Stealing Kindness (Roy Hathon 2012): USA

Reviewed by Jacqueline Kaden. Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival

Stealing Kindness is the first short film Roy Hathon has directed. This film made its premier at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and was the first short to show in the Santa Barbara Shorts program.

The first thing that drew me in about this film was the exceptionally unique use of bokeh light. Bokeh light, if you are unfamiliar, is an effect achieved using a DSLR camera. To achieve this effect, you have to blur out the entire frame of the picture. What is more interesting is that you can cut out shapes and put them over the lens of your camera to create shaped bokeh lights. This is what the creative team of Stealing Kindness did at the beginning of the film as credits. The viewer is drawn in by this incredibly creative use of the technology they have. After the beginning credits finish, I found myself paying close attention to the lights: an after-effect that I hope was intentional.

The plot of this short is simple: a man is mugged, and then offers the mugger everything in return. First he calmly gives the young mugger his wallet, then his jacket, and then offers to take him out to an expensive dinner. The young man accepts, albeit hesitantly, and goes off with the stranger to dinner where they discuss something very important.

Though this movie was unique in style (use of bokeh lights) and narrative (mugger shown kindness), the place where this film lacks is the acting. I wanted to see a genuine portrayal of these characters because the content was so interesting, but I was disappointed in the low performance of the actors. I did notice that during the important conversation that the mugger and kind man have at dinner the acting was more sincere. I was very happy about this fact since their conversation is the most important part of the film.

When this film ended, I was left with some very important questions on my mind. I wondered how my world would be different if I showed those around me nothing but pure kindness and compassion? I wondered also how things for this mugger would turn out and how if I were he, how would my life have been changed? Overall, I’m very glad I saw this short film. The importance of the story being told and the unique delivery of it are far more valuable than the lackluster acting may present.