Stolen (2009)
"Stolen Lives" (original title)

A detective deals with the loss of his own son while trying to uncover the identity of a boy whose mummified remains are found in a box buried for fifty years.

Director:

Anders Anderson

Writer:

Glenn Taranto

Stars:

Jon Hamm, Josh Lucas, Rhona Mitra

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jon Hamm	...	Tom Adkins Sr.
Josh Lucas	...	Matthew Wakefield
Rhona Mitra	...	Barbara Adkins
James Van Der Beek	...	Diploma / Roggiani
Jessica Chastain	...	Sally Ann
Joanna Cassidy	...	Lea Adkins
Jimmy Bennett	...	John
Morena Baccarin	...	Rose Montgomery
Michael Cudlitz	...	Jonas
Andy Milder	...	William Daniels
Holt McCallany	...	Swede
Jude Ciccolella	...	Police Chief
Rick Gomez	...	Officer JJ
Marcus Thomas	...	Pete Dunne
Graham Phillips	...	Mark Wakefield

Storyline

A detective deals with the loss of his own son while trying to uncover the identity of a boy whose mummified remains are found in a box buried for fifty years.

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Plot Keywords:

small town sheriff | cemetery | voice over narration | diner | loss of child | 

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Taglines:

Secrets from the past don't stay buried.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for a scene of sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 October 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Boy in the Box

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,391 (USA) (19 March 2010)

Gross:

$7,306 (USA) (2 April 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

2 Bridges Productions, A2 Entertainment Group, Boy in the Box

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the 1958 part of the story, Matthew refers to the car he drives as "the Rambler." In fact, the car is a 1958 model, which was a new body style, and the first Rambler model designed and built by American Motors Corporation as the Rambler Ambassador. All previous models to 1958 where Nash Ramblers (1950-1957) or Hudson Ramblers (1954-1957), which were the constituent companies merged in 1954 to form American Motors Corporation.

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Goofs

As John and Matt drive down the town's main street, one of the storefronts they pass has one of the modern "OPEN" neon sign in the window.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Cop Out/The Crazies/A Prophet (2010)

User Reviews

A hidden gem of a film

I had never heard of this film before chancing upon it recently. The premise sounded OK so I decided to watch it expecting something very much run of the mill.

The film centres on a policeman's (Jon Hamm) search to uncover the truth behind the discovery of a 50 year old corpse of a child. It also interweaves the story of a young man (Josh Lucas) and his 3 sons as he struggles to support his family in 1950's America. The 1950's storyline in particular is dealt with extremely well but both story lines link well together throughout the movie.

I have never seen anything of Hamm's previous work and only Posieden of Lucas but was impressed by both actors who conveyed the sense of loss of a child impressively throughout. Lucas in particular was I thought outstanding. The children in the film were also impressive especially Jimmy Bennett. The rest of the cast had less to work with and the characters weren't fully fleshed out but this was probably due to the relatively short running period of the film.

Once it hits its stride (fairly early on) this film never lets go. I found it quite moving and disturbing at the same time and for viewers with children this film will hit home in particular.

Whilst it does have a few flaws, for a relatively low budget film this is extremely impressive.