The Thief and the Three Gifts

Richard Falkner you are a legend, and irrespective of whether this film was ineligible/recused/disqualified it is still very cool that you made a highly entertaining 48Hours film on the weekend, and please let your son know that I thought he did an absolutely fantastic job acting!

Superbly shot, looking like it was shot in the 1970s at Shaw Brothers on 16mm film, the film tells the tale of a self-congratulatory thief who kisses a chalice and declares he is the greatest thief that has ever lived, only for a knock at the door to come and his preconception to be challenged through the course of the rest of the film.

It is really hard to deny just how strong a three act structure makes a 48 Hours film almost by default. It's something that doesn't come naturally to a lot of people, but if you put it in your script then everything just flows so smoothly. Richard knows that and by going with a concept of "3 Gifts" allowed the film to ebb, flow and develop really organically once the required invitation (to cover genre bases) had been received.

When the ninja turns up and the VFX kicks in = so good. And leading to a tale of redemption = great!

Story: 4/5
Technical: 4.5/5
Elements: 4/5
Overall: 4/5