ReelBob: ‘The Penny Black’ ★★★½

A documentary about an individual who may be a saint or a sinner — and you never really know which.

By Bob Bloom

“The Penny Black” is a mystery and an enigma wrapped in a documentary.

The movie centers a lost binder of valuable stamps as well as Will Cassayd-Smith, a young man who, like his father, may or may not be a consummate con man.

Director Joe Saunders met Wil through his friend, the film’s producer Alexander Greer. Will told a fantastic story about a Russian neighbor who asked him to take care of a valuable collection of stamps for a couple of weeks while he went away.

The two weeks dragged into a few years, in which Will researched the stamps and learned the value of several of them — most notably The Penny Black, issued in 1840 in England and considered the first adhesive postage stamp.

Throughout the movie, Saunders grows more skeptical of Will, as he feigns ignorance of how the binder was lost.

But there are hints that Will may not be whom he seems. During the four or five-year shoot, Will moves three times. He suddenly owns an expensive, late-model car. Yet, he doesn’t seem to have a job — or at least Saunders never films him at work.

On the other hand, Will hires a private investigator to look for Roman, his former Russian neighbor, who sems to have disappeared.

What glues you to “The Penny Black” is the cat-and-mouse game between Saunders and Will. No matter what the question, Will has an answer.

And that may be hereditary. Will claims his father was a con man who “sold art he did not own.” He also forged documents. One day, with law enforcement, closing in on him, Will’s father abandoned him and his mother.

According to Will, the last he knew, his father was living in England. Will refuses to have any contact with him.

“The Penny Black” keeps you off-balance because you don’t know whether or not Will is conning Saunders and us.

After a few years, Will, with the help of Saunders and the private investigator, finally tracks down Roman and returns the cache of stamps — minus the missing binder. Roman does not seem to notice nor care, nor does Will mention the loss.

It also turns out that Roman, who Will claims has a family in Los Angeles and another in Arizona, may have originally stolen the collection.

This what makes the movie so fascinating and watchable. These are real-life characters who seem to have stepped out of some writer’s film-noir imagination.

My main problem with the movie is the darkly filmed, home-movielike recreations of Will’s childhood. They seem superfluous and add nothing to the narrative.

That, I admit, is a nitpick because “The Penny Black” mesmerizes you with a lead subject who you never know is a saint or a sinner.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.

THE PENNY BLACK
3½ stars out of 4
Not rated, language