One of the most infamous grifters in Toronto tries to tell his side of the story in The Talented Mr. Rosenberg. Nicknamed “The Yorkville Swindler” by the media, Albert Rosenberg has been a con artist for decades, being charged for crimes that spread from Monte Carlo to New York and Austria to Toronto. Now in his 80s, Rosenberg sits down to tell his side of the story, though the facts should be taken with a grain of salt.
Documentarian Barry Avrich (Prosecuting Evil) performs a rare feat by directing an expose on Toronto-based con artist Albert Rosenberg, with the active participation of the man himself. The Talented Mr. Rosenberg is built around a series of interviews with Rosenberg, which he hopes would convey that he isn’t that bad a person. However, further interviews with his ex-wives, Toronto journalist Courtney Shea, and “The Wizard of Lies” author Diana B. Henriques only serve to poke holes in Rosenberg’s lies.
The Talented Mr. Rosenberg benefits greatly from the core interviews with Albert Rosenberg since the film becomes a whole lot more effective when Rosenberg’s many lies are exposed by either contradictions or the other interviews. As such, The Talented Mr. Rosenberg ends up being a very effective look into the mind of one of Toronto’s more notorious con men, as it asks the question of why Albert Rosenberg keeps doing what he does.
