Themes: Art Theft, Cons and Scams, Unlikely Criminals
Main Cast: Matthew Rhys, Kate Ashfield, Tom Chambers, Tony Haygarth, Art Malik
Release Year: 2003
Country: UK
Run Time: 86 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Saddled with a £50,000 which he has only four days to pay off before suffering grievous bodily harm, a petty London criminal attempts to carry out an ingenious art scam in director Richard Janes' spirited caper comedy. Nick Blake (Matthew Rhys) owes smooth-operating crime lord Foster Wright (Art Malik) a sizable dept, and if he doesn't cough up the cash in four days the situation promises to turn nasty. Desperate to find a means of raising the cash but unable to carry out the kind of heist that could get him out of his peculiar jam, Nick believes that he has found a solution to his problem when he discovers a lost sketch by revered Italian artist Antonio Fraccini. Nick's plan hits a hitch, however, when he discovers that the sketch is only worth £15,000. Now, with the clock ticking down and mere hours to go before Art sends his thugs out to collect, desperate Nick will enlist the aid of his cynical friend Eve and her talented artist brother Tony in forging the sketch and selling copies to five different Mayfair galleries in the short span of one hour. Should Tony and his partners in crime successfully execute their carefully planned ruse, the galleries won't even realize they've been swindled until it's too late. If the plan goes awry, on the other hand, Tony will be a wanted man on both sides of the law. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Fakers is a 2007Britishfilm directed by Richard Janes and starring Matthew Rhys as con-man with a big debt to pay off to wanna-be crime lord Art Malik. It was produced by Richard Janes Claire Bee and Todd Kleparski, three graduates from Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. Completely funded via independent routes the film cost $1,500,000 to make and has opened theatrically in the United Kingdom, America and Japan as well as other territories.
Plot summary
In this crime caper set in the eccentric London art world, Nick Edwards (Rhys) owes £50,000 to the super-smooth, yet brutal, crime lord Foster Wright (Malik) and has four days to find the cash.
Nick knows nothing about working a heist of that size, but when he stumbles across a lost sketch by the legendary Italian artist Antonio Fraccini, he believes he’s in the clear. The problem is, it’s only worth 15 grand.
With the help of the eternal cynic Eve (Ashfield) and her extremely talented yet naïve artist brother Tony (Chambers), the plan is hatched; to forge the drawing and sell it to five Mayfair galleries within an hour before anyone cottons onto the fact there’s a scam going down.
