18

FRIDAY

Blessed is the modern-day director who looks at the great films of the past and thinks, The best way to express my admiration for this magnificent piece of art would be to remake it. In English. With the plot reworked. And Jared Leto. OK, Neil Jordan didn’t cast Leto in The Good Thief; he knows enough to leave pretty out of the mix of aging hustlers, suave henchmen, and haggard detectives playing out one last heist. But he was inspired enough by Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob le Flambeur to overhaul the thing with Nick Nolte in the title role. It’s a nice homage, but redundantly redundant, when the real thing is so tense, gamy, and overflowing with underworld style as only the French can execute it. Many stretches of dialogue are transposed from the 1955 film to the contemporary one, so see the original first and you can be one of those annoying geeks who recite along with the film. It screens at 8:15 p.m. (see Showtimes for other dates) at the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $8.50. (301) 495-6720.

(Arion Berger)