwhile, Matthew goes to Rose’s house and threatens her husband, who disparages John and calls him retarded.
In the present, Tom is growing increasingly obsessed with the case and its similarities to his own son’s disappearance. Sally Ann shows Tom an old photograph of Matthew, John, and Roggiani, who Tom identifies as Diploma. Tom confronts Diploma about what happened in the spring of 1958.
Diploma reveals he used to work at the building site with Matthew and admits to killing John because he felt the boy was destroying Matthew's life. Diploma says that that boy should have never been born at all. During the interrogation, Tom pushes Diploma, who admits to another killing where he found a boy who had wandered into a fairground where Diploma was playing a clown. He recounts taking the boy and breaking his neck under a tree. It is implied that this was Tom’s son.
In the conclusion, Tom has solved both murders and recovers the body of his son, buried in the ground under Diploma’s mobile home. At the funeral, Tom leans in on his wife and allows himself to break down and cry.
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]
Stolen was released on March 3, 2010 as Video on Demand and in a limited theatrical release on March 12. [4]
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] The site's critical consensus reads, "With plot points Stolen from countless superior films, this would-be thriller squanders a solid cast on overly serious and suspense-free storytelling."
Shenandoah is a 1965 American film set during the American Civil War starring James Stewart and featuring Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, and, in their film debuts, Katharine Ross and Rosemary Forsyth. The picture was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. The American folk song "Oh Shenandoah" features prominently in the film's soundtrack.
Out on a Limb is a 1992 comedy film written by Joshua and Daniel Goldin and directed by Francis Veber. It stars Matthew Broderick, Jeffrey Jones, Heidi Kling, Courtney Peldon, Michael Monks, and John C. Reilly.
Passed Away is a 1992 American ensemble comedy film directed and written by Charlie Peters.
Skinwalkers is a 2006 action horror film. It was released in the United States by Lions Gate Entertainment and After Dark Films, and focuses on werewolves. Directed by James Isaac, it stars Jason Behr, Elias Koteas, Rhona Mitra, and Tom Jackson. The film was originally announced for theatrical release on December 1, 2006, but was delayed until August 10, 2007.
Cleaner is a 2007 American thriller film directed by Renny Harlin. It stars Samuel L. Jackson as a crime scene cleaner who thinks he has become part of a cover-up; Ed Harris, Keke Palmer, and Eva Mendes also star. The film was released on May 27, 2007.
Mad Detective is a 2007 Hong Kong action film produced and directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai. Mad Detective was first screened at the 64th Venice International Film Festival, and later premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, before being released in Hong Kong on 29 November 2007. The film's screenplay won "Best Screenplay" awards at various Asian film ceremonies.
From Time to Time is a 2009 British fantasy drama film directed by Julian Fellowes starring Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, Carice van Houten, Alex Etel, Eliza Bennett, Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh, Dominic West, Hugh Bonneville, and Pauline Collins. It was adapted from Lucy M. Boston's children's novel The Chimneys of Green Knowe (1958). The film was shot in Athelhampton Hall, Dorset.
The Human Factor is a 1979 British neo noir film starring Nicol Williamson, Robert Morley, and Richard Attenborough, and directed and produced by Otto Preminger. The screenplay is by Tom Stoppard, based on the 1978 novel The Human Factor by Graham Greene. It examines British espionage, and the difficulty of identifying a mole in the ranks of an intelligence service.
The Face of Love is a 2013 American romantic drama film directed by Arie Posin and co-written by Matthew McDuffie. The film stars Annette Bening, Ed Harris, Robin Williams, Amy Brenneman, Jess Weixler and Linda Park. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
Toast of London is a British television sitcom. It was created by Arthur Mathews and Matt Berry and stars Berry as Steven Toast, an eccentric, middle-aged actor with a chequered past who spends more time dealing with his problems offstage than performing on it.
Jenny's Wedding is a 2015 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue and starring Katherine Heigl, Alexis Bledel, Tom Wilkinson, Linda Emond, Grace Gummer and Matthew Metzger. Heigl plays Jenny, a woman who finally decides to get married, but her choice of partner tears her conventional family apart. Jenny's Wedding was filmed on location in Cleveland from October 2013. An Indiegogo campaign was later launched to help raise money for post-production costs. The film was released on July 31, 2015, in a limited release by IFC Films.
Match is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Stephen Belber, based on his 2004 play of the same name. The film stars Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard. The film was released on January 14, 2015, by IFC Films.
October Gale is a Canadian thriller film written and directed by Ruba Nadda. The film premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival in the Special Presentations section of the festival. It was acquired by IFC Films and received a release in March 2015. The film stars Patricia Clarkson, Scott Speedman, and Tim Roth. Clarkson had previously worked with Nadda on Cairo Time.
Wakefield is a 2016 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Robin Swicord and starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner. It is based on the 2008 short story of the same name by E. L. Doctorow published in The New Yorker, which was in turn inspired by the 1835 story of the same title by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Sweet Virginia is a 2017 neo-noir thriller film directed by Jamie M. Dagg, written by Benjamin China and Paul China, and starring Jon Bernthal, Christopher Abbott, Imogen Poots, Rosemarie DeWitt, Odessa Young and Jared Abrahamson. It was released on November 17, 2017, by IFC Films.
Innocent is a British anthology television series, produced by TXTV productions, that was first broadcast on ITV for four consecutive nights between 14 and 17 May 2018. The first series stars Lee Ingleby as David Collins, Daniel Ryan as Phil Collins, David's faithful brother, Hermione Norris as Alice Moffatt and Adrian Rawlins as her husband, Rob Moffatt. The German TV broadcaster ARD produced a two-part adaptation, Unschuldig, first broadcast in December 2019. The second series, aired in 2021, starred Katherine Kelly, Andrew Tiernan, Priyanga Burford and Jamie Bamber.
Disappearance at Clifton Hill is a 2019 Canadian thriller film, directed by Albert Shin. The film stars Tuppence Middleton as Abby, a young woman who returns home to Niagara Falls, Ontario, when she inherits a family-owned motel in the city's Clifton Hill tourist district following her mother's death, and becomes obsessed with reconstructing inchoate childhood memories of witnessing a kidnapping.
The Stranger is an eight-part British mystery thriller miniseries written primarily by Danny Brocklehurst and based on the 2015 Harlan Coben novel of the same title. The miniseries premiered on Netflix on 30 January 2020. It stars Richard Armitage, Siobhan Finneran, and Hannah John-Kamen. It was filmed in and around Manchester and Stockport.
Cowboys is a 2020 American drama film written and directed by Anna Kerrigan. It stars Steve Zahn, Jillian Bell, Sasha Knight and Ann Dowd.
Seized is a 2020 American action thriller film directed by Isaac Florentine. The film stars Scott Adkins and Mario Van Peebles and follows the former special agent who must eliminate three crime syndicates of highly skilled criminals in exchange for his son who is kidnapped.