Two pirate pictures set to open within a month of each other and neither star Johnny Depp?! Thymaya Payne’s Stolen Seas documents the current trend of Somali freebooters taking control of Danish merchant ships and ransoming off their crews. Declining the aid of an intermediary, shipping magnate Per Gullestrup negotiates via telephone with the pirate’s go-between, a single dad unsuitable for the job at hand. At its most lucid, the film makes for compelling drama. Regrettably, it’s comparable to riding a mechanical bull: the ill-defined imagery and selective subtitling — most of it is in English, all of it needs closed captioning — consistently buck the viewer. BUT, for those planning on seeing The Hijacking when the critically acclaimed fictional reenactment opens next month, this is must-see companion viewing. (2012) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.