Based on a novel WHOEVER STEALS THIS BOOK needs to be expanded beyond the 85 minutes here. The film is the story of a family who guards a cursed library that requires the caretaker to hunt down the thief in a world refashioned in the style of the stolen book. However, there is a great deal more going on…
Told in a breezy style that shifts genres, WHOEVER… is one hell of a tale. It’s a film that take a while to get a handle on, but once you are into the world it’s a wonderfully suspenseful tale as we jump styles as different books are stolen.
The trouble is that because the film is so short, this could use another 30 to 40 minutes, details are only supplied late in the game when its too late for them to affect how we feel about the outcome or for them to make us realize just how complex the story really is. For example Mifuyu’s past is not fully filled in nor are we told facts about her family such as her father is a writer. In the end we are told everything but its done in such a way that everything feels like bad murder mystery where all the real clues are found to have been with held until the final moments.
Don’t get me wrong, WHOEVER is a good movie and worth seeing, but it would have been a great one if they had found a way to include the clues earlier.
Worth seeing at NYICFF
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